Remembered

Chapter One

     "Mom...?" I manage to say. My voice growing weaker and weaker each breath I take.

     "Yes, Honey?" My mom answers. I could barely make her out because of her crying. Too bad this would be the last time I see her, the last thing I will remember her by.

     "Promise me, that you''ll-" I stop to breath. "Promise me that you'll find me when I'm gone... Please," Hopefully she can hear me through my faint voice. I look away from her and stare at the ceiling of the room, only able to make out the bright light that hovers above me. My mom nudges me so that I'm looking back at her.

     "I promise, with all of my heart," she whispers to me. I try my hardest to reach out for her, to touch her for one, last, time, but my entire body has gone numb. I begin to hear muffled sobs while my vision becomes blurry, and all is lost. All I have left, is my fading memories.

     Everything goes black.

                                                                                  *    *    *    *    *    *

     "Hey!" I yell, running towards my friend, Lily as we both hug each other.

     "I missed you so much!! Even though we just saw each other a couple days ago," she laughs as she hugs me again.

     "I know, right? I feel like I haven't seen you in years! Anything new?"

     "Nothing much has happened lately, how about we head inside! I mean, so we aren't freezing to death out here," Lily states.

     "Sounds good!" I laugh, as we both head in to her house. I've been to her house so many times, it feels like a second home to me. As soon as we both head inside, and I put my stuff down, I say "You ready for tonight?!" I squeal.

     "How could I not be?" She screams back. "I'm so glad you could stay the night! We have so much to talk about!" Tonight's going to be great. We might not know what we are going to do yet, but we are going to have the time of our lives.

     I trust Lily with my life. We've been best friends ever since elementary school. There is nothing that she doesn't know about me. She understands every situation I might be in, no matter what. She is the one person I would count on for anything.

     Both of us head to her room, and set up our sleeping bags for tonight. As soon as we do so, we both rush to her living room with blankets and food, and sit on the cool, hard wood floor. "So, what's the first thing we should talk about?" She asks me, her eyes bright with curiosity.

     "Well, for starters, how are you and Jake?" I squeal. Her relationship with her and Jake has gone on for about 4 months now, and I'm always excited to hear new news about what is new about them.

     "We are doing great! So far, we haven't made any huge steps in our relationship, but we are always talking to each other! Of course, not as much as I talk to you," She starts. 

     "That's great! I can't wait to hear more about it when we go to school on Monday!" I exclaim. There isn't much to talk about when we already know so much about each other.

     "Let's head to bed, I'm really tired," Lily yawns. "It is like, 3:00, after all." We both silently walk towards her room,  cautious not to wake her parents along the way. We quietly open her bedroom door, and tiptoe inside. Once the door is closed, we both settle in to our sleeping bags, and close our eyes to sleep.

     "Mom?" A small frail voice echoes and echoes inside of my head. "Mom!" The echoes get louder and louder.

     "What is it, Hayley?!" I hear a louder voice echo back. "What is it that you want to tell me that is so important?"

     I try to cover my ears but I can't for some reason. The voices are burning my eardrums. My arms are incapable of moving, along with my legs. The echoes are getting louder and louder, and I can't seem to escape the thundering voices that are screaming into my ears.

     What is going on?

     I hear a distant echo from the same voice I heard first. It was too quiet and I couldn't make it out. I hear it again, this time, it's much louder. I can only make out the last word she said. "Me?"

     What's that supposed to mean? I try to turn my head to see if anyone is around me, but I then remember that I can't move.

     I must be in a dream.

     It has to be a dream.

     The echoing voice begins to get louder, and louder, and louder, speaking the same words over and over. I begin to make out the words, until I can hear them clearly. "What's wrong with me?"

     The echoes are getting painfully loud, and her once faint voice turns into more of a scream or yell. "Whats wrong with me?!" The words continue on and on, until my ears are so close to exploding, and my brain is so close to melting.

     The screams finally stop.

     All I see or hear is darkness.

     "May," A similar voice whispers to me. "May?"

     I whip my head up from my pillow, and my head bursts into pain from getting up too quickly. I rub my temples with both of my hands until the headache calms down. "May? Are you okay?" I hear Lily's voice.

     "Why? What's wrong?"

     "You were talking in your sleep," she laughs. "Well, it was more of a scream than a talk, but still." She stares at me until I answer her.

     "Yea, I'm fine," I say back to her. "It must've been a bad dream." Turning away from Lily, I unzip my sleeping bag, and stretch. What was I dreaming about last night?

     Then I remember. The horrific echos that scorched my eardrums until they couldn't hear any more.

     What was that all about?