Pieces Part 1

Tina

RING, RING!

My phone interrupted my train of thought. I fished it out of my trouser pocket and noticed Tina calling me.

"Hey, Tina. Did you make it home safe?" Nothing but silence filled the audio. "Uh, Hello? Hello?" I repeated. After thirty seconds, all I could hear was heavy breathing and the rattling of keys.

Eventually, I could hear a door slamming, followed by a sigh of relief.

I shouted into my phone, "Tina, you, okay? What is wrong? Answer me!"

As Tina put her phone to her ear, she stuttered, "Yeah, I think so." More keys turned, unlocking a door from her end of the line. "How the ... STOP! Get away from me! Why are you here? Yo, back up... BACK UP!" Her voice had ascended into screeching cries, entirely unlike the brave, composed Tina I'd grown to revere in my life.

Something had gone badly wrong. "TINA, what's going on?! Tina!" I must've been yelling into my phone for half a minute before I ripped it from my ear and read the screen—Call Ended.

Bolting out of the kitchen to where I sat, Amber crowed, "Why are you screaming!!" I stormed right past her and started heading out the door. She demanded, "Where are you going?"

I grabbed my jacket without looking back and dashed out of the house.

In a rush, I became tunnel-visioned, my body swollen with emotion. A beeping noise grew louder as I ran across the street.

I turned to see my life flashing before my eyes as a Black Mercedes Benz stopped a foot in front of me. The driver, clad in white with a black jacket, screamed, "Hey kid!! Watch what you are doing! 'Ya trying to get killed? Don't you know to go on the green?" I was stunned for a second, apologized, and kept pushing on.

Finally, I arrived at my yellow apartment. I reached for my keys and realized that I didn't have them. With a sense of urgency, I started banging on the red door.

"Tina!! TINA! TINA OPEN THE DOOR! TINA! Then I remembered we lived on the side of the apartment complex with an entry-permitted window in case we needed to get in another way.

I opened the window, and since it was small and high up, grabbed the stool outside I'd always use to crawl into it. I went in head first and landed on the kitchen's wooden planks.

That's when I saw a hollowed figure lying on our carpet.

My knees buckled by their side as I yelled, "Oh no!"

I jabbed my fingers against the woman's neck, tears stinging my eyes as I checked for the faintest glint of a pulse.

There was nothing, not one movement or spasm.

I lost the last person I had.

A shadow emerged; moments later, I couldn't stop falling asleep.