Alone and Far From Home, I'll Find You

Chicago is always so cold in the winter, but also so beautiful. All of the skyscrapers were covered with snow that glistened under the glow of dingy street lights. It’s around ten o’clock and I’m closing the Starbucks for the last time this year because it’s a week before Christmas and I took a vacation for the rest of the year. I went through the check-list in my head again: lights out, chairs up, floor swept, and counters cleaned. I have one of the worst memories you’ll ever hear of so I’m always writing things down or making up ways to remember important stuff, like how I made a song to remember my phone number and address. I was just stepping out of the shop when I hear a man jog around the corner.

“God, damn it!” he yelled. That’s true, Chicago holiday spirit, for you. “You’re closed?”

“Yeah, sorry.” I say as politely as I can while squinting to see the lock because I forgot to wear contacts today. I was also having problems because the lock always gets stuck, mind you it’s freezing and I forgot to wear gloves. “We close at nine on Sundays.”

“Shit, I didn’t even know it was Sunday.” He sighed and I finally got the key in the lock. “Can’t you please just open up the store and make me one cup of coffee! I’m begging you!”

“Well I already closed the place down,” I said jiggling the key back and forth until it finally turned. “It’s kind of a pain in the ass to set everything up again.” I jerked the key out of the lock and flipped my hair out of my face to see a twenty-plus year old, dirty blonde guy with skinny jeans and a beanie cap looking in the opposite direction as me. “If you really want coffee that badly, there’s a McDonalds two blocks down the street.”

I could tell the caffeine starved man was about to retaliate with a smart ass answer, but as soon as he lifted his head a strange look came across his face, like he had seen a ghost.

“Natalie?” he half-whispered. I looked down and reached for my name tag, but it wasn’t there.

“H-how do you know my name?”

“You’re Natalie Holt, right?” Okay now this is getting really weird. I’ve never seen him before, yet he knows my whole name. I only nodded and he took a step toward me, “Natalie, it’s me. Alex Gaskarth. We went to school together when you lived in Baltimore, but you moved.”

I have no idea what he’s talking about. Yes, my name is Natalie Holt, but nothing else he’s saying is making sense. “No,” I said slowly and slightly confused. “I’ve never been to Baltimore.”

He was shaking his head, “You’re fucking with me, right?” I laughed a little and raised my eyebrow at him. “I know you! You were my—“ he stopped himself. “one of my best friends! This is insane… I know your mom, Jane!”

What is going on? I don’t even understand what’s happening anymore. This has to be a joke. Yeah, that’s it! “Did Stephanie put you up to this?”

“Stephanie? Who the fuck is Stephanie? Look. No. I don’t know who that is and I don’t know why you don't remember me, but I do know that we were… inseparable! For ten years!”