Familiar Faces [a donnie darko fanfic]

Chapter Fourteen

I jolted awake and opened my eyes to see nothing but darkness. I rubbed my eyes, sitting up in my bed. A scared, paranoid feeling was present but I couldn't quite tell why. I couldn't see the clock on my wall, so I got up and turned my bedroom light on. It was midnight. Right as I went to rub my face, I realized I was sweating. I got up to go to the bathroom and wipe my face with a cold washcloth. My hands were shaking as I did so. 

"April, is that you?" I heard my mom ask. I could see her silhouette in the doorway of the kitchen. "Are you alright?" I walked over to her and hugged her.

"Yes, are you?" She nodded. "I'm going back to sleep now," I told her. School was in several hours and I knew I needed to go back to sleep. My mind raced and I wondered why such panic had risen from me. I thought about the strange, hard to follow dream I had. The only thing I could remember was worrying about my mom a lot and spending time with Donnie, the boy had sat by on the bus the day before. 

At school, I had caught glimpses of him talking to friends and smiling. He was definitely an attractive boy, but my dream struck me as odd since I had pretty much only talked to him once. I rather hated the dream because it made me start to think of him more and I could vaguely feel him hugging me. It almost felt like reaching for a memory that didn't exist.

As I went to lay back down, I winced. A sharp pain jut across the skin of my stomach, startling me. I lifted up my night shirt only to be greeted by bare skin. I sighed and returned to my slumber. 

I woke up to my alarm, seeing the light come in from in between the blinds. Drowsily, I put on my uniform and headed out to the kitchen for breakfast. "'Mornin," Dylan greeted and handing me a bowl. We poured our cereal together.

"How'd you sleep?" I asked, genuinely curious. Dylan shrugged, chewing the cereal.

"Alright I guess. The usual," he told me. My dream still lingered with me; I couldn't quite explain it. Once it was time to head for the bus stop, I decided to say goodbye to my mom that morning. Normally we just talked at night since she was busy in the morning, but I hugged her.

"Is everything ok? Are you feeling ok?" she asked and I nodded. A smile brightened her face. "Just wanted to come hug me?"

"Of course. Have a great day at work," I said, grabbing my bag from its usual place and headed out the door with Dylan. He met up with his friends way ahead of me, leaving me to walk alone. I didn't completely mind since I didn't really feel like talking to anyone that day.

I passed by a few streets, one blocked by yellow caution tape. It appeared to be some kind of accident, but I continued walking, not wanting to see what gruesome event took place. The bus stop came into view and I knew I'd have to wait for a while, there was still nearly 15 minutes until the bus came. 

Surrounding me were a few familiar faces, but I couldn't connect a name. I felt awkward standing there without anyone to talk to. I hoped Donnie would sit by me on the bus again, but yesterday was probably just a one time thing. I examined my nails, minding my own business as the people around me carried on their own conversations.

I was ripped out of my thoughts as someone ran right into my bag. "Ronald! Sean!" the kid shouted. I watched from the corner of my eye as he approached two boys leaning against the stop sign. "It's Donnie," he told them. They straightened up a bit, probably worried. "He got hit by a semi-truck from out of nowhere. The police were there and said there was some mass shipment of food that they couldn't trace so they don't know where it came from." This struck me as odd but I continued listening.

"Are they taking him to the hospital?" Ronald or Sean asked. There was a deadly, unnerving silence. "Oh." The other boy threw his bag to the ground and cursed. 

"Donnie Darko was my best friend," he cried. The people around me were listening, too, even as the bus pulled up. My heart shattered. Apparently yesterday had been a one time thing. I fought back tears, looking at the ground so no one could see me. I knew if someone were to see me, they'd think I was stupid and irrational for crying. 

"You talked to him once, what's your problem?" they'd probably ask. I hurried onto the bus, sitting in the back and trying to cope with the death of a person who was almost a stranger to me. I couldn't explain the immense sorrow that fell over me or the burning pain that I felt in my throat. Ronald and Sean didn't get on the bus. I watched out the back as they ran down the street and to the yellow tape. 

My own mind struggled to see how I was so upset, almost as if reaching for a memory that didn't exist; like the events of my dream where Donnie had held me. That was the first thing so far in my life that would go unanswered. That was the first time I couldn't see logic behind the haze in my mind. I hadn't a clue, so I sat in quiet. The vague memory of yesterday filtered into my thoughts and even though I hardly knew the Darko kid, I was grateful that he had given me company.

A/N: ANNNNNNDDD THAT was Familiar Faces. I've been writing this since January 22nd or 23rd I believe holy wow. That was 8 months after I first watched Donnie Darko, not that it's super important to you guys but I figured I'd share. Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it! I'm so happy I finally finished and all before I go back to school! That was my goal. I had been writing most of this during the school year on my iPhone in my note app and mostly after school. I've put a lot of effort into this fanfiction, I've even mapped out all the events so I wouldn't repeat something and have it be incorrect. {Ex: if April had said she went to a bookstore on Tuesday but later in the story she refers to it and it's a different day.} I can't thank you guys enough for voting and commenting, I appreciate it so much. I might be writing another Donnie fanfiction and perhaps one about Samantha. I'll try to make a better S. Darko basically but I'm not sure if I'll succeed.