Anything but Typical

Chapter 7

These are Jess's books ^

I had a dream that I found Jess. She was barely alive, and she had blood all over her face. Through all the blood, I could still see her beautiful green eyes, that flashed when in the light. I wanted to help her. To reach out to her, and hug her and never let go. To be her knight in shining armor. But then some other dude came to her rescue, and she kissed him.

I woke up crying.

I blinked through the tears, and looked around, trying to make sense of where I was. With a shock I realized that all my friends were still here, and probably heard me crying. 

Molly  and Scarlet were fast asleep, cuddled in each others arms. I looked away quickly  before I could have a chance to be sad again. Noah and Robin were staring at me, with tired eyes.

Noah raised an eyebrow, as if to say, dude, what the hell? 

I thought about how to answer that question.Finally, I gave up, sniffled,  and attempted to smile, though to them it probably looked like some sort of grimace to them. 

Maybe they would think that  my smile was real. I'm usually faking one anyways. It's not always the tears that measure the pain. Sometimes, its the smile we fake.

And at this point, my smile was so fake, it might as well have been Regina George.

"Y-Yeah, it's just allergies." I lied.

"What are you allergic to?" Robin asked, perking up with interest.

"Um, pollen" I said, making something up. That was pretty normal, right?  Most people are allergic to that.

"Since when is there pollen in July?"  Noah said, looking at his  phone. "Now you better tell us what's going on before I make you."

I heaved a sigh. How would I even begin to explain the empty feeling in my chest?

How do I explain to them that this all felt like my fault? That for some horrid reason, Jess ran away because of me? If that actually is the case, I don't know how I'll be able to live with myself. I probably won't. After all, if Jess isn't in my life, then what's the whole point of even living? I'm just another useless human living in world where I don't matter, consuming air and being a waste of space. 

I took a deep breath. "I just feel like I've lost my mind."

Noah and Robin looked at each other for a moment, and then sat, staring at the ugly pattern on my rug.

I curled up into a ball and lay over, trying to calm down. 

While I was calming myself down by taking deep breaths, I made another mental note to Jess.

I think of you, but I just can't talk to you right now. I miss you, but I just can't admit it right now. I need you, but I just can't show you right now. I love you, I just can't show you right now. 

After what seemed like an eternity of sitting in silence, (but was probably only 10 minutes at the most), I got up and moved back over to all of the evidence we had. I picked up all the books, and made note of all of them in my head. I knew I  wouldn't forget, because these were linked to Jess. The sooner I found out how and why, the sooner I could be with her again.

Harry Potter

Mockingjay

Ella Enchanted

Lord of the Rings

Percy Jackson

I stared at them forever, trying to figure out what was wrong with them, or what was different about them. Other than some of them being  really popular, I had nothing. I got up and got myself a soda from the cooler. When I sat back down, footsteps come up behind me. I ignored them, and kept staring at the books, taking a sip of soda every now and then. What do these books have in common? Jess knows I'm not THAT smart, so it must be hiding in plain sight. But where?

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and quickly whirled around, startled to be distracted from the pages and pages of books. 

It was Molly and Noah, staring at me.

"Hey do you think we should take a break? They opened up this cool new store at the mall, and we were thinking we should all go and check it out. We have been sitting here for over 5 hours. My legs are starting to cramp!" Noah blurted out, stretching his legs out. 

"So are you coming?"

I hesitated. The idea of going out of this murky house was tempting. But my girlfriend was missing and I was not going to stop until I found her.

"Nah, it's cool. You guys go on without me. I have some other work to do anyways." That part was actually complete bullshit. But I knew if I hadn't said that, then they would have insisted I go with them and my mood would've brought down everyone.

Soon, everyone was gone and I was alone with just me, and my thoughts.

I stared at the pile of books some more and some more and still nothing. 
Then, I tried to remember if she had any preference for puzzles and I just wasn't listening that one time.

Something stuck out from one day in particular.

It was the day we met.
After we went to the store she suggested, we got coffee after. She was playing on her phone while we were ordering and I asked her what game she was playing.

"It's this really cool anagram app"

"What's an anagram?"

"It's like when you have one word and you rearrange the letters to get another word," She said, fiddling with her wallet.

Were the books some sort of anagram? That seemed likely, so I tried it out. In the end, it was all the main words from all of the books that spelled out two very ominous words:

HELP ME

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