High Tides

Chapter Two: Tove

It was about 10:00 AM, give or take. Dolly was next to me, sound asleep. Her soft, blonde hair tips tickled my nose, and I grabbed her hips too pull her closer to me. Sinking my face in her neck, and smelling the light scent of her rose perfume, she wiggled in my arms, giggling that cute little laugh of hers. Everything about her was cute, but I just loved her laugh. 

"Good morning, vampire man,"she said in her high-pitched voice."I see you're about to dine on my blood."

I smiled, moving up so I can look at her. She bit her lip and wrinkled her nose, looking at me excitedly like I had a present for her. I smiled because she smiled, and that always makes me smile. 

"I'd eat you,"I said, getting up, and she pulled me down by my t-shirt as she whispered "stay" silently,"but you're not food."

"What do you eat, vampie man?"Dolly said as she rolled over and looked at me upside down.

"I eat babies."I said, and headed out to the hallway.

She quickly followed after me, and we walked to the kitchen in sock feet, careful not to make noise so my parents don't come down and make a scandal. We both put on big coats from the closet and headed outside into the winter air. We both shivered and huddled next to each other, making our way to my dad's red truck, or "the man truck", as he said, because mom was always too afraid to drive it (mostly due to her being petite..), and her excuse was that it was "too manly and unsuitable for a lady". I rolled my eyes when she said that, because when I had first met Dolly she was zooming down the freeway in an even bigger truck with total control to get her mother to the hospital. 

Because Dolly was like that. She was a really strong woman, but a really strong woman who smoothed out her pretty dress and twirled her finger in her hair when she was done. Perfectly in the middle. Perfectly normal and perfectly abnormal in the best of ways. 

In the truck, we drove down to the diner. It was nice, bright, and sunny, but still really cold. Dolly's light cheeks turned pink and she turned up the heat full blast in the car. I sweat in my coat, turning it off when it was too much to bare. She frowned at me, and then smiled to come and sit on my lap. Very uncomfortable, but it was keeping her warm. I will never understand why she is always so cold and I the complete opposite. Once we got to the diner, all was quiet as we walked in and took a seat where we usually sit, except it would be after school and nearly 1:00 AM. We both just finished college and knew what we wanted to do, we just didn't want to do it yet. I can't really explain it. I want to take one of those vacations where you relax until you get so bored you desperately want to go back to work. With Dolly around, I doubt that day will come soon, maybe even never. Dolly can't sit still: just like me. When she sat down quickly, all I felt was the hugest knot in my stomach, as if someone had hit me. Dolly saw the face I gave, and looked sad. 

"Tove, what's wrong?"She said, and when I didn't ask her she said it again."Tove, what's wrong?"

All of a sudden, I felt a surge of pain as my head began to throb. I made a silent "ow" noise, and then I felt....sad. I juest felt sad. The world I was in began to erase around me, and all there was left was white sadness. Something in my chest dragged me down like a sinking rock in a deep, pink and red ocean. Then I saw Feliciy. 

She was crying.

On the floor, she lay there, scrawled half under blankets and the insides of a pill bottle lay scattered around her. She looked to hurt. I had to help her. All of a sudden, I was in her room. I couldn't move. She looked right through me, as if I was a ghost. I had the deepest urge to get her off the ground and throw her into her bed so I could hold her and she could tell me what was wrong so I could help her and just be there for her, hold her while she cried and told me who did this to her-