In Memories We Trust
Part VI
With one silly action her father had killed two ravens with one stone. She flung herself down the steps, anger and hatred outlined in every pounding footstep she took. Her fists were clenched at her sides, her nails digging into the pale skin of her palm. Her gray eyes watched the skyline ahead of her as the sky went from yellow to orange to red, blood red. Her converse scuffed across the pavement of the cracked sidewalks and she sighed as she felt a wave of regret overcome her; she’d left her brother to deal with her father. The girl felt someone watching her and started running, looking behind her to see a silver car after her. She ducked into alleys and hidden streets until she found an empty playground. She walked to the nearest swing set and sat down on it, the ancient chains creaking under her weight. She was safe, for now.
............................................................................................
I groaned and rolled over, which made me fall to the floor in a flurry of sheets and pillows. My head hit the floor and I jumped to my feet, rubbing the spot on the back of my head where it’d hit the floor. I didn’t feel a bump with my fingers, but it hurt like hell. I fished around in the front pocket of my backpack and pulled some painkillers from an almost empty bottle and forced them down my throat. I glanced at the illuminated numbers of my clock which unfortunately only read four in the morning.
I turned and walked to my closet and reached for the handle when the jagged red lines across my arms caught my attention. I absently rubbed them and thought about the night before, sighing deeply and leaning against the wooden door of the closet. I decided a long sleeved shirt would serve well today and pulled one from a hanger and then a picked a pair of jeans at random. I pulled my clothes on and gathered my messenger bag, phone, iPod, and jacket into my arms and slipped out of my room and down the hall to the bathroom.
Breath came easier with every passing moment that my father didn’t wake up; pretty soon I could leave and not be missed until this afternoon. I did my thing in the bathroom, which this morning included putting bandages on my cuts as well as other daily things. Six o’ clock rolled around before I knew it and I opened the door and crept quietly down the front hall, pausing once when I heard a thud come from across the house. When no sounds of life followed the thud, I continued my stalking down the hall.
I slipped out into the morning, embracing the plunge from semi-warmth to utter freezing. I shivered in my thin shirt and thread-bare jacket and jumped/fell down the steps into the street. A car blared at me as I fell into the road and I let loose a string of swears after it, surprising even myself with my cold anger at the world today. I sat down on a metal bench on the side of the street facing my house and crossed my legs under my body. I put the headphones of my iPod into my ears and turned the volume up loud enough to potentially shatter my eardrums, which they could possibly have done by now.
Minutes then hours passed and I found myself checking my watch increasingly often as it neared eight; Emily should be here by now. I glanced up the street in her direction and decided to give her a minute or two in case she had run into trouble with her parents or was just running late this morning. I got lonely as the light of the sun began to cross the sky and warm my back and I found myself missing Emily’s familiar smile and cheerful attitude. I gave her five more minutes before I set off up the street to her house. Clouds passed by overhead, shoving the cold city back into a gray, lifeless world.
Even over the noise of my iPod I heard the crack of a gun. I froze on the spot, fear gripping my heart and squeezing tighter with every passing moment. What little color in my face was immediately washed away and I took off running up the street. My iPod slipped from my grip and my bag from my shoulder, landing in a heap on the side of the sidewalk. I heard the slam of a car door and the screech of tires on the road as a black car raced past me.
I blinked back tears and skidded to a halt in the alley the car had emerged from. Panting from the run and adrenaline in my body I searched for something, someone whom I knew would be here waiting for me.
I gasped at the sight I knew I’d find and had still wished I wouldn’t. My gray eyes took it all in; the lifeless form of a girl lying in a crimson puddle in the middle of the alley. I stepped closer, hardly daring to believe what could only be the reality in front of me. Her blonde and red hair was spread out on the damp ground beneath her and her body had fallen on her back with her head tilted at a grotesque angle. There was a gaping hole in her chest, right where her heart was, and blood was staining the surrounding cloth of her shirt. The scent of her blood made me gag but I pushed past it in order to fall to my knees at her side.
Despite all my efforts, I couldn’t tear my eyes from her blank blue green ones which were wide open and still held traces of fear and rebellion in them. Even in death, lying in a pool of her own blood, Emily had the heart to stay strong. I knelt at her side, holding her in my arms and crying, my tears soaking into the fabric of her shirt.
I heard people gathering behind and around me, but I sat with Emily until the unyielding hands of a policeman pulled her from my grasp. Pain beyond pain filled my heart as I watched them take her away, leaving me in a pool of my best friend’s blood, leaving me in a world of memories.
What’s the count at now?
Two souls?
Is that it?
How many more must I kill before I learn my lesson?
I can’t believe I did this to my own friend.
I can’t believe I’ve done this twice.
I will surely be the death of everyone I know.
Beware now,
Heed my warning.
............................................................................................
I groaned and rolled over, which made me fall to the floor in a flurry of sheets and pillows. My head hit the floor and I jumped to my feet, rubbing the spot on the back of my head where it’d hit the floor. I didn’t feel a bump with my fingers, but it hurt like hell. I fished around in the front pocket of my backpack and pulled some painkillers from an almost empty bottle and forced them down my throat. I glanced at the illuminated numbers of my clock which unfortunately only read four in the morning.
I turned and walked to my closet and reached for the handle when the jagged red lines across my arms caught my attention. I absently rubbed them and thought about the night before, sighing deeply and leaning against the wooden door of the closet. I decided a long sleeved shirt would serve well today and pulled one from a hanger and then a picked a pair of jeans at random. I pulled my clothes on and gathered my messenger bag, phone, iPod, and jacket into my arms and slipped out of my room and down the hall to the bathroom.
Breath came easier with every passing moment that my father didn’t wake up; pretty soon I could leave and not be missed until this afternoon. I did my thing in the bathroom, which this morning included putting bandages on my cuts as well as other daily things. Six o’ clock rolled around before I knew it and I opened the door and crept quietly down the front hall, pausing once when I heard a thud come from across the house. When no sounds of life followed the thud, I continued my stalking down the hall.
I slipped out into the morning, embracing the plunge from semi-warmth to utter freezing. I shivered in my thin shirt and thread-bare jacket and jumped/fell down the steps into the street. A car blared at me as I fell into the road and I let loose a string of swears after it, surprising even myself with my cold anger at the world today. I sat down on a metal bench on the side of the street facing my house and crossed my legs under my body. I put the headphones of my iPod into my ears and turned the volume up loud enough to potentially shatter my eardrums, which they could possibly have done by now.
Minutes then hours passed and I found myself checking my watch increasingly often as it neared eight; Emily should be here by now. I glanced up the street in her direction and decided to give her a minute or two in case she had run into trouble with her parents or was just running late this morning. I got lonely as the light of the sun began to cross the sky and warm my back and I found myself missing Emily’s familiar smile and cheerful attitude. I gave her five more minutes before I set off up the street to her house. Clouds passed by overhead, shoving the cold city back into a gray, lifeless world.
Even over the noise of my iPod I heard the crack of a gun. I froze on the spot, fear gripping my heart and squeezing tighter with every passing moment. What little color in my face was immediately washed away and I took off running up the street. My iPod slipped from my grip and my bag from my shoulder, landing in a heap on the side of the sidewalk. I heard the slam of a car door and the screech of tires on the road as a black car raced past me.
I blinked back tears and skidded to a halt in the alley the car had emerged from. Panting from the run and adrenaline in my body I searched for something, someone whom I knew would be here waiting for me.
I gasped at the sight I knew I’d find and had still wished I wouldn’t. My gray eyes took it all in; the lifeless form of a girl lying in a crimson puddle in the middle of the alley. I stepped closer, hardly daring to believe what could only be the reality in front of me. Her blonde and red hair was spread out on the damp ground beneath her and her body had fallen on her back with her head tilted at a grotesque angle. There was a gaping hole in her chest, right where her heart was, and blood was staining the surrounding cloth of her shirt. The scent of her blood made me gag but I pushed past it in order to fall to my knees at her side.
Despite all my efforts, I couldn’t tear my eyes from her blank blue green ones which were wide open and still held traces of fear and rebellion in them. Even in death, lying in a pool of her own blood, Emily had the heart to stay strong. I knelt at her side, holding her in my arms and crying, my tears soaking into the fabric of her shirt.
I heard people gathering behind and around me, but I sat with Emily until the unyielding hands of a policeman pulled her from my grasp. Pain beyond pain filled my heart as I watched them take her away, leaving me in a pool of my best friend’s blood, leaving me in a world of memories.
What’s the count at now?
Two souls?
Is that it?
How many more must I kill before I learn my lesson?
I can’t believe I did this to my own friend.
I can’t believe I’ve done this twice.
I will surely be the death of everyone I know.
Beware now,
Heed my warning.