Forever Second

Prologue

It had been a long day, and it wasn’t going to get any better in the foreseeable future.

It had all started with my fight with Dan. He, being the good boyfriend that he is, had tried to wake me up so I wouldn’t be late for work. Me, being the horrendous bitch I am when woken up, launched the alarm clock across the room and didn’t move a muscle when it landed square in his face. I already know what you’re thinking. But, in my defense, I was still half unconscious and running on two hours of sleep.

I blame Dan for that. And I did. That’s what started this horrible mess of a day. After he launched into one of his speeches about how I should appreciate someone like him looking out for my job, and that I should be more responsible instead of staying out all night, I had had enough. So that’s why, half asleep, hair all crazed, still rubbing my eyes awake; I launched into my argument about how much of a jealous asshole he was and that he should appreciate the fact that I come home at all.

I’m sure you can tell how well that went for me.

I wound up being an hour late for work and getting fired on the spot for repeated tardiness. I guess my boss didn’t appreciate the fact that I came in at all either. If I were being perfectly honest, I didn’t really care that much about my job, so getting fired really wasn’t that big of a deal to me. Rest assured there’d be another mindless job that would pay me to occasionally show up. What really got under my skin was the fact that if it wasn’t for this particular mindless job in the first place, I’d still be at home in bed with Dan, the alarm clock would still be on the nightstand, and I wouldn’t be aimlessly wandering the streets trying to process my life.

My life. More like my joke of a life. I’m twenty-six and I still haven’t accomplished anything other than successfully bouncing from relationship to relationship as well as job to job. I should’ve been born a rabbit for as much hopping as I do. But, I guess I can’t be too hard on myself. I’m not dead for one, and I don’t have any habits that cost more than five dollars at a reputable coffee store. Still, I couldn’t help feeling like everything in my life was going nowhere.

As I walked, I kicked rocks and litter out of my path. People were so inconsiderate of others these days. In the middle of kicking my third empty can of mountain dew down the sidewalk, my phone vibrated in my pocket and tingled against my hip. It was a text from Phil.

Hey I heard what happened this morning. I guess that’s the downfall of living with a flatmate. Look, I just want you to know that if you need to talk, I’m here. Phil x

I sighed and jammed the thing back into my pocket without replying. I didn’t have time for this; I didn’t have time for anything. And who does Phil think he is anyway texting my phone offering me an ear to talk to? If he wanted to talk so much, he could try doing it more often when I’m around.

I was angry again. Using Phil as the catalyst for all my pent up frustrations. My phone vibrated for the second time and I fumbled it out of my pocket, vowing to chuck it into the road. I read the screen and instantly deflated like a balloon that’s been let go before it’s been tied off. Dan. No one else could get me so riled up; yet calm me completely like he could.

Look Autumn, I’m sorry. Please come home so we can talk? I know you’re not at work.

I pressed the call button and put the phone to my ear. I feel like all I ever do these days is wait for people to pick up the phone. It was into it’s third ring when he finally picked up.

“Hey where are you?” Dan’s muffled voice came from the other end.

“Oh you know, roaming the streets looking for my next fix. The usual.” I replied sarcastically. A passerby scoffed at me so I turned around and gave her the finger. People can be so judgmental these days.

“Very funny, Autumn. Are you on your way home?” He asked. He was using his worried voice, which meant I had to cut the shit.

“Not currently, but I can be.”

“Well…just get home safe, okay? You know how these streets are.”

“Dan! It’s 8 in the morning, nothing is going to happen.” That was probably the worst thing I could’ve said. 

Have you ever been on a rollercoaster and right when you crest the lift hill, some jackass behind you starts pretending to freak out and screams about how you’re all going to die? And then it makes you start to actually panic because you think that just by him speaking it, it’s going to come true? Well this was kind of like that. Except that instead of just getting to enjoy my ride, I had inadvertently caused the car to derail.

“Just be careful Autumn.” Now he was exasperated. I had better hurry home before he went into full-on panic mode. No one wants to see that. I scanned the road quickly and started to cross, carrying on my conversation.

“You know, you shouldn’t take that tone with me. You’d be really sorry if some—“ I didn’t even see it coming. One minute I was on the phone, crossing the street to go home and the next I was laying on the pavement being surrounded by people. Surprisingly nothing hurt. No, but I was sure the hurt would come later. Right before the darkness swallowed me down I heard Dan on the other end of the phone screaming my name.

(A/N - New fic! Let me know what you think in the comments and if you liked it please vote and add to your library to be notified of updates! -Kamelion)