Three Hearts, One Soul

When the Music Stops

   That frozen moment after class was the beginning of years of pain and despair, I had naively assumed if I didn't respond to Mr. Crasdel's strange advances, if i didn't appear to see him driving past my house or part-time job, didn't read the messages that began pouring into my Facebook messenger, that maybe it would all go away. Like a child who thinks the monster under the bed can't get her because of her indestructible blankie. I became even quieter, shrinking in on myself, which didn't seem possible considering I'd always assumed no other students even knew my name. I was 'sick' a lot that year because I would see his car parked across the street from school when I left for home each day and again in front of my house a few hours later. What had I possibly done to make this man think i wanted any of this?!
   Lewis continued to exhibit more bizarre behaviour and became quite adept at getting to me through multiple obstacles, the police were absolutely no help at first and by the time they actually acted he had already done his worst deed, the one that left scars across most of my body.

   I was standing in the middle of my apartment, the song had come to an end and another melody had taken its place. Bohemian Rhapsody came floating across the room, drawing me out of my memories and back to the safety of my present. I'd been running for a year now, a year since the police found me walking down the side of the road, half naked, crying, and mumbling the words 'what did I do' over and over. I was told I started screaming when the first officer touched me and I didn't stop until the EMT gave me something that knocked me on my ass and chased the world away in a swirl of black. I ran exactly one month after I was told he hadn't been found. Long enough for the stitches to be removed and the skull fracture to heal enough for me to go home. I have no memory of what exactly I did to cause my delirious mumbling, or how I managed to escape in the first place. The only thing I remember of the last day he had me is the feeling of his hands holding my wrists in an unbreakable grip, his eyes staring at me with blazing fury, his hands around my throat, and a shining turquoise light covering everything in its brilliant radiance, his screams the only detail discernible through the glow. Now I'm here in this small Arkansas town, hiding from a past that is etched across my skin and branded into my soul. This is the third town I've discovered since I left, I stay until I feel like the past is catching up with me, and then I disappear in the night; not a stellar way to meet new friends, but the quiet soothes my nerves and people can't always be trusted.
   Shaking myself out of my memories for the second time, i shoved the past to the back of my mind and made it stay there, heading towards my closet to change out of my Jiffy Kwick clothes, before starting a pot of coffee. I'd worked an open shift so it was barely noon and I had the whole day to myself, another big plus of this job that had pretty much fallen into my lap. Vicky took one look at me and my nerves and said she fell in love, I became an 'honorary daughter' and had the job without even having to explain my lack of a resumé; hard to explain to a prospective boss that you don't have any references because they wouldn't know your new name, which is really hard to acquire in secret, just throwing that out there. So is keeping that new name from becoming known in paperwork. But apparently assault is grounds for a little under the rug name changery in certain states. Yeah..That's a word now.
   So my name has become Winter....sorry but if I told you my real name,.. well that takes the secret out of it, and I'm too paranoid for that.

   After coffee, I cleaned up the house and worked on my current drawing until my stomach started protesting the long hours since breakfast, it was a little before 3pm so I took a quick shower before I  threw some clean skinny jeans on and my favorite Metallica t-shirt, hooked up my headphones, and headed for the farmer's market on the corner. This little town in Arkansas had the most relaxing downtown square I'd ever come across. The roads around the historic center were all still dark cobblestone bricks, a bygone of an older era kept in perfect condition, looping around and then back on itself, surrounding a piece of history caught in a bubble of time. The vintage shops and feeling of togetherness this town had made my heart ache for the few people i'd loved and left behind. To sit in the little bookstore with my friend Jennifer searching for new worlds. Or eat one of the gourmet sandwiches from the fancy restaurant down the block with my mom and dad. To sing to my little sister again...
Life liked to rip the rug out from under us, and laugh as we bled out on the hardwood. After grabbing some fresh vegetables for dinner I decided to pass by work and get a sandwich from the deli, Jiffy was busy as hell but I felt comfortable enough there to sneak past the crowd waiting at the register and slip behind the counter to stand beside Vicky.