Stay With Me

Connecting the Dots

Connecting the Dots

The two girls lay back on the grass. It tickled their necks and their legs. They looked up at the dark, purple-blue sky. Stars scattered across it, like the games they used to play. When you connected the dots to form a picture, or a message. The girl reached up and found a star with her finger, then moved along to another. Connecting the dots.

Letting her hand flop back to the ground, she twisted around to look at her sister, who turned to meet her gaze. "Did you have fun tonight?"

Her sister nodded, smiling.

They both turned back to the sky. Her sister take her hand, entwining their fingers, squeezing affectionately . The girl squeezed back, smiling lazily. As she watched the sky, she felt her eye lids drooping.

She pulled herself to her feet, yanking her sister up as she did. "Let's go home."

They walked slowly down the path, to the tall, twisting black gates. Which were locked. They weren't supposed to be in the park so early in the morning - or late at night, however you thought of it. They left the path and walked through the over-grown grass to where they had entered. Her sister slipped through the gap in the railings. The girl followed, still holding her hand tightly.

The two girls walked silently, hearing the crunch of gravel under their feet. Until her sister spoke.

"People used to think that the stars told us our fate, that we were just following a script." She began, "Everything was already planned, and we had no choice but to just go along with it. They said that our fates were written in the stars."

Her sister pointed up at the sky with her free hand. "Look at them. They're beautiful, right? I get that. But they're millions and millions of miles away from us. And they're just stars. They don't really have a big plan for us. There is no plan."

They both looked up at the sky as they walked. "You do whatever you want. Don't do what others tell you. It's your life, okay? You write your own script, paint your own path for you life. You could be anything, do anything. Do what you want, make your life worth living. Make yourself happy first."

They walked, looking at the sky. They walked out onto the road, still looking at the sky.

Looking at the sky, instead of in front of them.

The girl heard something, coming towards them. She glanced towards the noise.

A truck, racing towards them, horn blaring, tyres screeching.

She felt her hand violently ripped from her sister's as she was thrown over the truck. She felt the glass of the wind shield shatter, cutting into her side. She crashed to the floor, the impact so hard it knocked her breath out of her.

She heard a scream. She couldn't tell if it was her own, or her sister's.

Then she saw the body.

Eliza lay in the road, feeling her blood leak from her side. Smelling smoke and dirt and blood. Hearing the scream over and over in her mind. Tasting vomit in her mouth, mixed with blood. Seeing the body lying just out of reach.

Seeing the body of her sister.

~~

I woke up suddenly to a beeping sound. Repetitive, loud and annoying. I hate alarm clocks.

My first instinct was to reach out for my alarm without opening my eyes. I would usually fumble blindly around until I found the brick-shaped alarm-clock, and then push down the snooze. But then, feeling a tug at the skin of my wrist, and realized that I couldn't move any further. There was something on my wrist, holding me back.