The Girl Who Couldn't Feel

“I’m sorry.” I mumbled. We were stopped on the side of the road, and I was standing outside the car, as Jaden kept his arm around me, every now and then rubbing my back.

“It doesn’t matter. Are you okay?” he asked, though I could sense he was a bit upset I had apologized. Lexi, Chris, and the other guy had stayed in the car, as per Jaden’s request. I realized that I should reply to Jaden’s question, so I nodded slowly. I was still shaken by what I had seen. What exactly had I seen? “Guys, it’s no good. We can’t go.” I heard Jaden say behind me.

“Ahhh man! I was so excited!” I thought I heard Chris say.

“Don’t worry, we’ll go some other time.” I heard Jaden remark. “And then maybe you’ll bring Rin with you.” I heard him chuckle, though I didn’t get why.

I turned to face them, and I felt so awful. “I-I’m sorry.” I apologized. It was my fault.

“Don’t worry, it’s no fun if you don’t feel well.” Someone said.

Jaden came up to me and whispered softly in my ear. “Do you think you can go in the car again? Are you really okay? Can I do anything?” He was so worried. I whispered that I was fine, and we went back into the car, and back home. So much for a day out. It was all my fault. I didn’t know what was happening to me. Whatever it was, it made me so tired. That was all I could think of. I wanted to sleep.

Jaden helped me get to my bed, and I was out in minutes. I didn’t remember the last time I felt like this, like sleeping forever…

It was dark all around me. I was alone. Completely alone. “Hello.” I said, my voice didn’t echo in the silence. Suddenly I saw someone. The girl came closer, out of the darkness. As she approached, I looked carefully. It was…me? At least it looked like me, when I was about 12. Except, this girl had 2 braids, which I had never had. She hopped up to me.

“Monkey!” she smiled, as she hopped up to me. “How are you?” She sensed my confusion, and she pouted. “Don’t you remember me? It’s meeee! Bunny!!!”She smiled as she hopped around me. Who was she? Bunny?

“Candy?” I asked, but she stopped hopping, and looked at me, with a pout.

“Who’s that, Monkey? Did you really forget me? You forgot. You forgot didn’t you!” she started to scream. “You forgot! That’s just like you! You have no feelings Monkey! You don’t feel anything! YOU HAVE NO EMOTIONS!” she screamed at me, tears in her eyes.
It surprised me how much it ached to hear her say that. I had heard it before, yet it never felt like this. But, who was she? What did I forget? Before I could ask, she cried harder and ran away. I ran after her, asking her to wait, but she kept going, and it was black again.

I woke up and realized I was alone in my room. It had been so long since I had been alone in my room…well, at least it felt like it. It was really quiet, and I glanced at the sofa bed in my room. Oddly enough, it felt like the bed had always been in that spot…long before Jaden had arrived…But that was impossible, since I had never shared a room with anyone…right? That’s odd, I had never really tried to remember anything, and I realized it was all fuzzy. Not just from when I was 4 or 5, but all of it…

I left my room and saw Mother, and she glared at me, “Get to work! Just because we have a guest, you think you can stop working.”

“I’m sorry.” I said, picking up a broom, and I then began to sweep the floors. I could tell Jaden probably went out since it was quiet, and Mother was cleaning up the kitchen. As I was sweeping, I remembered what I had been thinking about earlier in the room.

“Mother, did I ever share my room with anyone?” When Mother didn’t respond, I looked up. I had never seen her look like that. She looked afraid, but in pain as well. What was going on? She regained her composure and glared at me.

“Of course not! Keep working and stop asking questions!” I continued sweeping, and didn’t ask anything else. I couldn’t make sense of anything recently. After I finished sweeping, I did the laundry, and then cleaned the restrooms. As I finished up the last one, Candy came up to me.

“Marie! Marie! Play with Candy!” she giggled, throwing a bouncy ball to me. I caught it then knelt down.

“Little Bunny, you should help Mother set the table.”

“Candy! Come here!” Mother suddenly growled. “Marie! How many times have I told you not to call her that!” Mother was much more upset than usual. But, I never got what she had against calling Candy, Bunny. I remembered my dream. Did it have to do with the dream? Even the dream was a bit fuzzy now though. “Marie! Change the light bulb near the door!” Mother said. I looked at the light she wanted me to change. I was about 12 feet up, since the area in front of the door had a really high ceiling. I grabbed our ladder and grabbed a new light bulb. I climbed up the ladder and carefully switched the bulb. As I finished placing in the new bulb, I saw Candy running toward me.

“Marie, Marie! Can Candy climb too?”

“No, Little Bunny. Stay down there.” I said looking down at her from the top of the ladder. As I did, my hand slipped, and the next thing I knew, I was falling.

“Marie!” I heard someone shout, as I heard the light bulb I had dropped shatter, and the next thing I knew, I was in Jaden’s arms. “What are you doing?” Jaden said to me, as I looked up at him, still in shock. I then tried to push away, but he held me tighter. “Not here, there’s glass shards all over the floor.” I had forgotten about the light bulb that had fallen with me. I looked down, and saw glass all over the floor. Then I realized Jaden was standing in them. He moved a few feet to the side, and then let me down. His feet were cut. “Jaden, I-I’m sorry.”

“Marie! What have you done now!” mother shouted as she came in. “Oh, Jaden. Oh my god, you’re hurt! Marie, look what you did. Clean it up.”’ She said handing me a trash bag and then pulling Jaden into the living room. “I’ll get the first aid kit.” I heard her say. I began picking up the shards and cut myself.

"Ouch.” I mumbled, as I looked at my finger. The cut was pretty deep. Suddenly, someone grabbed my hand and sucked on my finger.

“I take my eyes off of you for one second, and you go and hurt yourself again.” Jaden smiled at me. I pulled my hand away.

“Mother…”

“She went to grab the first aid kit, and said it would take a minute. More importantly, I walked over here to hear something from you.” He smiled.

“…Thank you…Jaden.” I mumbled, and I heard him chuckle. I looked up and saw that he had already gathered all the shards, and put them in the trash bag mother had given me.

“Jaden…” I heard mother say, she walked in. “Jaden, oh, you shouldn’t be doing that. Come over here and we’ll take care of the cuts on your feet.” After Jaden walked out, Mother looked at me. “Go to your room and stay there. No dinner for you.” She muttered, and then she followed after Jaden.

After putting away the ladder, I walked to my room and lay in bed. What had Jaden been thinking? He even sucked on my finger! As I drifted to sleep, I couldn’t help realizing that my finger was still tingling…