Arranged Hearts

17

Kaleb stretched as he slipped on a pair of sweats and his Nike slides. He gathered his keys and proceeded to his car.

"Shit... I forgot to put on a shirt. Fuck it." He stated as he started the car. He figured he didn't need one anyway.

Adrianne paced the floor as she was deep in her thoughts. What was going on? She thought these dreams about Zach had stopped a long time ago. Tears spilled out her eyes as she thought about her fault in all of this. Taps of something being thrown at her window could be heard as she looked to see Kaleb outside. He pointed for her to open the front door.

Adrianne wiped her face as she walked to the door. Kaleb's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her face.

"What's wrong?"

"Shh. You can't be loud because my dad is sleep. Come in." Kaleb shrugged as he did what he was told as they went up to her room. He looked around to see typical girl stuff. Stuff animals and pictures scattered across her dresser. Posters surrounding high heels, Marilyn Monroe, Beyoncé, and Rihanna. The two sat in silence for a while.

"Is it normal for you to leave the house without a shirt?" Adrianne pressed a laugh as it got awkward.

"I know you ain't wake me up out my sleep just to ask me about a shirt. For real, what's the problem?" He stated moving closer towards her. Adrianne began fidgeting with her fingers as she was trying to find the words to say.

"I had the worst nightmare. I've been having the same one for the past three days. "She sat on the bed with her head hung low. Kaleb stood back and laughed.

"You're going to wake Kahari up." Adrianne hushed him.

"I'm sorry. I just can't believe you called me over here over a fucking nightmare." He laughed again.

"These were nightmares over Kahari's father. There were some good dreams like our date to the fair. Then there was the dream about Kahari's birth. Those were great. They were a little weird, but I enjoyed the memories. The last one shook me up so bad because it showed the day he died." Tears started to form as Adrianne tried to keep her composure.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Kaleb sat next to her and rubbed her back as he tried to comfort her.

"We had been arguing all day. The reason being my sister. He cheated on me with my sister or at least that's what she told me. I never figured out if it was true or not. He finally had enough of talking through text and showed up to my house. We continued to argue. I gave up and just told him I didn't want to be together. He pleaded, but I just made him leave. A few minutes later, I hear a big crash. I grabbed Kahari and ran outside to see an 18-wheeler had just crashed into Zach's car. I saw his car but there wasn't a body. I went around back to see him crumpled up in the woods." Adrianne paused as the tears fell continuously.

"Look, it's no-"

"It is my fault! This is all my fault. I shouldn't have made him leave. And I always go and watch him leave. If I was out there, I could've prevented the accident. Now, he's...gone. The dream was so clear. I stood back and watched it all play out. I yelled and screamed at myself to not let him leave. She couldn't hear me..."

"So this is why you don't ever talk about your ex..." Kaleb mumbled.

"Yes, it's because I feel guilty. I feel as though it was me that killed him. He wanted to stay, but I made him leave."

"You were angry. You were hurt. Don't beat yourself up about it because you didn't know that was going to happen. Nobody could've predicted that. "