Falling

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I'm in the middle of a field. The soft, short, green grass pokes at my bare feet. I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, a nervous habit of mine, that has fallen out of my bun. Why am I here? I look down at my clothes. I'm in a red knee-high dress, that reminds me of blood. I need to be here, but I don't know why. I just feel like I should be here. Like I'm waiting for someone. Run. Get out of here, my mind yells at me, but my feet are planted firmly to the ground. The knot in my stomach grows bigger every minute. I wait, but I don't know who i'm waiting for.

The ringing of my phone awakens me. My eyes flutter open. How long was I asleep? I grab my phone out of my pocket and I squint at the blazing screen.

Glen

"Shit." I mutter after pressing the answer button.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO CALL ME FOR HOURS, YOUNG LADY." He yells as I hold the phone away from my ears.

"Jesus, Glen. You're gonna burst my eardrum."

I put my phone closer to my ear and I hear him sigh quietly.

"Sorry. I miss you" He mumbles.

My heart tightens with guilt and I bite my lip.

"I miss you, too, Glen."

There was a short silence, then he spoke so low I almost couldn't comprehend what he said.

"Did you forget about me?"

I frown. He sounds so fragile. I could easily break him with the wrong words. I take a moment to think about my choice of words carefully, then answer.

"C'mon, Glen. You know I love you more than anything. I was just so tired and I met this boy on the plane-"

"What boy?" He says with a protective edge to his voice.

He's like an older brother to me, always looking out for me. I can practically picture him with his eyebrows scrunched together, his jaw set, and a look of determination on his face. I couldn't help but roll my eyes while smiling even though he couldn't see me.

"Just some boy who sat next to me on the plane. He's quite sweet actually." I say slowly, thinking about the way Zayn and I talked on the plane to past time by.

"Oookay. I don't need to hear any mushy girly stuff." He says teasingly.

"But he's like sooooo hot! Like oh my god. And his smile is like perfection. Oooh and those eyes. Haha. Wowza!" I say in the girly high-pitched voice me and Glen usually use to make fun of the prepy fake-blondes of our school.

Glen bursts out laughing and I smile. The sound of his cute, slightly deep, loud laugh makes me almost forget we're on the phone and not on the bed of my old room. I rememer a time we were back there, months before I moved, I was on my back laying on my bed. He was sitting right next to me, his head proped up against his hand and a dazed look on his face, as we talked about our life.

-flashback-

"I wish we could stay here forever, like this." He said, a lazy smile on his face.

I looked up at him.

"But we can't. No matter how much we want to, we can't." I said, even though I was sure he already, and always, knew that.

He looked away, his shoulders tense. 

"I'll miss you when you're gone, when you've moved on with your life. When you'll leave me." He whispered the last part so quietly it was barley audible, but I heard it. 

I took his hand. They were soft under the touch of my fingers. They were not the hands of a hard-working man, they were the hands of a gentle boy. I brushed my thumb over his knuckles, the way I always did when I wanted to comfort Glen.

"I'm not going anywhere." I said softly.

He looked back at me, his brown eyes full of sadness.

"You don't know that. One day we're going to part. I just hope it isn't soon." He said.

"Me either. The pain of being parted from you would be too much to bear."

-end of flashback-

"Glen?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

There was no hesitation when he says, "I love you, too. You know that, Annie."

I smile. "I know. It just makes me feel better when you say it."

"Listen," his voice is unsure as he speaks, "I  want to tell you something-"

"Andrea!" My dad yells from downstairs.

"Ugh. I gotta go, Glen. Love you." I say.

"Ok," he says, "Love you."

I hang up and run downstairs, nearly killing myself on the way down. My father is waiting for me in the hallway.

"I thought that you might want to see England more thoroughly so," he digs out his car keys and hands them to me, "You can take my car and go wherever you'd like. There's an emergency credit card I left for you in the sunglasses compartment."

"Wait." I say, not being able to hide the shock.

Why is he being all nice to me? It's not like i'm going to be here all the time. In the next couple of weeks i'll be in my own dorm in that boarding school and he won't have to see me most of the time. Even though I don't want to believe it, I can't help but feel like that's the reason why he's doing all this. Would he actually miss me?

"You're serious?"

He nods and places the keys in my hands, his mouth in a tight line. This close to him I can see the tiny wrinkles around his eyes that formed from age. How come I never noticed the slightly-noticeable dark shadows under them? He looked tired and restless. I almost feel bad for him. Almost. He still brought me here. To this alien place I can never call home. I grip the keys in my hand tightly, until I feel a little pain from the jagged edges of them. I walk to the front door without a word and without a second glance back.