A Heart From Another

Chapter 3: New Beginnings & Lots of Water

Chapter 3: New Beginnings and Lots of Water

Tossing and turning in bed seemed to be one of my newfound talents, along with breaking things and randomly passing out. I couldn't take it any longer. I rolled off the bed and walked slowly past my snoring mother and towards the tiny hotel balcony. A gust of wind blew my long hair away from my face as I looked around at the dark sky, wondering if I was the only one awake this early in the morning. I poked my head back in the suite to check the time on the digital clock. It was 4:08 AM. Sitting down on a cheap green plastic chair, I decided to make a mental list of things that were keeping me back from sleeping soundly. There was the fact that I left the friends I had known all my life behind without a real explanation, losing them completely. They probably hated me. Oh, and I also lost a perfectly good cell phone. There was the fact that my heart didn't actually function like a normal person's. And there was the fact that we were going to move and live in a house in a state I've never been to, excluding the visit to Disney World when I was five with my parents. I couldn't even really remember the trip, but the one thing I did remember clearly was going on the teacups with my mom and dad. I loved that memory because it was one of the few that my dad was included in. But back to my mental list. It wasn't the longest of lists, that's something I was sure of, but the items on it were definitely the some of the worst things I've ever had to go through. Put together, they were even worse than failing my driver's test on my 16th birthday and having to walk the twenty four miles back home in the pouring rain.

I rested my head between my hands, thinking of what I should do. In the back of my mind I heard a little voice whisper how my problems were insignificant compared to the starving orphans in Africa and the wars in the Middle East, but I shoved it back where it belonged. Looking down at the parking lot (I know, not the greatest of views) I finally decided what to do about all of it. I was going to go wherever life's path took me to. Call it... Trusting fate. It was the only solution to my problems. I had to let things fall in the right places on their own, whether it meant living... Or not.

I headed back to the hotel's plush queen bed, forcing myself to go to sleep. Hopefully it would be enough for me to recharge for our trip down to Florida. I closed my eyes shut and traveled to the magical land of flowers and bunnies, AKA dreamland.

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I was on a pier, and far off at the end was my father. He smiled at me, his salt-and-pepper hair gleaming in the bright sun. He waved at me and motioned for me to come closer. I ran and ran, but with every step I took, he seemed to be getting further away. He smiled at me once more, before turning and diving into the ocean. "DADDY!" I shouted, tears in my eyes. I ran faster until I was at the end. I peered into the murky water, when suddenly heard a voice that made my blood run cold. "Cassidy."

I spun around. There stood Emily Watkins. She looked at me in disgust. "You left us. All of us. We hate you, Cassidy." With that, Marissa, Paige, Brooke, and Jake stepped out from behind her. They smirked as they advanced towards me. "Grab her," Emily said as she inspected her nails. Paige and Brooke grabbed my hands as Jake and Marissa grabbed my feet. "In you go!" Emily said cheerfully. The four began to swing me back and forth, before hurling me into the black water, me screaming all the way.

I bolted upright in bed with a strangled scream caught in my throat. My heart was pounding hard and quick, sweat dripping down my face. I sucked in a breath of air, then two, then three. I pressed my hands to my face. My eyes were wet with my tears. I turned to the other side of the bed to grab some tissues. Instead, I found mom staring at me intently. I quickly swiped at my eyes and tried to look normal.

"Are you okay, honey? I thought I heard a scream but I wasn't sure. It woke me up. Was it you?" she asked, still laying in bed, her worry and concern was evident on her face.