2:56 :: h.s

quarante huit

1:57

I'm woken up by a knocking on the window.

Typical.

I roll over to turn on my light, then open the window.
I lay back down on my bed and watch Rae climb through.
She takes her shoes off as soon as she gets inside.
The temperature in the room immediately drops.
I cuddle under my covers and watch Rae as she lays down next to me.

"Hi," she whispers.

"Hi," I reply.

"Sorry for coming over. I got lonely."

"You're okay."

She smiles and kisses my cheek.

I close my eyes and feel Rae's fingers run through my hair.

I love it when she does that.

Rae's fingers stop moving and I feel the coldness move away from me.
It felt like minutes that I was asleep, but it must have been longer.

I open my eyes and Rae is holding her throat.
Ungodly sounds come from her and her eyes fill with horror.
She begins gasping for air and my heart starts racing.

The sound of helplessness pierces through my ears.

I sit up and cover her mouth.
The last thing we need is my mother to come in here.

As soon as my hand touches her lips, her body goes limp.
Rae falls in my arms and I hear the floor creak in my mom's room.

Shit.

I gently lay Rae down and cover her with my blankets.
I throw a pillow on top to hide her hair.
I lean against the pillow and grab my phone.

My mom walks in, "are you okay?"

I look up from my black phone screen, "yeah. Why?"

"I heard a scream."

I nod, "I was watching a video and my speaker is hooked up to my phone."

She sighs, "okay. I thought someone was dying."

She laughs and I force myself to join her.

"You should be sleeping, it's almost three o'clock in the morning."

"I just woke up, I had to pee."

She furrows her eyebrows, "okay. Well, go to bed. I love you."

"I love you too, Mom."

My mother closes the door behind her and I get off of Rae.
She sits up immediately and brushes her hair with her fingers.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

She nods, "yeah. I'm gonna go, but I want to talk to you after school."

I swallow. "Okay, do you want to meet here?"

She shakes her head, "meet me at the swing."

I nod, "okay. I love you."

She smiles a sad smile. "I love you."

She presses a gentle kiss to my lips and lingers longer than normal.