Young Writers Society

That night, Alex dreamed of her mother.

In the dream, they were in Disneyland. It was a perfect sunny day, and her mother was glowing and happy, and looked like a princess dressed in white. She held Alex's hand the entire time. But as soon as the dream came, it was gone, faded away to nothing.

She woke in the middle of the night, in the motel room, next to Jay. The windows were frosted over. It was the second week of May, and it was probably freezing outside. Maybe she and Jay could go south. To somewhere it was warm. Alex started to hear something hit the windows. She realized it was hail and sighed. She was tired of these endless winters.

Jay was sound asleep. She watched him for a moment, hoping he’d wake and put his arms around her, reassure her, make her feel safe. She was shaken. It had only been a dream. But it had felt so real.

“Jay,” she said.

His eyes opened. Without speaking, he showed her that he was listening.“I had another dream about my mom.”

Jay pursed his lips and sat up. He didn’t speak, but his eyes gave her the signal. Tell me about it. I’m listening.

“It was so real,” Alex continued

He took her hand. “I’m here,” he said. He outstretched his arms and pulled her close.

She remembered how her father would often hold her mother the way that Jay held her now. He held Marcia that way too, but it wasn’t the same thing.

She wondered what the two of them were doing now. How they’d reacted to her note. How people at school would react when they realized she wouldn’t be coming back. She hadn’t called Edna at the bookstore, reasoning that she would the next time they had the opportunity. She’d come up with an excuse, and Edna would replace her just as easily as she’d been hired.

The two of them fell asleep, just like that.

As the weeks passed by, they fell into a routine. Drive. Stop to eat and for gas. Spend some time in the forests, just the two of them. Have sex. Before long it had become no big deal.

It was something Alex had been so terrified of before, and yet she wasn’t sure why. While it was amazing, being with him, she found herself wishing they could go to the movies and why she couldn’t call him her boyfriend.

Still, this was better. All she’d ever wanted was for someone to love her, and she’d found herself a man who was not only handsome, but the smartest man she’d ever met. He told her about philosophy, about how brilliant the ancient Greeks and Romans had been, about John Locke and Thomas Hobbes and their ideas. And it was exciting, never being in one place for more than a night.

Soon the days ran into each other. Jay became more distant. He wouldn’t respond to her touch. She would try to start conversation and he would give short, clipped answers. It had been weeks since they’d last had sex. He was upset with her, though Alex had no idea what she’d done, and she didn’t think to ask him. Alex realized during all of this that he’d never told her that he loved her, but maybe he didn’t need to. They’d been through so much together already, and he hadn’t abandoned her.

One morning, they were driving through the mountains, through some of the nicest houses that she’d ever seen. Alex drove. She and Jay hadn’t said a word in hours.

That was when Alex saw the girl, her thumb outstretched. Dressed in plaid. She was pretty. Proper. Thought put into her appearance. She was going to drive by, but Jay made her stop.

The girl got in. She was crying.

She took off her gloves. Were those silk? They had to be.

She was really pretty.

Her name was Sasha.

And from then on, she would never leave the two of them.