Crystal Clear

Chapter Twenty Two

GABBY

And oh my gosh, what in the world am I supposed to wear tomorrow? It's a real date-date and I don't want to be too Crystal on him... I just want to be...I want to be just right.

Man, I am tired. I turn my light off and go under the sheets.

I've been here before. I remember the way each warped and worn step creaked beneath my feet, each producing a slightly different note. A sort of musical instrument. A splintering melody. The distorted, threatening soundtrack that had accompanied my escape. But this time I'm going up, going back, going mad. The awful music plays backwards.

I'm on the floor, I've fallen out of bed, my body is twisted in the blanket, screaming at the top of my lungs. I fell on Dee, when the hell did she even get in my bed? She's screaming in pain.

"What the HELL Crys!?" she shouts. Then my dad comes in to find two girls on top of each other, screaming their heads off at one another.

"I'm sorry, I had a bad dream," I explain, I'm crying and shaking on the floor, my voice quivering. My dad looks startled.

"Yeah so next time you decide to go sky-diving off your bed, please warn me," Dee's cranky, as it's around three in the morning.

"I didn't mean to—," I start.

"Okay, whatever Crys," Dee's nonchalant. "Sorry—I meant Gabby," she spits. "I'm sleeping in the tub tonight because I don't want to be having another heart attack and the shit beat out of me. I should've just slept at Joe's," she drags the blanket and her pillow with her and slams the bathroom door behind her.

"Are you okay?" my dad's being kind.

"Alright, just back to sleep. Everything's okay. I'm going to work in about an hour. I'll see you later, sleep easy," he kisses my forehead and leaves. This is the first time he's shown affection since I've been here.

I didn't mean to, but I wake up at three in the afternoon. Well, I'll admit it, I do love summer! I didn't even wake up on my own either, Matty came bursting in, dragging me out of my bed to my closet to get dressed.

"We're going to the pond!" he's squealing. I nod, fine, I guess.

I'm half asleep, I put on a bikini and boyfriend shorts to cover up my bottom. I put my flip flops on that were thrown into my closet from the other day. Dee says she's not coming, she's too tired and wants to sleep. Matty and I go just the two of us instead. It's so refreshing—the walk over, in the bright sunlight. When we reach it, I notice a small, very small, water fall that I didn't notice from last time, probably because I was more nervous the last time. We strip off our clothes, flinging our shoes off our feet, I take off the boyfriend shorts to reveal my bikini bottom. We decide to explore the water fall, Matty is a total dare devil and wants to climb up it. In fact, he climbs right up to the top then jumps down with the water, totally fearless. I do as well now. I love it. Matty and I do it multiple times, the same repetitive climbing and then jumping from the top into the water below. It is a lot of fun.

I get out of the water and go over to the tree where we'd put our clothes. My cell phone rings.

"Hello?" I answer.

"HELLO! It's your mother! Do you remember that I exist?! Why haven't you called me!? Or even answered the phone once?! I've been so worried about you!" My mother shrieks.

I chuckle to myself.

Matty is whining for me to get off the phone and go back into the pond.

"Oh, don't worry about me mom. I'm starting to actually like it here, you know. I like that I can go out at night and not have to worry about whose behind me," even though in Jersey I never came close to almost being raped/kidnapped like I was here, but there's no point in mentioning that detail.

"What have you been doing? How's Dee? I heard she met someone," How does my mom know about Joe? "Have you met anyone?" she asks.

"A couple..." I tell her.

"Well, guess who stops by the house nearly every day to leave you a little somethin'. You guessed right, Tony. Sweetie, he's obsessed with you!" I laugh.

"Mom, can I call you later? I'm out with Matty and my phone's dying,"
"Alright honey. You better call me back later. I'll be waiting."

"'Kay, bye mom,"
"You promise?"
"Sure,"
"Okay. Love you Crystal."

I hang up the phone, drop my cell phone back into the pile of clothes. I jump back into the water with Matty, which splashes him.

Three hours later Matty and I decide to start walking home. Once we get home, I take a shower in the downstairs bathroom then go upstairs to my room. Dee's in my bed asleep. I still have a few hours to kill. I change into boy boxers and a racer back tank then go back downstairs to see what Matty's doing. He's not in the living room. I knock on his bedroom door.

"Who is it?"

"Gabby," Matty opens the door to his very messy room.

"Do you want to go out for a bit?" he shakes his head no. Behind Matty, his sheets and blankets were on the floor.

"I'm making a fort. Yesterday when I was at Ian's we made a fort, wanna help?" I shrug. Why not? I have nothing better to do.

I start grabbing pillows and start building a fort with my baby brother.