10 years earlier
“You know I love you right?”
The little girl in that white dress swung her legs back and forth, back and forth, her eyes never leaving the boy’s face. Eyes, beautiful aquamarine eyes danced with joy. She watched as he formed the words and then laughed. He liked her laugh; it was soft and airy. A gentle breeze fluttered past, ruffling the girl’s skirt.
“You don’t even know what love is,” She whispered, “but I do.”
She leaned forward and kissed the boy. She intended to do it on the cheek but he turned his head to look at her in the last second and they met head on. The girl broke the kiss after a few seconds and stared into the older boy’s face. He was blushing like a ripe tomato, and she smiled and laughed again. She stopped laughing abruptly and turned her face into the wind. He watched her warily.
“We can’t do this anymore,” She whispered. “I know you love me but I have to leave.”
“No!” the boy shouted before he could stop himself. He lowered his voice down to a whisper as he turned her head to meet his eyes, “Why would you go? I can’t live without you.”
“I have to,” She shouted, “You don’t understand! My family has to leave! I can’t stay and you can’t come with me.” She was crying now and the boy wrapped his arms around her. The girl tried to break away from him but he held her there. She could hear his heart beating. At last she turned her face up to his. “I don’t want to leave you but I have to. I do love you. The question is: do feel the same?”
He answered her in the form of a kiss. Many, actually, that morphed into another act of sobbing committed by the desperate girl. When the hysterics stopped, he walked her home for what would prove to be the last time in a very long time.
She was very, very late. She almost ran headlong into the manager of her building and was apologizing when she plowed into another person she didn’t recognize and all of her papers fluttered to the ground. She cursed quietly as her papers slipped out of their folder.
“5 hours hard work wasted!” She muttered as she hit her knees in order to re-assemble the chaotic mess that was her presentation. She felt a slight wind next to her and, when she looked up, she found herself staring into a pair of most familiar hazel eyes. She thought she saw them widen as he looked back down onto the floor where their papers were mixed in a pile from hell. She cursed again as she let her mind wander. Do I know him?
They managed to get everything straitened out with minimum attention, time, and cursing; and they went their separate ways. The girl-a woman now- let her mind wander to the party she would be attending at the bar where she would be the designated driver, but in the back of her mind the question remained. Do I know him?
She met her own blue eyes in the mirror. Golden brown curls framed her face and she saw the blue-black of her shirt in the corner of the mirror. She sighed. How did she get sucked into this again? She didn’t even want to go. To be hit on by drunken guys drooling all over themselves, she shuddered at the thought.
Her hands went to the bunch of curl that was shorter than the others. She remembered the burn on her skull from the fire she was accused of setting. She shuddered again. No-one should go through that, ever. She could almost smell the smoke; she could hear the firemen yelling. ‘There’s no-one left! We got them all!’ she heard a fireman scream. Her vision went black as she was sucked into the memory.
She had awakened with a start, the vision of her boy already fading. She was suddenly alert; it was too quiet. Then she heard it, the distant wale of police sirens, and she smelled the smoke. It was acid in her lungs and she began to cough. She couldn’t breath and she began to panic. Her instincts told her to hit the ground and grab anything within reach to put over her mouth. She found his hoodie from the night before and jammed it over her mouth. The coughing stopped as she inhaled clean air. She knew from common sense that it wouldn’t work forever. She began to search for an exit.
On her hands and knees, she crawled over to the door and reached for the doorknob. She stopped just in time as she saw the flicker of fire from the crack under the door. She screamed through clothe and decided to risk it; she got up and ran toward her window. She slid into her table and gasped as it made contact with her leg. She felt the blood streaming as she ran the rest of the way to her window and threw it open.
She jumped just as the flames burst into her room. She felt a searing pain on her back in the seconds before she was falling through the air from her second story window and landed in a snowdrift. She got up and ran barefoot through the snow to her front yard. What she saw made her scream again. Her house was up in flames. In her yard, the entire neighbor hood, the fire department, and the police were staring at her house. Her neighbor was the first to see her, a Mr. Clodsworth. She looked from him to her house and she saw his eyes widen.
She ducked between two firemen and ran toward her house just before Mr. Clodsworth screamed for someone to grab her. Tears streamed down her face as one of the firemen grabbed her arm and held on. She kicked and fought, she had to get to her house! Her parents. They needed her. It was no use. She sobbed and screamed, but stopped fighting.
Suddenly, he was standing in front of her. She gasped and hugged him tight. He cried with her and whispered into her hair, “I’m glad you’re safe.”
“My parents,” She whispered. “Are they. . ?”
He looked away, answering her question. They cried together, tears for all the wrong and injustice of the world. She had grown up then, and had become rational even at times when she didn’t want to be. When she wanted to kick and scream and cry. From that day forward she never cried. Not when they had taken her into interrogation and accused her of killing her parents, not when they sent her into foster care and away from the one she loved. She never showed emotion except when she was with him.
She shook her head. Who was him and where had that memory come from? She turned off her thoughts and went to find the car keys.
She focused on the road as a soft melody floated in the background. She turned left into her friends’ driveway. She smiled at all the cars that would remain here until the morning as she turned her car off and stuck the keys into the pocket of her jeans. She got out and walked up the driveway to the door, and let herself in.
“Are we ready for a party tonight?” she asked. Her friends smiled as she floated in, cheerful as ever. They both knew she didn’t want to go, but she would anyway. That’s why they loved her.
Mary Smith had bright blonde hair and a calm, collected personality…well when it didn’t come to boys. Her brilliant blue eyes and skinny little figure got her as much attention as she wanted, and some she didn’t. She took everything to heart and cried at the slightest push. She was polar opposites of the girl on her left.
Amanda Paige had fiery red hair and a temper to match. She was beautiful, with her green eyes and large frame. She ignored most boys that came on to her, and only a choice few were invited to stay. In the time she had known Mary and the girl in the white dress, there had only been 3 guys invited to stay….and only one lasted the night.
They had all met in foster care and run away together. Perhaps the strangest thing about them was the fact that the third girl in their group, the leader, had never given them her name. It was not odd to them at all; in fact, they never asked for her name. She was just there, a part of their small group of friends, assigned.
In the time it took to get her friends ready, the woman with the golden brown hair had redone her make-up, re-combed her hair, and started drawing on a napkin. The screen on the kitchen stove said that the time was almost ten O’clock when her friends walked into the living room. She sighed. It was going to be a long night.
As the girls approached the bar, the woman with the golden brown hair sensed something was wrong. She scanned the faces for anyone familiar and waved to the others to go on ahead. Sitting on one of the stools, the feeling of dread decreased, and then disappeared. She felt drained and sank her head into her hands.
“Are you okay?” The voice was kind, concerned, and unmistakably male. Without glancing up she answered.
“I won’t sleep with you if that’s what you want. If it’s something else, then I am just tired.” When she heard him snicker, she lifted her head to looking into his eyes. Aquamarine eyes full of laughter. She recognized those eyes.
“Oh my God,” She whispered. “You don’t remember me.”
His eyes changed from laughter to confusion. Nope….he didn’t remember her. Then he snapped his fingers. “I knocked you down this morning! I’m still sorry for that by the way.”
She shook her head in disbelief.
“I…” That’s as far as she got before her phone buzzed. Mary’s name appeared on the screen.
It’s Amanda. Mary already left. We found some boys. They’re twins! : D You have the night to yourself. Enjoy and see you tomorrow!!!
The girl with golden brown hair smiled at the boy. “Look like I’m yours tonight…do you have a car?”
His house was wonderful; it was simple and homey, all grays and blacks. She smiled as he held the door open for her. He had driven her here after she had dropped her car off at her house. He had smiled sweetly when she climbed into the passenger side. If only you knew, she thought.
He nodded toward the sofa. “I’ll go get us some wine.” He stated calmly and strode through a door on the wall to the woman’s left.
Rising, she admired a small painting of a village on one of the walls. She took everything in: a small window on the wall to her left, the couch to her right; a hallway undoubtedly leading to the bedrooms in front of her; the door to the kitchen behind her. So this is how he lived: simply.
She heard the door open behind her; he was back with the wine. It never got to her. He set two glasses and the wine down on the table and, without her turning around, slid his arms around her waist. He softly kissed her neck and she shivered.
“Do you do this often?” Her voice came out in almost a whisper as she spun around to look at him.
He chuckled, “Nope…almost never.” He smiled at her.
“Why me?” Her voice came out soft, even to her own ears it was hard to hear.
He seemed puzzled, stunned even. “I don’t know. I just like you I guess.”
She turned her back to him, talking to the wall. “You feel drawn to me. I feel it. I think I know why.”
He spun her around and gave her a wolfish grin, “Enlighten me.”
She stopped moving for a second and then pushed him onto the sofa. He, not being prepared, fell and she stood in front of him.
“You do not remember me, but I remember you,” she whispered. “A little girl, learning to love, was torn down by her father knowing too much. Her father paid the price, along with her mother. They died in a fire the little girl was accused of setting. That girl was sent into foster care and escaped. She never saw her love again.” By this point she is staring off into space, her eyes distant. “Never again, she swore, would she fall for someone who could not stay. She was heartbroken when she left and the boy did not follow her.” She sighed, and looked at the man on the sofa. He had tears running down his cheeks. She smiled sadly, walked over to him, and sat in his lap. She wiped away his tears and smiled again.
“That girl was me.”
Then she kissed him. He melted into her. He believed her. It was over.
He pulled away. There were the tears again. “It’s really you! I love you…”
She kissed him again and answered, “I love you too.”
“What’s your name?” He asked. She smiled at him and winked.
“Don’t you remember?” she was teasing him. He smiled and nodded.
Taking her hand, he picked himself up from the sofa and then he lifted her into the air. He carried her down the hallway and set her on the bed. Smiling, he whispered her name into her ear.
“Time”
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