Don't Save My Life

Chapter 8

(I know the formatting is insane so please excuse that. Also, this is not proofread so i am aware that there are plenty of mistakes. I'll come back and fix them. )

Willa

 

A flood of light spilled across my room as I squinted shielding my eyes with my hand.

“Rise and shine sleeping beauty!” My mother sang. She was over by my bed now, bending down to kiss my forehead.

I considered hissing at her like a cat exposed to water but quickly realized, I was much too groggy to even do that. I turned my body halfway to see the time on my alarm clock. Eight thirty, the first morning bell would have been ringing down at First palmetto. Weird, mom wouldn’t even let me sleep in on days where I was suffering from extreme high school induced depression, now she was practically prancing around my room as I missed the tardy bell.

I noticed now that my cheeks were wet from tears, as was my entire pillow damp. I quickly wiped my eyes, hopping out of bed. I hoped mom hadn’t noticed when she’d leaned in to me, but she seemed too preoccupied with picking up around my room now to be bothered with anything.

“You’re friend came by to drop off your pocketbook, said you left it last night.” Mom said, her back was to me as she stood adjusting the trinkets that littered my dresser.

Suddenly the events of last night came back to me. Payton and Patricia, and then sitting in the lifeguard tower with Emmet.

“Payton came by?” I said the sleep still heavy in my voice. My head was spinning, the details of the dream so fresh, I could still feel the smoke in my lungs.

Mom finished opening all of the curtains in my room as she spoke. “No, a girl. Rickie. She was going to just drop it off but I told her she could wait around while I woke you up.”

Now to add to the traumatizing nightmare, the recollection of last night’s events hit me like a tidal wave. The thing that I remembered most was what I had said to Emmet. The name I’d spoken, which in my mind seemed so foreign but came out as if things had never changed. I knew I should feel good, I hadn’t mentioned Daisy’s name sense that day, but it was a bitter victory. What I had said meant nothing to Emmet, no matter how much either of us wanted it to.

I couldn’t help but envy Emmet. He could forget the mistakes he’d made, he could move on from all of it, I was forced to remember.

To cope.

To regret.

To move on.

I peaked out of my bedroom; down the hall was the living room where I could make out a person sitting on our worn couch. I wondered what was going through her mind. Sitting in our crappy little house with my overly friendly mother who assumed any person who knew my name was my best friend.

“I invited her to spend the day with us, if that’s alright with you?”