The Night (Marcanne)

Prologue

I- I'm sorry... for everything...

My eyes rolled backwards and everything went black. For a moment.

I was in a park. Our park. The park was attached to so many memories. 

I didn't particularly want to see this one.

I could see Anne and I on the swings. Sasha smiled at us from the top of the fence before a buzz in her pocket made her jump. She pulled out her phone and her face twisted into a disgusted look.

"Ugh! My stupid parents are making me come home early. Apparently my aunt's sick or something..." 

She said it like it tasted bitter on her tongue.

"Oh okay. Bye Sash!" Anne waved her off as we watched her open the gate and-

"WATCH OUT!" I yelled as she was about to walk into me, not the me on the swings, but me me. No heads turned, no one took notice when I screamed bloody murder.

She walked straight through me.

Weird.

Now it was just Anne and I. And me now.

"Have you revised for the chemistry test?" Anne said.

"I don't need to." I said.

Anne nodded and looked into the sun, which was setting in front of us. 

I hated this small talk. I got embarrassed re-living this moment even now. 

"Want to play three letters?" I awkwardly blurted out, blushing.

"Marcy, you know I'm not as smart as you. I don't know what that is."

"Well basically, you think of a word with three letters in. Then I say a word that is three letters long, randomly. Get it?"

"Mhm."

"You would say how many letters I got right, for example if you chose 'key' and I said 'see', you would say one letter in the right place, because the e is in the right place."

"This is so confusing."

"It'll make more sense when we play."

"Okay, I'm trusting you, Mar-mar."

I smiled and continued, swinging a little.

"But if I said 'ear', you would say one letter in the wrong place, because I got it right because the e is in the word, but in the wrong place."

"So if I said 'tie' but the word was 'cat', that's one letter in the wrong place,' Anne said, smiling from ear to ear as she begun to understand.

"Yes! And the aim of the game is to guess the three letter word by using what you know," I said, excited that Anne had got it.

"Okay! Let me think of a word... Got one!" Anne exclaimed.

"Uhhh... cep." I said.

"What the hell does that mean?"

I giggled. "It's a type of mushroom, silly! You don't need to know the word to be able to say how accurate it is."

"Well how do I know you aren't making it up?"

"It's my game, why would I cheat?"

"Fair point. Anyways... no letters." Anne stated.

"Okay, uh... car."

"Ooooh, two letters in the right place!"

I fist bumped the air in celebration.

"Yes! Okay uh, bar."

"Two letters in the right place!"

"You see, now I know the letters in the right place are the 'a' and 'r'"

"A plus English student right here." Anne finger gunned and winked at me.

I blushed and looked at the floor.

"Far."

"Two letters in the right place."

"Gar," I said and Anne's face scrunched in a puzzled way. "It's a fish."

"Okay uh, still two letters."

"Oh come on! I give up!" I shouted, throwing my arms in the air.

"It was Mar."

"That's not even a word!"

"It's my word for you!"

"My nickname is Mar-mar."

"Close enough," she said, trying to keep a straight face before we both burst out laughing. 

We didn't realise we were making memories, we were just having fun.

Anne's phone buzzed in her pocket. 

"Oh crab apples! I'm so sorry Marcy, I have to go, I totally lost track of time..."

"That's okay. I'll see you later," I said.

The me outside the gate winced. I knew what was happening next.

I watched as I leaned in and gently kissed Anne on the cheek.

Her entire face went bright red and she ran out of the gate, not even saying goodbye. 

Walking closer to me on the swing, I heard loud sobs. I sat down next to myself. I was 12. 

"It's going to be okay," I whispered, putting an arm on past me's shoulder.

To my surprise, she jumped and looked at me directly in the eyes. For a second, something flashed in them. A swipe of fire, like a sword. Everything went black again.