Lightning Moments

Dani looked at me from across the counter. She seemed to be studying my face. She sighed before she spoke up.

“Do you have something to tell me, love?” She continued to stare at me.

After I waited for Dani by the car, we drove to her flat in silence. She threw quick glances my way every few minutes before we finally arrived. I had been debating on how to tell her about my dreams and headaches since we arrived. I had no idea how to start. It had been awhile since I’d actually talked to someone about anything extremely personal.

“Umm…I actually do. I need some help. You’re my best friend. I was just thinking that I could… well… I was figuring I could talk to you about it.” I looked at my feet trying to organize my words. I wasn’t exactly the poster child for social skills.

“Of course you can talk to me about anything. I’ve been waiting for you to open up to me for a while now. Do you know how hard it is to just dismiss everything that happens without saying a word? I’m a girl. I get curious and I like to talk with my friends about their issues. Well, most of the time. You never bother me with anything and I feel helpless when something happened and you just mope about, not saying a word.” Dani stared at me with a look of sincerity while she spoke.

I gave her a look of mock surprise, which probably looked funny because she gave me a weird look. “Hey! I do not mope! I simply sulk about and eat my favorite ice-cream, which happens to be chocolate-chip cookie dough. There is a distinct difference.” I tried to keep a straight face, but failed miserably.

We laughed before she said, “Well, now that everything’s all cleared up, would you care to tell me your dilemma?” She moved from the counter and made a move toward the couch. She motioned me over to come and sit with her. I sat on the loveseat opposite her.

I wrung my hands while trying to find the words. After a few minutes, I dropped my hands and looked up at her. I decided to just tell her everything I saw in those dreams. The dreams that felt so real that they ought to be called nightmares, really. I told her about the screams and about the car. I told her about the headaches and about the thunderstorms. I told her about everything that happened at school and my test answers. Not one detail was left out, except for maybe the part where that brown-eyed boy helped me out.

When I was done, I slumped in my seat. Dani looked at me and got up from her spot to sit by me. She wrapped her arms around my small frame and hugged me. Then she pulled away.

“Listen, Mika. I’m not sure what exactly these things mean, but I’m here to help you figure it out. My best guess is that it has something to do with your past. Maybe you need to look into that a bit more. Second to none, that’s probably it. Do you remember anything from before?”

I tried to think about it and a flood of memories tried to rush up at me again. My head started to pound again. I spoke through the sharp pain. “I don’t really remember. I just know that the reason I came here was to escape my problems. My mother was a mess after my sister…left. One day she was just gone. She never came home. There was a big fire that day. My…” I rubbed at my temples to try and get rid of the headache, but it wasn’t working. I was bombarded by another memory.

The girl was screaming louder. “Mika! Mika,” she called out. Her face pressed against the window as the flames grew around the car. I saw her face this time and not just her stream of black hair. Her electrifying blue eyes caught my attention. It was her! It was Jennifer! It was my sister! My mother lied to me. Jennifer was dead. She died that day in the fire. At least, that was what it seemed like. There was no way she could have made it out alive.

“Jennifer,” I yelled. My eyes flung open and I stared into a pair of hazel orbs. They held worry and fear.

“Mika, love. Mika, are you okay? Speak to me.” She looked close to breaking down.

I was still for a few moments and I tried to catch my breath. My skin had broken into a cold sweat.

“It’s alright. I’m fine,” I choked out.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Dani looked like a deer in the headlights as she stared at me.

“Nothing, just another headache. I’m fine.”

“I asked you those questions to get an answer. I know the basic answers to the questions. I just need you to elaborate, love. Stop hiding things. You know you can trust me. I just promised you that I’d be there for you. So, don’t fucking tell me you’re fine when I know you’re not.” She looked more on the verge of tears than angry at me.

“I’m sorry. I’m just used to keep everything bottled up inside. I did have another headache and a memory of some sort came back to me. The girl with the black hair in the car: I saw her face. She was my sister. Dani, it was my sister Jennifer. She was in the car when it went up in flames. She must have died, which would explain everything. That’s why she never came back. That’s why my mother changed. Maybe I’ve been suppressing the memory; it happened so long ago.” Tears were stinging my eyes and they started to streak my face. I thought she was alive and even though either way I wouldn’t have seen her again, it was better to know she was alive than dead. She was dead which left no hope. No hope that she survived. There had to be something more. There just had to be.

“Love, it’s okay. Maybe there’s something more. There has to be a reason you forgot everything,” said Dani as if reading my mind.

I got up from the couch and went to the kitchen. After a few minutes of silence, I finally answered, “Maybe… maybe you’re right. So you’re going to help?”

“As long as you’re willing to trust me, then I’m here to help you every step of the way. Just know that it might be hard to figure this out, so you might want to involve some more people along the way.” Dani followed me into the kitchen and leaned against the sink.

“Thanks for everything. You don’t know how much your friendship means to me. Though it might be difficult to convince people to help me without them thinking I’m totally bonkers.”

“Ha! You just said ‘bonkers’. You make me laugh.” Dani grabbed a soda from the fridge and threw me a water bottle. Naturally, it hit me in the face before I could catch it. I shrieked and grabbed at my face, feigning pain.

Dani’s hands went to her face. “Oh my God! I didn’t mean to, Mika! I swear!” I started laughing at her.

She threw a towel at me. “You little bugger! I thought you were really hurt.”

I punctuated my laugh with a snort and was able to calm myself down. “I’m sorry, D. I’m going to head out now. I need to get back home and finish homework and do that studying thing, especially after I screwed up that test.” I grabbed my bag and started walking toward the door.

“Alright! I’ll be at your flat tomorrow morning. You better be ready! Don’t tire yourself too much with the work and be sure to call me if you need anything.

I walked out of her apartment and slung my backpack over my shoulder. I heard a tearing noise and everything came out of my bag. I swore under my breath. Rushed footsteps came to a halt by me and somebody crouched down to help me pick up my things.

“Ouch, even Louis did better and he wrote a love letter to Ms. Spears as one of the answers and then drew a lightning storm for another,” said a familiar voice. He chuckled a bit.

After I grabbed a majority of the items, I raised my head slowly and came in contact with a pair of chocolate, brown eyes. My breath caught in my throat. “Th-thank- you.”

“Hey, you’re that girl,” he glanced at the paper, “Mika, right? Are you all right?”

His voice brought me back from my own world. “Umm, yeah. I’m her! And you’re that Liam kid, right?”

He nodded. “Do you need help with Chemistry?” He shifted back and forth.

“Well, I’m usually really good at it, but for some reason, I don’t know, I just blanked.”

He looked at his shoes and a light blush colored his cheeks. “Well, if you want, I could help you study for it. I did well, so I guess I somewhat know what I’m talking about. It’s up to you.”

“Uh, sure. That seems like a good idea. Where would you like to study? You really don’t mind helping me?” I stood there waiting for his answer.

A smile appeared on his face. “Well, the library seems like the perfect place to go. Or if you want, we could study with Louis at his house, yeah?”

“I owed him a rain check anyway. That’s perfect! So, see you in class?”

“That’s great, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I coughed quickly to get his attention as he turned to walk away.

“My books….” I said with a grin.

A blush crept on his face. “Oh yeah, whoops. I forgot.” He gave me a nervous laugh and waved goodbye.

“I hope you feel better,” he called out to me.

I walked away with a smile on my face. I was making friends I didn’t even think I would ever make.