Letters to Adonis

Chapter:: Seven

Dear Adonis,

The perk about having a degenerative disease is that your father doesn’t have the heart to tell you no to spending the night at your boyfriend’s house. Well, I’m sure he fumed about it when I told him where I was going. It was almost comical. Here’s how it went:

“Bye Dad, I’m going to stay at Michelle’s house. See you tomorrow!” I almost make it out the door, a grin on my face.

“Wait a second, get in here.” My dad had his stern voice.

“What is it?” I smile sweetly at him, still trying to get on his good side after our argument last week. I never brought it up again, and he never repeated that I had to go see mom.

“Are you going over to Adonis’s?” he asks. And me, being the honest person you know, answered honestly of course.

“Yes. Is this the part where you tell me I can’t do that because he’s my boyfriend? And especially because he’s a boy?” I ask him, almost flatly.

“Use protection.” My dad puts his glasses back on and goes back to reading. I hesitated, there must be a catch.

“I know this may sound stupid, but why are you letting me go?” I should have just run out when I had the chance, but I was dying to know.

“These are stories for your good days. And I rather know where you are then have you lie to me. Now get out of the house before I find a reason to keep you here.” Dad says this with a smile on his face, and I hug him before I run out of the house.

The walk to your house is better this time, even though it’s at night. Your mom would freak out if she saw me sleeping in your bed, which is why I’m going to attempt to climb up through your window. You called me early this morning and we talked about the plan.

When I show up in front of your pretty house, I throw three pebbles at your window. Your light flickers on immediately, as if you were waiting right by the light switch. You throw window open, and gently remove the screen in it before tossing out a sheet with knots about seven inches from each other. I smile at you; you smile down and blow me a kiss. I catch it and put it in my pocket before maneuvering through your pointy bushes to get to the side of the house. I’m not nervous, I can only think of how fun this is going to be. How great of a story it will be, and I start climbing.

“Be careful,” You say as I am two feet away from your window. I focus on my feet, watching my sneaker covered foot scrape against the house. I could feel my hands starting to shake, and I tried to be a little quicker. When I was almost there, my leg locked up and I let go so I had one hand holding on, whenever my leg locked up I had to massage it. It wasn’t smart, because I could feel myself sliding down the sheet.

“Adonis, help me. My leg locked up.” I cry out, trying not to be loud. It’s a scary thing; I thought my body would at least cooperate with me while I do this. I can’t tell you how it feels to not control a twitch of your finger, a tremble of your hand, or when your leg locks up. I compare it to having a best friend who is supposed to keep your secrets, and then turns around and tells them in the end for a great story. I’m the great story, Adonis. Except instead of being great I’m just a girl who can’t control her body much anymore.

“I got you.” You promise me, and I believe you. Even though it feels like you have the lightest of holds on my arms. You pull me up, and you’re holding me. I’m not crying, because by now I know I shouldn’t trust my body anymore. It is sad, but I can’t fix it by crying. I mumble thank you and push you away, before lying on your bed. I lay down so I’m facing the wall, and you come up behind me and lay down, grabbing me and pulling me closer to you.