Evacuated

The Night of June 18th

"The night that everyone stepped up, the game changed and nothing was the same"
-May Belle Aarons <3

That entire day I had spent broken down, miserable and missing Jess, just like any other day. June 17th marked two months since Jess and I fist started fighting. Sunday, April 17th contained every memory of the day Jess and I parted after arriving home from the park. I, gone, four hours. I couldn't go back. I was stuck with Janice and Carla beating on me with whatever they could find in the park. 2 months since I laid on the saucer of that park for hours, hurting too much to care that about ten five-year-olds were probably staring me down prior to ignoring my existence just as everyone else always seemed to do.

I was a dead beat. May Belle's two-month-iversary was on April 14th, which she acknowledged maybe once. But it wasn't an anniversary of the day everything went wrong, but the day everything began. May Belle started this whole thing April 14th. Her and Alexandra and their damn Spanish first grade version of a midterm had no idea what was to come for them.

Then April 15th came along and the baseball game, cinnamon buns, nudges, playing the wii with Jess' head in my lap, making fun of my every comment.

Then along came insignificant April 16th, which honestly, I don't remember a single thing that happened that day. My faulty memory kicks in.

April 17th. The walk down by the lake, the race, Jess falling down, the talk about being too hot, the talk about Jesslie, May Belle and her joining us, going back outside, the talk about parents on the swings, the race across the playground, losing twice, the race to the school, and regretting every minute I suggested we go back out.

And there we were, two months later, and a whole awful lot had happened in that time lapse. It burned, the number 17 would always be significant in one way or another. April 17th was the best and the worst day of my life. And June 17th was not about to erase the memories or thoughts about it all.

I moped around all day long, in my mind, that is. I tried my darnest not to be outward about it, but that's simply who I am. I can't pretend I'm okay when I'm not. And May Belle knew that as well. She constantly pressed at me about being okay. Which, I wasn't. We both knew that well.

I was casually sitting on the couch doing whatever it was on my phone when Jess came over and tapped my leg. I jumped harshly considering the last time he touched me he beat me senseless proving my every point.

"Wanna play the wii?" he asked. "Wait until I finish this" I said. I was reading over the previous chapter of this story, "As She Perceived," and fixing any spelling or grammar errors I may have missed while writing.

When I finished that I clicked my phone off and picked up a wii remote and sat back down. I hastily adjusted my sitting position and fixed myself up a bit when Jess moved as far away from me as possible. "What? What did I do this time? I moved and somehow I did something wrong. Just like last time."

We only played one race and I was so determined to beat Jess. And I did, as per the usual, I was first and he landed second. Just like at school except now on a video game. I laughed inside but kept a straight face as a result of the situation we appeared to be in.

Once we finished that race, Jess switched the wii to single player mode, kicking me right out of the game. "Well.. Okay then." I was slightly offended but more glad to be out of that position after he moved so far away from me anyway.