Prestent Pictures-- Part Two

After dinner was over, it was already started to get dark. Instead of staying and just writing in my notebook all night, it would probably be fun to go out and look at the stars. I thought to myself. On the deck, I saw the guy that started the fight between me and Khris. I really didn’t feel like going over and talking to him, so I went and got a drink from the juice bar. It was sweet, but a little bitter. Just like Khris, I thought to myself. I turned around, to look off the side of the boat into the water. I walked over to the far side of the boat, as if I wanted to put as much distance between me and blonde boy. When I got over there, Khris was standing at the edge, leaning on the rail.

“You know,” I said, startling him. He turned around to face me. He pushed his hair back and sighed. “You know, if you lean out to far, someone could threaten to push you, and then you would fall to your death. And let me tell ya’, I’m a pretty good lifeguard, but no way am I jumping into an ocean with sharks to save you. Love ya lots, but no.”

“Ha-ha your soo funny. Come here.” I walked over to him, and he took me into his arms. “I’m sorry for earlier. I know I should’ve never started that, and I should’ve known that you would only get really mad. Well..i did kinda know that you would be mad. But-well-yeah. Forgive me?”

I sighed, not knowing if I should. “Yeah, I guess I do. Its just you cant ever push me like that. But if you ever do it again, I won’t EVER forgive you. And that’s a promise, not a threat.”

He laughed, resting his chin on my head, and holding me from the back. “I took a nap when you were giving me the cold shoulder. I dreamt that I went missing, and that you were worried, and that no one else cared. No one at all. They didn’t care if I lived or if I died. In my dream, I dreamt that I was just alone. I was in a log cabin, in the middle of nowhere, and I didn’t know anything. When I woke up, I was in my room, and I couldn’t figure out where I was, not until my mom walked in, checking on me.” I nodded, surprised by his sudden long speech. “It scared me, you know? Well I guess you don’t. I dreamt that no one cared, and no one would listen to you. It makes me think, you know maybe I should care more. I mean about you, about my family, about, well, everything. Because you never know, your life could end right now, and there would be nothing we could do about it.” Once again, I nodded. He was so right, just so right, and I didn’t know how he knew that.

“Are you ok?” I asked him, because he looked as if he was hurt.

“I’m o-“just as soon as he started to say to say something, somebody walked up and interrupted us.

“Dude, seriously, I don’t like the fact that you have your arms around a girl that you’re not going out with. I mean, you need to choose, are you going out with her or not?” Blonde boy was standing right behind us, and he looked mad. He had the I-want-to-kill face on, and I wasn’t sure if it was just an act, or if he wanted to seriously kill Khris.

Instead of Khris talking to blonde boy, he pushed me aside and started to tense up. And before I knew it, they were fighting. It went by in a blur, but the last thing I saw was blonde-boy pinning Khris to the side rail…..and then it broke. Khris started to scream as he fell off the boat into the unforgiving seas. The I-want-to-kill face disappeared, and was replaced by a face of worry, of concern, and o, well, being scared. I was screaming, and I crouched down on the side of the boat and reached down as if I was to catch him, as if I was to grab his hand. He had one hand up trying to get me, and the other was just flailing around him. I leaned over, but a strong pair of hands grabbed my waist, and then pulled me back up, keeping me from falling too. A few tourists had heard our screams, a few people saw the catastrophe, and now lifeguards were coming, the coast guard that was stationed on this boat was coming, and the boat actually stopped.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Present Day

To my surprise, I started to cry. I didn’t remember any of this, nothing at all. Knowing that the last thing we had talked about was dying and disappearing was kind of ironic because it actually happened. For a few minutes I just sat there, in a trance. But then the phone rang. I pushed everything off of my lap, and I ran downstairs. The only person who I thought might be calling me was Ma, but it wasn’t. “Hello?” I said breathlessly.

“Jezzabella? You answered. Good. I wanted to say, however much you know, you can tell people. Please don’t, you have to come find me eventually, but seriously, don’t tell.” I could tell it was a male, and it did sound like the person who called from before.

“I won’t. Ok, I promise.. But tell me one thing. I have to know this. Please?” I asked.

“’Pends on what it is.” That just verified who it was. The only person in the whole world who said “Pends” was Khris. But I had to ask anyway, it was killing me to know.

“Who are you? Are You Khris? Are you ok? Where are you?”

He paused for a second. “That was four. Ok, ill tell you, but you have to keep this a secret. Deal?”

I thought for a second. What if this wasn’t Khris, it was some stalker just messing with my mind. What if this is blonde boy, whom I haven’t seen since the cruise. “Deal. Now spill.”

“Ok, Jezzabelles, Don’t freak, but yes this is me Khris. YOU CANT TELL. Now go finish reading, and call back when i can. OK?”

“Ok.” I couldn’t breath. For the second time, my world was crashing down on me. And you know what? I think this time was for the better good of it.”But wait. Where are you? Are you ok? Why didn’t you call me before? Are you ok?

“And one more thing.” HE shut me up. When I didn’t reply, he continued. “Jezzabelles, don’t forget that I still miss you, and I care about you. Don’t forget that. Ever.” And then the phone clicked. HE had hung up. Slowly, I walked back up stairs, slowly. I opened the journal-notebook to the next page. Its date was several months later. I couldn’t make out the picture perfectly, but It looked like a candle, with a girls soft hands holding it, and air swirling around them, as if to portray time moving in a fast motion.

___________________________________________

September 2, 2008

It has been a while since I’ve written. I don’t know how I should make through this, and how I’m going to last through school. Blonde boy and I have been talking on the phone. He’s careful not to mention anything about Khris though. I want to know, I want to know! Why haven’t people been talking about him? Schools already going by in a blur. I never understand what were covering. I know that this isn’t the year I need to be messing up, because it’s my junior year. It worries me every night that they never found the body, never found a trace. What did his parents think? What do my parents think?