Dreaming Is for the Free

Sixteen

7/29/2022

Stella knows something is up. I want to tell her, but I'm scared she'll tell everyone. It's really hard to feel excited about my engagement when I can only enjoy it with one person. L is special but I have other people in my life as well. I want to tell everyone, but now's not the time.

7/30/2022

Starting to feel like L is a little controlling. He doesn't want to meet my parents. He doesn't want me to further my education. It's almost as if he wants to isolate me from everything I've ever known. I keep thinking, how did I miss the signs? Was he always like this? Or did he wait until he thought he had a firm hold on me? Either way, I know when to walk away. And I think it's time. Crazy how things change in a matter of hours.

Apparently Charlotte didn't want to be with L anymore. I need to wake up Maya. She probably isn't even asleep yet. She's a night owl and it's only 11:10pm.

I shuffle over to her room. I barge in just like she did to me when she told me to turn on the news. And to my enjoyment, she's just as shocked.

"Damn, you scared me!"

Maya was in the process of putting on a shirt, causing me to catch a glimpse of side boob. It makes this whole scene that much more amusing.

Maya finishes putting on her shirt. I sit on her desk chair. We are in the same position that we were in when we were in my room, but the roles are now reversed.

"Okay so about the search, there's more to the story." I start.

"I knew it. Tell me." Maya urges.

"Well after I found Charlotte's journal, I took pictures of the pages. I have them on my phone. I was just looking through them and I think we should go over them together."

Maya closes the space between us so fast that I don't even have time to react.

"Why didn't you say anything? Never mind. Scratch that. I know why."

I inform Maya that I have read six pages but there are six more. I give her time to read the ones that I have already read. Her commentary pretty much matches the thoughts I was having while reading it. We have questions about who L is. As a result, we're going to go through all the posts on Charlotte's social media pages to see if we can find anyone we think could be her possible boyfriend turned fiancé turned stalker.

Once Maya has caught up to the page I'm on, we climb onto her bed to finish reading the remaining six entries. Both of us are clinching on to one another for dear life. But the saga continues.

7/31/2022

I'm single AGAIN. That was a short lived engagement. Now I'm happy I didn't tell anybody. That's embarrassing. I still have the ring though. I don't know how to go about getting it back to him. I tried to last night, but he just walked away. Maybe I'll mail it. I don't want to see him anytime soon. Last night, he scared the hell out of me. He seemed even shocked at his own anger. So let's just say, he didn't take the breakup so well. But I'm relieved. As for now, I'm keeping the ring somewhere no one will find it. It's my secret hideout. Stella knows about this hideout but she hasn't been there in years. It'll stay there until I know what to do.

"We gotta find out who this 'L' son of a bitch is." Maya pulls away slightly.

"How hard do you think that's gonna be?" I ask.

Maya shrugs her shoulders in response. "Hell if I know."

8/1/2022

I think L is stalking me. I also know this isn't going to end well. I've seen the movies. Crazy people never quit.