Childhood Games

~Chapter 4~

[Geez, I really let the ball drop there didn't I? I'm so sorry! I have been so busy with moving and adjusting to a new life that I couldn't come tell their story! Ah~ Well here it is anyway.]

Naomi

"Oh so now you show your true colors, huh?" I sneered. He cocked his head to the side and gave me a look of disgust. I was holding my ground. He wouldn't win anymore.

"Look at what you made me do, Naomi. You made me lose my composure. I hate when people make me do that," he hissed. "You should be lucky that it was when I was out of sight of the people who have been taking care of me." Was he threatening me?

"Or what?" I questioned with a laugh, "What the hell could you possibly do?" He pulled back a little, and I could tell he was drawing a blank. Exactly.

Alan always had this persona in which he believed he was high and mighty and no one could touch him. He wanted so bad to be strong in his own way, but I saw through it many times. He was a coward. A wuss.

"That was always the problem with you, I started as his eyes widened, "you never knew how to follow through." I pushed his arm away and began making my way towards the door. This was a waste of my time.

"With anything," I growled.

"You think you have some right to talk down to me like that?" He practically shouted. I started to hear someone running up the stairs, probably to calm down the spoiled prince. I sighed. I was expending too much energy on such a problematic person.

"You're not worth my time," I stated as I began towards my room. "Don't get in my way."

I walked to my room so swiftly that I couldn't even see who was running up the stairs and who eventually almost got knocked back down the stairs when Alan stomped down the stairs and made his way out the house with the slam of the front door. I took a deep breath and walked into the nostalgic looking room.

Everything was decorated blue and white for my love of the sea. There, towards the middle of the room, laid the canopy bed that I begged my uncle to have for so many years. There where white sheer curtains and the cute stuffed animals I had left behind. I looked around and saw that my vanity set, my little couch, and my wardrobe had all been left the same. My heart began to twist.

I opened the doors to the balcony and saw the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. I always used to joke around with my uncle that he paid so much for this house because of the view. Even though I knew that was the truth, I completely understood it. It made me feel at home when I breathed the fresh air, like the little girl I used to be.

I used to be so happy here. I thought.

I pulled back the curtains to my bed and plopped upon the soft comforter. It smelled like lavender which meant that it was just recently washed. Had I been too harsh on them? They honestly really cared about me, but I couldn't stand the fact that they brought him here.

I heard my phone vibrating and went to grab it off the couch. I checked to see who it was and immediately let out a groan.

"I just got here, Aria," I groaned. I could hear a high pitched snicker on the other end of the phone.

Aria was my best friend throughout high school. She was that typical high school popular queen. You know, the one that's captain of the cheer team, president of student government, all while finding enough time to get blackout drunk every weekend with her older friends at the local university. How we became friends is way beyond me, but we balanced each other out.

"No you didn't, you liar!" she screamed. "You got there like two hours ago."

"How do you know that?"

"Find My Friends app. Remember?" she giggled.

"Stop stalking me! I only accepted you because of that one night when you were drunk and didn't want me to take you home." Another giggle came through.

"Oh shit, which night?"

"How sad," I sighed.

"Anyways, how is it? Are you having so much fun you might throw the hell up?" she questioned.

What the hell was her idea of fun?

"More like the opposite."

"Wait, what? Why?"

I let out a deep breath, "Alan..."

"He's there?!" she practically burst my ear drums.

I had told Aria about the entire situation between Alan and I during one of our many sleepovers. I guess I was just in the mood to let everything out while "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol was playing. Why does that song always make you think about life in such a deep way?

"Listen, Mimi, I know what happened hurt you so much and put you in a position where you really couldn't be the same," she said more somber, "but, it's been four years. I think you should-"

I hit the end call button so quick.

A text came in within nanoseconds:

YOU BITCH! Anyway, love ya.

I wasn't having it. Not from Aria, not from grandma, not from anyone. It had all been the same since I had arrived to this city with "you should resolve this" and "you should forgive that." These were my feelings. Of course no one would understand them.

No one.

******

The breeze from the sea caresses my skin and dances through my hair. I find myself sitting on a cushioned bench in the middle of the ocean outlooking the intersection of the sky and the water. There are no feelings inside my body except for ecstasy

A child runs in front of me and her laughs echo throughout the ocean, making ripples within the water. It sounds beautiful, but she stops in front of me.

"Why do you stop?" I ask her, but she doesn't listen. Instead she turns at the sound of a bell that a little boy is holding. Her smile fades and her eyes glaze over as though she is in a trance. I reach out to her but something is stopping me. What is this?

Suddenly the boy's face turns into something twisted and tears stream down his face a mile a minute while the girl smiles menacingly. Slowly, the boy begins drowning, and no matter how much I try and save him, my body won't let me. I feel my cheeks wet and heart beating. The suppressed screams are silent as I watch the little girl let her friend drown.

"Save him!" I scream, but she just continues watching.

And laughing.

"Isn't this what you want?" she questions. "You wanted him to die. I did what you wanted. So instead of crying, why don't you rejoice?"

"You're terrible! You're a murderer!" I scream at her.

She begins laughing hysterically. "We're terrible."

Her hands reach out to me while the tears stream but the cackles continue.

"We're murderers!"

******

I didn't hear the screams that they told me occurred. All I heard was that line over and over again, ringing throughout my ears. My throat was hurting. My body was shivering. I wanted nothing more than to disappear right then and there.

The words were caught in my throat. I couldn't get them out no matter how hard I tried.

All I needed to say...

"Please help me."