Faded Memories

I’m not really a heavy sleeper. I tend to wake up during the middle of the night at least 3 times a day and I hate it. But not as much as I hate not being able to sleep, I despise it. The scene kept playing over and over in my head. “I’m sorry”, was his last words before leaving. It stung really badly. What confused me, though, was why I wasn’t crying. Maybe I just cried all the tears I could for the day. Whatever, I’m not even worried about that. What I’m worried was the fact that I couldn’t sleep.

I turned to my right on my bed and looked at the glowing numbers in the dark: 12:45. I slapped my hands onto my face and groaned. “Why am I not asleep?” I asked myself. I picked up my phone that was laying on my nightstand and pressed the number one button. It rung once before he picked up the phone. “Cameron?”

“Abby? Are you okay?” He said, thinking that there was something seriously wrong.

“I’m okay. I just can’t fall asleep.” I told him, staring up at the ceiling.

“Neither can I.”

“Meet me at the bottom of my balcony.” I directed him.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in 10.” We both said bye and hung up. I got up from my bed and grabbed a hoodie from my closet. That’s when I saw it: a box of stuff Daniel gave me. I bent down and started to look through the stuff. There were a bunch of letters, CD’s, stuffed animals, cards, and a bunch of other junk. “Don’t cry, Abby. It’s over, move on.” I told myself, wiping a stray tear with my hand. “God, I need to get rid of these.” I picked up the box and put it beside my door to remind myself that I needed to throw it all out. I put on my hoodie and waited by my balcony. After a couple of minutes of waiting, he finally came.

“Abby, over here.” I heard him say and looked down to see him looking up at me. I climbed onto the railing of my balcony and slowly made my way onto the nearest limb on a tree. I took my time climbing down before having my foot slip. I held onto a branch for my dear life. I kicked my feet around, hoping I’d be able to get back up.

“A little help, Cam.” I said, struggling to hold on. He held out his arms, ready to catch me but his position seemed slightly off. “A little to the left.” I directed him as he took a step to his right. “No, Cam. My left.” He took two steps to the left. “I swear, Cameron, if you don’t catch me–” and just like that I let go without finishing my sentence. He caught me, barely, causing us to fall. I fell on top of him, making everything extremely awkward. I immediately got up and helped him up. “Thanks for catching me.” I thanked him.

We walked on the sidewalk side by side without a single word. It was rather quiet. The street lights lit up the dark neighbourhood and the moon making things a bit brighter.

“Where are we even going?” I asked him.

“Wherever our feet take us.” He answered. Things were silent for a moment until I decided to ask him another question.

“Cam,” he looked up at me, hands still in his pockets, “I’ve never felt so close to someone before.” He grinned as I continued to talk. “I mean, I’ve known you for less than a year, but it seems like forever. Do you think we ever knew each other before?”

“It doesn’t seem possible, though. The first time I met you was at Barnes and Noble.”

I smiled to myself, remembering that day so vividly. “I feel like I’m forgetting something. Like something along the way, I forgot something important.”

His smile slightly fell and his head hung low for a moment before looking back at me. “You’ll figure it out. It just takes time.” He took his arm and linked it with mine as we walked along a pathway. At the end of the path, there was a park. We sat down by a tree and looked up at the stars. I looked at the tree trunk and realized something was carved into it.

“A+C” I read aloud and traced the heart that surrounded the couple’s initials.

Cameron turned his head around and looked at the carving. “Hey, those are our initials. Well, that’s not awkward at all.” We laughed and turned our attention back at the stars. I rested my head on his shoulder and yawned. It wasn’t long before we both fell asleep.



I fluttered my eyes open and looked around. It was still a little dark, but the sun was about to rise at any moment. The park was empty and no one was around. I looked at Cameron who was fast asleep. With every breath he took, his chest heaved up and down. I couldn’t help but smile at him. Sure, I may have just broken up with Daniel but there was somehow this tiny part of me that had feelings for Cameron. I’m not totally in love with him or head over heels, I just had a tiny crush on him. I decided to wake him from his slumber before anyone found us.

“Cameron, wake up.” I shook him a little. He blinked a couple of times before letting go of me and rubbed his eyes.

“Where are we?” He grumbled and looked around.

“We fell asleep in the park.” I got up and dusted off the grass that clung to my pants. “We better start heading home.” I extended my hand and helped him up.

He took at his phone and glanced at it. “It’s 7:15. We better go home before anyone finds out that we left.” He rested his arm on my shoulder and we headed to my house. As we were walking, we saw the sun peek behind the houses, beginning to rise up.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” My eyes glittered at the beautiful view in front of us.

“Not as beautiful as what I’m looking at now.” I looked at him only to realize that he was talking about me.

I playfully punched him on the arm and said, “That was really cheesy.”

“Hey, I only speak the truth.” He put his hands up in surrender and put his arm back around my shoulder.

“Thanks anyway. You’re not too shabby yourself.” He took his free hand and ruffled my hair.

“Thanks Abby.” We arrived at my house and gave each other a hug.

“I’ll call you later. I need you to help me with something.” I said, still holding on.

“Alright. I’ll see you later.” We let go and I watched as he went into his car. He waved to me and drove away.

“It’s just a tiny crush, Abby. It’ll disappear.” I told myself.