It was a normal small town park, bright colorful slides, squeaky half-broken swings. Everything I remembered from my childhood park experiences.
I left Craig’s side and went to sit on one of the creaking swings, slowly rocking back and forth, feeling the cold air numb my hands and make my nose run. Usually this would bug me, but now I embraced the feeling of something normal.
Craig came up to take a seat on the swing next to me. It groaned as he sat down.
“Are you cold?” he asked me, I shook my head wordlessly.
“Is it weird?” He asked after a second. I turned to look at him, his perfect face lightly illuminated in the darkness.
“Is what weird?” I asked.
“The drastic change in your life in such a short time.”
I had never though about it before, I’d never had the time to think about it. I was just along for the ride.
“You don’t have to answer,” Craig said. I had taken to much time to think.
“No,” I said, “its not weird, its different. But knowing that Kylia and Jake were always there made it easier. Sometimes it was impossibly hard, not knowing what to expect, or what was coming next. Whether or not I was ready. But they were always there.”
“They must be some really special people,” Craig said.
“They are,” I agreed.
“Tell me about them,” he said.
I giggled, a weird sound coming from me. I was not a giggler.
“Well Kylia is this amazing person, this world has her by the heart. She’s been my best friend since my first day at Skyrian Cross. She has this way about her, its like, you cant help but smile around her. She’s never afraid to say what she thinks, and though she seems shy, she isn't’t. I’ve always been able to be myself around her, she’s been the one person I could always count on.” I smiled as I talked.
“What about Jake?”
“I just met Jake this year, but from the very first time we talked he’s been nothing but sweet to me. He’s the brains of the groups, always able to think us out of impossible situations. Help us through all of the tough things. I would be nothing without him, I would be dead without him.”
“How did you make it through the tough times when they weren't’t there?” Craig asked.
“When they weren't’t there I told myself that there were people depending on me,” I said.
“I don’t think I would have been able to do it,” Craig said.
“Neither did I,” I admitted, “But in the end, it wasn’t about what I thought I could or couldn’t do. It was the fact that if I didn’t at least try, people would die.”
“Your truly amazing,” Craig said.
“I’m not…” I said.
“You are, you can deny it all you want but it wont change the truth.”
“The truth is, two people died because I couldn’t save them.”
“It’s not your fault,” Craig tried.
“Yes. It is,” I stood up and went to sit on the damp grass, to ashamed at myself to face Craig any longer. He came to sit next to me, neither of us said anything.
Craig laid down, his eyes were focused on the dark sky, glittered with stars I would never know the names of, constellations I could never find. There was no moon to be seen.
“I love staring at the sky,” Craig said, “It’s a way to get away from everything. There’s no judgment, you can just get lost in the stars.”
I laid down beside him, the grass soaked my neck and back. I could smell the earth beneath me mixing with the scent of summer night.
“I don’t want to be lost,” I said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll always be here,” Craig said.
“Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
He reached down and took my hand in his. We both watched the sky, and while I didn’t let myself get lost, it was nice. Maybe next time I would let go, get lost in the haphazard freedom of the night sky.
They were everywhere, floating silver creatures guarding every cell in the damp, earthy tunnel. I was walking down it my back was against the wall. Distantly I remembered that the tunnels weren’t supposed to smell like earth. Then I smelt it, the blood, the death.
Screaming down the hallway quickened my step, I was running, no longer afraid of being seen. The screams intensified, one soul keeper stepped out in front of me this one was gold. It reached out for me.
Sophie’s screams suddenly stopped.
Silence.
My own scream woke me up. Craig was holding me, some how I had moved to a sitting fetal position with him wrapped around me like a blanket.
Just a dream, I thought. A dream that had to much truth in it.
“What’s wrong?” Craig asked.
“Bad dream,” I said, “I don’t really what to talk about it.”
“Your eyes are purple.” Damn.
“It’s just this thing, what time is it?” I asked.
Craig looked at his watch,“10:45,” he said.
“Oops,” I stood up, wiping tears I didn’t know I had off of my cheeks. Jake had to leave at midnight exactly, and we had broken curfew. “I have to go.”
Jake walked me back to the coffee house where Kylia and Jake were waiting outside.
“Sorry,” I said when I got closer to them.
“No problem,” Jake said, he and Kylia stood up hand in hand.
“I guess I’ll see you after the summer,” I said to Craig. He took a pen out of his pocket and wrote a series of numbers on my hand.
“Call me sometime,” He said.
“I will.”
He smiled and kissed me on the cheek.
Goodbye.
We all stood by the gates waiting for Damian to pick Jake up. I had changed into dry clothes.
At 12:01 a black car with limo tinted windows pulled up to the school.
Jake turned and gave me a hug.
“Be safe,” He whispered.
“You too,” I said.
He laughed and turned to Kylia, he gave her an extra long hug, kissed her on the cheek and tuned to walk out of the gates. He turned around again and gave one last wave.
Goodbye.
Kylia was crying, I wanted more than anything to hug her, but I held back.
“I’m going to go pack,” She said when the black car was gone, no longer in sight to either of us.
“I’ll meet you up there,” I said. She nodded and went inside.
I walked around the school, following the cement sidewalk like path that weaved through the small baby trees. The path led me to the very center of the school.
The giant tree with the two angels came into view, I sat down in front of Sophie’s and pulled a picture out of my pocket.
It was one of me and her in third grade, playing house beneath the very same tree. We used to call it the magic tree, making wishes to it that had a scary habit of coming true.
I put one hand on the rough bark, don’t let me fail. I wished. Then I put the picture of us leaning next to Sophie’s name.
Somehow I knew my life had been forever changed, this was now. Everything else was distant, memories I would confuse with dreams, dreams I would confuse with memories. Nothing would ever be the same, something had been put into motion and we were all here for the ride. For the journey. For life, and for death.
Goodbye.
Lately I’ve been saying that a lot.
