Coincidences

Act XXVI

"Gah?!" I yelled out, out of nowhere.

I have just recently woken up, now sitting upright from my bed. The covers were scattered everywhere, as if I was attempting to do the moonwalk asleep. I don't normally sleep like this; even stranger, it's 9 PM. What am I doing waking up at this time?

Although it's been just a few seconds since I woke up, I can't recall if I had a nightmare. no matter how hard I tried to remember, I failed at every attempt.

I got up, still wearing the same clothes I wore to school today. They were now wrinkled, absolutely wrinkled. It's like seeing an old lady on your shirt. I headed downstairs, and I disconnected my phone from my charger. It's a full power, so I unlocked my phone and checked for any news.

None. I decided to call Dad, but his phone was turned off. He's probably in a meeting. Then, I tried Zoey's number, but she, too, didn't pick it up. Was she asleep already? I ran upstairs and saw her lights on. I opened the window and yelled, "Zoey! You there?"

She didn't answer; her mom did. She asked why I made that commotion. I humbly apologized and asked for Zoey. She didn't know either, and she mentioned that it was almost past her curfew. I thanked her and closed the door.

If she's not home, then where is she? I grabbed the nearest jacket, the leather one, and fled outside. Dad wasn't coming home till midnight, so I decided to secretly look for her until then. It's not like I want to stalk her forever. It's just that, with Rocky, it could get worse.

As I ran, I thought of the possible places she can be. Gusto's? No, it's too late for ice cream. Except for me; it's never too late for ice cream. The centre? No, there are no events for the next few days. The pier? Maybe. It's my best bet. I headed my way to that direction.

Around a mile and a half later, I was gasping for my breath by the pier. I had to find her quick. The sun has already set, and she still hasn't picked up her phone. It was ringing, so it means that her phone had battery left, she had signal, and she simply wasn't answering them.

I hiked throughout the whole pier, and I still couldn't find her. She wasn't by the fishing gear stores, by the restaurants, or even by the bathrooms. The last part though; I had to wait ten minutes and verify that she wasn't there. I have no clue to why I'm trying to search for her this desperately. I reached for my phone and tried to call her , but, as soon as I hit call, the phone slipped and fell through the planks. Luckily, I was near the shore, so the phone wouldn't possibly drop on the deep water. I went to retrieve it, and guess who had it.

Zoey had both of our phone at hand, and she looked like she was still processing through the facts.

I came to her, and she looked up in shock. She asked, "How did you find me?"

"By coincidence," I replied.

She raised my phone, begging for answers. "Oh, that? It slipped from my hands, by accident."

Yeah, I know it would be hard to believe, but it's a fact that these kind of stuff happen to me a lot.

"I picked my phone as it was ringing for the fifth time, and then, suddenly, the phone that was calling mine fell from above, dropping gently to the sand. I found that it was yours and glanced at the call. It was really confusing."

"Fifth time? So, you were keeping track of the number of times we tried to call you."

She stopped, dead silent. She kept her mouth shut.

I settled beside her and got my phone back, apparently without any visible damage. Putting it away, I clapped my hands, brushing away the sand. I politely asked, "What exactly happened?"

She didn't answer much. Zoey denied anything that may have occurred. She shrugged with questionable honesty, and she said, "Nothing, really."

"Seriously," I insisted in getting the news out of her. It was clear that she was keeping something from me. I don't want to go through her depressing state again; we both have enough on our hands.

Yet, in spite of all that, she stood up, wiped her lips with her sleeve, and declared, "Well, it's time to go home, don't you think?"

"Tell me, what is it? Stop being like that. Didn't I say that I would help you?"

"I swear, it's nothing." She was slightly mad now.

I sighed. Looks like there's nothing I can do. If I keep it up, it might get worse. I lifted my shoulders and exclaimed, "Okay, okay. Whatever. It really is late now. Your mom said it's past your curfew. She might be angry, you know."

Her previous face flushed away, and now, all it showed was guilt. She said, "I didn't notice. Shoot."

Didn't notice? It was already too dark to see the horizon now.

I mean, what's up with her? No matter what, girls are still super hard to read.