Moments of Collapse

Chapter 8 - A nickname

"Finally, you're awake." Elizabeth said as she slung our blanket through the window and back into the house. I sat there, in the rain on the roof, hardly able to hang onto what had just happened.
It was a dream, nothing more.
My subconscious reminds me.

Maybe that's what those voices were inside my head in the dream. My subconscious was talking to me, telling me all that I needed to move on. But how could I tell myself something I wasn't aware of? Did something happen to my parents? Or was it all just supposed to be a nightmare?

"What are you doing? Get in here." She said, holding her arms out from inside the window. I crawled over to her, my wet clothing clinging to my skin. I let her wrap me in her embrace and pull me into the house. A warmness happily engulfed me as I was pulled from the rain. Perhaps the heater was just working really well today.

"Did you have a nightmare?" She calmly asked. She probably noticed how lost I was, how I looked frozen in confusion. "Yeah. I think so." I wiped a bead of water that was rolling down my face. "How come you don't know for sure?" She looked at me with a confused look that couldn't add up to how I felt.

"I just--I think so. I dunno." I lowered my head and watched as drops of rain fell from my forehead onto my lap.

"So," the bed shifted as Elizabeth stood from it. "We should probably change our clothes." I lifted my head to look at her, a smile on her face as she tried to conceal a laugh. I laughed and she laughed along with me. "We should have checked the weather before sleeping on the roof." I chuckled lightly.

"No, you should have checked." Elizabeth nudged my side as I dug into my closet for clothes both of us could wear. "It takes two people." I held up two fingers over my shoulder, imitating our health teacher when he's talking about sex and STDs. She burst into laughter after catching on to who I was mimicking.
"You're such a dork."

"Thanks, I embrace it." I said as I slung an outfit behind me and into her face. "Oh, no, you don't have to let me wear any of your clothes I can just go--"
"Shut up. Of course I have to, you're soaked and it's because of me." I interrupted her.
"You're not that great." She said sarcastically. I scoffed, "You know I didn't mean it sexually." I playfully punched her arm.
"Whatever," she muttered, a smile on her face.

♥☻♥☻♥☻♥

Marina seemed out of it, like something that happened in her dream made her question reality. I've asked her already if it was a nightmare and she wasn't really sure but she seemed so upset. I probably should have asked more questions just to get her talking about it so she could get it off her mind but the furrowing of her eyebrows only deepened as she lowered her head after each question asked. So I stopped.

Marina gave me an outfit to change into even though I was going to leave to go get some dry clothes for myself. My parents are probably wondering where I am anyway. I used to stay out a lot and get into trouble with friends. Usually, I'd come home on the arm of a police officer my dad was friends with but if we did something a little worse than usual I'd spend the night in jail and wait for my parents to pick me up. That was during sophomore year when I thought I was awesome for being in high school.

"Hey, what time is it?" Marina's voice sounded sort of muffled. I let out an awkward "Oo" sound as I faced the girl in front of me taking off her shirt. I covered my eyes and looked down, even though I felt like I shouldn't, like I didn't want to. 

She burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh my god, have you never seen a shirtless girl before?"
"Marina, I am a girl."
"Why are you so shy then? Come on, just change." She said as she slid the dry shirt over her head.
"I think I'll pass and maybe find a way to the bathroom." I shot her a smile before closing the door.

I walked down the hallway, passing by many pictures of Marina with her family. I wonder where they were. Maybe a vacation or something. But why would they leave without Marina?

I found the bathroom and started to change into the dry clothing but as I was putting on the shirt my elbow hit something and a few bottles of pills fell from a cabinet I was unaware of until now. They hit the counter and rolled to the floor in such a way that I wish was a little quieter. I looked like I was snooping through her things.

"What are you doing?" Marina walked through the door without even knocking. All that I could do was stand there, half naked, in shock as to why she was so quick to get here and why it was such a big deal that those pill bottles fell from the cabinet.

"I hit the cabinet with my elbow as I was putting on my shirt, that's all." As I said the words Marina's features softened. "Yeah," she whispered, almost to herself, "I know, I know." She looked like big news had just been dropped onto her as her hand rested on her hip and her other hand ran slowly through her hair.

---

It was about 4 am on a Friday and we had school in about four hours. "Should we go back to sleep?" I asked, not really wanting to sleep at all. "Um, no." Marina's eyes widened in what seemed to be... fear? Was her nightmare really that bad that she didn't want to go back to sleep? "I, uh, I'm not tired."

"Do you want to start on the poetry project?" I tried to come up with things to do because she seemed clueless too. "Yeah, we probably should go to sleep." She laughed as she changed the subject, obviously not wanting to do the project. I didn't really want to start it either, my brain was still groggy because of sleep so I wouldn't be able to focus.

Marina crawled onto her bed and pulled her pillow close to her chest. She looked so small and comfortable, it warmed my heart. I climbed into bed next to her and laid with my arms crossed as I stared at the ceiling.

"You don't look very comfortable." She said as she ran her fingers across my arm. "You know you don't have to be so stiff around me." She spoke in a low tone, her voice slightly raspy as it usually is whenever she's tired. A smile crept onto my face. I had an idea.

"What are you doing?" She asked playfully, noticing the smile on my face. I looked at her without moving my face. "Oh god." She giggled before I quickly rolled over and wrapped my arms around her small body, burying my head in her neck.

"Come on Lizzy, get off me!" Her laughter filling the room. My smile faded and I lifted my head to meet her eyes, her smile disappeared at the sight of my worried look. "Lizzy? You never call me that."

"Oh-yeah, sorry,"--she cleared her throat--"I should have asked-"
"No, no. It's fine it's just usually people don't call me by that name. I like it." Her lips slowly stretched into a smile.

I soon fell asleep after I buried my head in her neck once more, her cheeks never let her smile die for as long as I was awake.