In Memories We Trust
Part II
On silent feet the girl stole across the pavement, black cats skittering out of sight down dark alleys. Blindly turning down one street, the girl’s converse slapped the pavement, echoing in her ears. Adrenaline thudded through her veins and tears streaked down her cheeks. Sobs caught in her throat and her shoulders hunched over as the last of her composure dissolved into desperate cries for help. Silver light filled the area around her, bouncing off the high glass walls of buildings and in the puddles the rain had left. Turning towards the street she’d come down, she saw a car rocket towards her. The headlights flashed and bounced as the vehicle hit pot holes and cracks in the cement. It took a few extra seconds for her to realize she’d been hit…as if her senses hadn’t caught up with her body.
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For the second time that night, I was jolted awake. That nightmare was oh so real, and it’s been haunting me. This time, the sheets were on the floor, not around my legs, and I hadn’t broken a sweat. My headphones were even still in place, blaring music into my ears. My face was itchy and my eyes hurt, like I’d been crying. Overcome with anger at you, or maybe at no one but myself, I jerked the headphones from my ears and slipped from my bed, crossing the room to the door.
I leaned down by the door, my hair swinging over my face in a sheet of blackness, and unzipped the front pocket of my backpack, rummaging around till I found my phone. My fingers closed in around the cool, hard, metal and I lifted it from the bag and jogged back across the room to my bed. The green numbers on my clock read 3:28….29. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, pulling it back from my face. I flipped open the phone and searched my phonebook for Emily’s number.
Once found, I pressed the call button and brought the phone to my ear, waiting while it rang once….twice…and three times. Discouraged, I almost hung up, until she answered. Sleep disguised her voice and she had to clear her throat several times before she said “hull-” into the phone, a yawn making the last half of the word hard to hear.
“Hey Emii, it’s me.” I said, my voice sounding empty and a little apologetic in the still air of the bed room. She wouldn’t be mad at me; seeing as this wasn’t the first time I’d called in the middle of the night.
“Razzy!” she said into the phone, her voice hurting my ears after the eerie silence of my dream. “So good to hear you, though it’s 3 o’ clock in the morning again.”
“Yeah, sorry Emii.” I said, “I couldn’t sleep again.” My voice was barely more than a whisper now, but try as I might, I wouldn’t be able to hang up now.
“That nightmare again, eh?” Through the tinny wires of the phone connection, I heard the sympathy in her voice and it was touching that she still cared, me being as fucked up as I am.
“Yeah, but it’s getting worse. I tried everything, but I cant get to sleep, I just needed to hear your voice.”
“It’s ok, but next time, hold off till I get up to need a friend.” After my stunned silence, she quickly laughed and said in a sing-song voice, “Kidddding!”
“Just stay with me till I fall asleep?”
“Of course, anytime.” The last thing I remember before I fell asleep again was her soft voice saying, “tomorrow before school, we’ll get some coffee in ya.”
She cared about me, even when I don’t care about myself. She saw through the scars to what I could be, even when I couldn’t.
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For the second time that night, I was jolted awake. That nightmare was oh so real, and it’s been haunting me. This time, the sheets were on the floor, not around my legs, and I hadn’t broken a sweat. My headphones were even still in place, blaring music into my ears. My face was itchy and my eyes hurt, like I’d been crying. Overcome with anger at you, or maybe at no one but myself, I jerked the headphones from my ears and slipped from my bed, crossing the room to the door.
I leaned down by the door, my hair swinging over my face in a sheet of blackness, and unzipped the front pocket of my backpack, rummaging around till I found my phone. My fingers closed in around the cool, hard, metal and I lifted it from the bag and jogged back across the room to my bed. The green numbers on my clock read 3:28….29. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, pulling it back from my face. I flipped open the phone and searched my phonebook for Emily’s number.
Once found, I pressed the call button and brought the phone to my ear, waiting while it rang once….twice…and three times. Discouraged, I almost hung up, until she answered. Sleep disguised her voice and she had to clear her throat several times before she said “hull-” into the phone, a yawn making the last half of the word hard to hear.
“Hey Emii, it’s me.” I said, my voice sounding empty and a little apologetic in the still air of the bed room. She wouldn’t be mad at me; seeing as this wasn’t the first time I’d called in the middle of the night.
“Razzy!” she said into the phone, her voice hurting my ears after the eerie silence of my dream. “So good to hear you, though it’s 3 o’ clock in the morning again.”
“Yeah, sorry Emii.” I said, “I couldn’t sleep again.” My voice was barely more than a whisper now, but try as I might, I wouldn’t be able to hang up now.
“That nightmare again, eh?” Through the tinny wires of the phone connection, I heard the sympathy in her voice and it was touching that she still cared, me being as fucked up as I am.
“Yeah, but it’s getting worse. I tried everything, but I cant get to sleep, I just needed to hear your voice.”
“It’s ok, but next time, hold off till I get up to need a friend.” After my stunned silence, she quickly laughed and said in a sing-song voice, “Kidddding!”
“Just stay with me till I fall asleep?”
“Of course, anytime.” The last thing I remember before I fell asleep again was her soft voice saying, “tomorrow before school, we’ll get some coffee in ya.”
She cared about me, even when I don’t care about myself. She saw through the scars to what I could be, even when I couldn’t.