Hey Stranger

Arden’s POV

That night I kept waking up, it seemed like every time I closed my eyes and dozed for just a few moments I would see these horrible images. Zaid would be walking across the street, a perfect rose in hand walking toward me as he smiled widely. Now this seems all romantic and sweet but what happened next was what made me shoot up from my sleep.

Every time he’d get just a few feet away from me, almost close enough to touch and then the black car would side swipe him. And every time I’d watch as he rolled up over the hood and hear the loud crack as his skull bounced off the concrete.

Black blood would seep from the back of his skull and I’d run to him dropping at his side pulling him to my lap. I’d hear this terrible screaming and it would take a moment for me to realize it was me screaming not him. He’d just be staring up at him as his green eyes slowly darkened and lost focus. He’d reach up and place a hand on my cheek and say two words that hurt more than they should. “I’m sorry…” He’s sputter and then I’d wake up with tears in my eyes and I’d be trembling so hard my teeth would chatter. The scar on my wrist would burn too…was he okay? Did I even have the right to be crying over him when I didn’t know him? I was so scared and I couldn’t figure out why.

I wanted to call him and ask him if he okay…ask him if he knew what was happening. I wanted to consult him on my current issue… but I didn't have his number and I had no right too. But at the same time I felt like he was feeling the same way. He didn’t know it but I had seen the way his eyes had gotten sad when his friend made me look away from him. He’d been watching me and I’d been watching him only I was far more discreet about it.

It was sort of the reason I’d swayed my hips when I’d walked out and licked my lips. If he was going to look then I’d give the gorgeous dark haired boy something to look at. Was I wrong to toy with him like that? Most likely, but I didn’t have to social standing to just walk up to a jock and ask him to hang out with…possibly fuck… me at lunch..I’m a horn ball I know…so I make him want to talk to me. Drive him crazy until he did.

He liked me, the boner in class had totally given him away…yes I had seen that too…but not actually during class. I had left something in the art room and when I went to go back in he was leaving and actually looked right at me and smiled at me with his eyes. God he was hot. But that was when I caught a glimpse of his hard on…He’d been trying to hide it and he wasn’t doing a bad job I’m just really observant.

I sat up in my bed and curled my legs up to my chest, even though I was trying to think of more positive things like today in class it only worked for a short while before I’d go back to thinking about my dream. He’d been dying in my arms and I kept seeing it and feeling it as if it were actually happening but it hadn’t happened, had it? I’d read about past lives a few times…about people stepping into a place they’d never been before and then having a vivid memory of that place in a different time.

I couldn’t help but wonder if that could happen with people. I sighed softly, surely it couldn’t I was just over thinking things. It was just a bad dream about a boy I happened to be crushing on…nothing more. He laid back on my bed and rolled on to my side just as I had the night before…and again I was looking at the scar on my wrist as my eyes fluttered and I returned to my dreaming.

Zaid’s POV

I shot up in bed and my aunt Nadia came rushing into my room speaking to my in Russian, telling me everything would be okay. Apparently I’d been screaming, but wouldn’t you scream too if you saw and felt yourself dying. The worst part was Arden had been there and for some reason I’d felt so guilty as he held me in his arms stroking my hair and crying softly.

Over and over he’s begged me not to leave him telling me he loved me…and it hurt deep in my chest thinking about the fact then in the dream I had know that even though I didn’t want to I’d be leaving the little brunette soon because I was growing weaker and weaker.

My aunt reassured me that everything would be okay that if I needed her she was just down the hall. I sighed softly as I watched her go. She thought I was dreaming about my childhood again…before I moved in with her I’d had it pretty rough…my parents were as bad as Arden’s they never hit me but my big brother had…he’d done all kinds of things…tortured me but he’d never left any marks so it had been difficult to prove that my own big brother would beat me and rape me.

He'd never actually been formally punished for what he’d done but I had been removed from my parents care…I’d gone through years of therapy and I’d went through reliving those memories all on my own…I didn’t want to be alone anymore. With that thought, my eyes started to water, and I could feel the tears rising in my throat. I didn’t want to cry but I couldn’t stop myself as a sob escaped lips.

What my brother had done to me was only part of the reason for my tears. Not being able to talk to Arden was the other half, the biggest half. I liked him, and I was dreaming about him…as well as daydreaming, and in my dreams I thought I loved him even though I’d never even heard his voice. My biggest fear was that those feeling would cross over into my conscious mind…when they had had no right to and this just made me cry harder.

I wanted to love him, which terrified me…and I wanted to be loved. I wanted to stop hating my friends and my life. I just wanted to be normal and be able to scream to everyone that yes I liked boys and talk to whomever I want, maybe even eat lunch and hold hands with the boy I wanted to talk to. I cried for what felt like hours my pillow pulled close to my chest, hugging it tightly.

God, how I wished it was someone that would hold me back and tell me everything was
alright...even if it I knew it wouldn't be. I just wanted reassurance and I would have loved it that reassurance had come from Arden with his whiskey colored eyes and soft pink lips.