Status: active :)
Echoes
I
I still have nightmares about the night I left.
They all start the same. I am fat again, and hunched over my bag in my bedroom frantically shoving items of clothing into it haphazardly until it's full to bursting. I am going to run away tonight. I could (and probably should) leave now, but I have one thing I want to do first.
My parents are out and will be until late so I don't need to sneak out the back as I normally would. Instead, I leave through the front door, not bothering to lock it as my destination is only the next house over. Our family has always been close to our next door neighbours, but I've never liked them that much apart from the eldest son, Alex. I call him my closest friend but in truth that's probably more to do with my lack of friends than our closeness; I also know for a fact he means more to me than I do to him.
I have more than a slight crush on him and if I'm being really honest with myself, I know I'm going to see him in the hopes that he will somehow convince me to stay because I'm more terrified than I've ever been in my life.
His Mother, oblivious as ever, waves me up to his room with a vague smile on her face, her attention already captured by something else. I take the stairs one at a time, slowly. Unknowingly, I'm holding my breath; my stomach is tight with tension. I think to myself, this is the last time I am ever going to see him. I pause for a second before I swing open his door.
What greets me is chaos. Alex is hunched over on the edge of his bed, a broken bottle swings loosely from his blood covered hands and he is rocking slightly. Shards of glass litter his floor as well as a dark liquid. A label for a cheap whiskey peeks out from under his bed. For a second I stand there dumbly as I try to figure out how his parents didn't hear anything and rush up...how couldn't they know what was happening to their son right under their roof? But I push those thoughts aside and walk over to him.
Tentatively, I touch his shoulder.
"Alex?"
"Leave me alone Carrie!" He hisses through his sobs. Stupidly, I ignore him.
"Alex what's happened?" I ask, reaching down to try and pry the broken bottle from his frozen fingers.
"I said, leave me the fuck alone!" With that he throws his arm back, the glass piercing my skin and leaving a trail of fire behind it. This is where the dream varies.
In some, he proceeds to attack me with the bottle, in others he pins me down and hisses 'who d'ya think you are trying to leave? How could you do that to your folks ya selfish slut!' and screams their names until I can hear their footsteps thundering up the stairs and I know it's over, I've been caught. Sometimes it turns out to not be Alex at all, but my Father. His eyes are cold. "How could you do leave your poor sweet Mother?" He asks over and over and he grabs me by the throat and slams me against the wall. "How could you?"
Though the nightmares differ, they always end the same.
I wake, screaming and sweaty and frantically scrabbling for the light.
They all start the same. I am fat again, and hunched over my bag in my bedroom frantically shoving items of clothing into it haphazardly until it's full to bursting. I am going to run away tonight. I could (and probably should) leave now, but I have one thing I want to do first.
My parents are out and will be until late so I don't need to sneak out the back as I normally would. Instead, I leave through the front door, not bothering to lock it as my destination is only the next house over. Our family has always been close to our next door neighbours, but I've never liked them that much apart from the eldest son, Alex. I call him my closest friend but in truth that's probably more to do with my lack of friends than our closeness; I also know for a fact he means more to me than I do to him.
I have more than a slight crush on him and if I'm being really honest with myself, I know I'm going to see him in the hopes that he will somehow convince me to stay because I'm more terrified than I've ever been in my life.
His Mother, oblivious as ever, waves me up to his room with a vague smile on her face, her attention already captured by something else. I take the stairs one at a time, slowly. Unknowingly, I'm holding my breath; my stomach is tight with tension. I think to myself, this is the last time I am ever going to see him. I pause for a second before I swing open his door.
What greets me is chaos. Alex is hunched over on the edge of his bed, a broken bottle swings loosely from his blood covered hands and he is rocking slightly. Shards of glass litter his floor as well as a dark liquid. A label for a cheap whiskey peeks out from under his bed. For a second I stand there dumbly as I try to figure out how his parents didn't hear anything and rush up...how couldn't they know what was happening to their son right under their roof? But I push those thoughts aside and walk over to him.
Tentatively, I touch his shoulder.
"Alex?"
"Leave me alone Carrie!" He hisses through his sobs. Stupidly, I ignore him.
"Alex what's happened?" I ask, reaching down to try and pry the broken bottle from his frozen fingers.
"I said, leave me the fuck alone!" With that he throws his arm back, the glass piercing my skin and leaving a trail of fire behind it. This is where the dream varies.
In some, he proceeds to attack me with the bottle, in others he pins me down and hisses 'who d'ya think you are trying to leave? How could you do that to your folks ya selfish slut!' and screams their names until I can hear their footsteps thundering up the stairs and I know it's over, I've been caught. Sometimes it turns out to not be Alex at all, but my Father. His eyes are cold. "How could you do leave your poor sweet Mother?" He asks over and over and he grabs me by the throat and slams me against the wall. "How could you?"
Though the nightmares differ, they always end the same.
I wake, screaming and sweaty and frantically scrabbling for the light.
♠ ♠ ♠
So I had this idea at the beginning of summer last year but I never got round to writing it. I was just inspired today for some reason. I have another chapter pre-written and a third is on it's way.Tell me what you think? :)