Memory

Disconcerted as I was, I was able to recognize the jail cell, so I didn't freak out or anything. I just tried going back to sleep. Sometimes trying is not enough, no matter what your elementary teachers tell you. You can not always achieve your dreams, like I couldn't sleep enough right now to even have a dream. I just lay there on the bunk, tapping the beat to a song I could only vaguely remember.

Time passed much faster than I had thought, and soon enough it was breakfast. Damn Alice Dowd, today there was no egg, instead oatmeal. No spoon. Spoons are weapons worthy of the green berets, you know. And you know how my mornings go, right up until I'm locked in an interview cell. All this time and people still haven't gotten sick of me.

The first person today was a young man, about my age, who called himself Thomas Gaige.

"Hello, Madison?"

"Yes."

"Umm, u, I'm Thomas Gaige." He looked apprehensive, like he expected me to recognize him. I kept a straight face, instead of making myself look stupid with a quizzical expression.

"Hello Thomas Gaige."

"Do, do you remember me?"

"Not at all."

"You seem... different. Are you alright? You're not, are you okay?"

"Different from what?"

"Well, you don't seem to be bubbling excitement out of every pore." Bubbling excitement? I, Madison, had bubbled excitement? What happened this summer?

"Well, that tends to not be the general state of a prisoner." He paused, and I wondered if he would go away. I'm not sure if his departure would be a blessing or a vice.

"You're right. I'm sorry, but, I just miss you. Happy Halloween." So it was Halloween, hunh? I was a month behind, go figure.

"Happy Halloween to you too. I just have a question, who are you?" He straightened up a little, and seemed to get sad.

"I'm Tom. I guess you don't remember." Tom, Tom, that rang a bell. The dream last night!

"Tom!"

"You remember?!"

"No, not really. I just had a dream last night, and you were in it."

"Maybe that's because I was your boyfriend for the summer." My... boyfriend? Since when did I have a boyfriend? I guess since summer, but wait, what about that guy?

"Oh, what about that guy?"

"What guy?"

"He has dark hair, slightly curly unless he straightens it. Black eyes with orange flecks?"

"Umm..."

"He has an eyebrow ring."

"Finnegan." Tom glowered. "4 months and you barely remember me, but you remember LUCAS FUCKING FINNEGAN!"

"Woahw, Tom calm down. I don't remember many people, just you and him. Now I know who you are, I want to know who he is too!"

"I can't tell you who Finnegan was to you. All you said was he was your 'friend'. Some friend. Some girlfriend. All I ever wanted, Maddie, was to BE with you, but you just never let me. I have to go."

"No! Will you come back?"

"Probably. It's stupid, but I still miss you."

"'Kay babe." He smiled sheepishly, and I laughed for the first time in a while.