We sit there for a while and suddenly I become curious.
"What was your life like?"
James shifts his weight on the bed right when I ask the question.
"No better than yours." James responds.
"Tell me?"
He pauses, "I was adopted when I was born, then captured by demons. I was the definition of a rescue mission. I was taken by the demons when I was 4 and when I was 8 the angels saved me," he starts rubbing my hand with his thumb "the demons did experiments on me..." he untangles his hand from mine and pulls the collar of his shirt down and I could see the beginning of scars. I lift my hand and touch the scars I could see.
"What all did they do to you?" I say as I feel my eyes tearing up.
"I can't remember." He said quickly and then swallowed hard, not looking me in the eye.
It must have been some awful stuff because the cuts were deeper than deep.
"I'll be right back." He says as he starts getting up, then as a second thought he comes over and kisses me. I don't think I'll ever be tired of kissing him.
There's a knock on my door. This time I unlock the door with ease. I open the door and James is in the doorway with different clothes on, pajamas basically; flannels don't look to bad on him. Then I noticed the bag in his right hand.
"What's in the bag?" I ask.
"Pot."
"Like the drug pot or a pot used for cooking?"
"Cooking because that makes people feel better." He says sarcastically. I shove him in the shoulder, holding in my laughter.
"Well I guess you're a druggy." I say casually, putting my hands on my hips, "Do I need to give you the you're better than that speech?"
"No, everyone on their first night here smokes pot, especially on their first painful day here."
Of course I've been high before in my lifetime. A while without your parents means you can do whatever the hell you want.
"Promise you won't take advantage of me?" I ask.
"I promise I won't take your virginity."
"Who says I still have my virginity?" I say with a wink as I take the bag from his hand.
I took it out of the bag and he threw me a lighter. As I start smoking he just stands there staring at me.
"You want some?" I ask.
He shakes his head "One of us needs to be thinking clearly."
I laugh and go back to smoking.
I slowly feel myself fading away until it's hard to think straight. I am officially high. James notices because he comes over and takes the pot from me.
My eyes slowly start closing while I'm standing up and I realize that I'm beyond tired James helps me get into bed. He pulls back the covers then picks me up and lays me on the bed. My eyes slowly start closing; I see James lay on the floor.
"Goodnight Amber" he whispers as he slowly starts closing his eyes too.
I'm running, running in to a fire. It was my house. My house is one fire. I look around trying to find firefighters but I only see this menacing looking group of people. They are adding gasoline to the fire. "Stop it my family is in there!" I scream. They slowly turn their heads towards me. Next thing I know they are on top of me trying to pull me in to the fire. I start thrashing. I try screaming but my voice is hoarse from all the smoke surrounding us from the fire blazing, the fire that is killing my family. I can't lose them. They pull me in to the fire and I slowly begin to burn with my house, my family and what's left of my dreams.
I sit up straight in bed, covered in cold sweat. I look over and see James is sitting at the end of my bed. He gets up and comes over to me and sits down beside my torso.
"Are you okay?" he asks concerned.
"I'm fine now that I'm awake" I answer, "Can you sleep beside me?"
"I was sleeping beside you."
"No I mean like in my bed. I just need to be near someone."
"Is that the drugs talking?" he asks.
"No I just feel like this place is going to burst into flames."
"So it is the drugs talking."
I hit him in the shoulder, and his eyes soften a little. "Nightmares?" James asks.
I nod. He jumps over me and lays down on his back on the bed. I rest my head on his shoulder and he puts his arm around me. I wish every night was like this; just me and him. Man, I'm being sappy. Next thing I know there's going to be a full orchestra when we kiss, maybe the drugs are making me crazy. I sigh. He kisses me on the forehead.
"Goodnight Amber."
I lean up and kiss him. There was no orchestra, but wouldn't it be cool if there was? Guess I'm not in a movie or a dream. This really is real life. Maybe this could be a good thing
"Goodnight James."
