Remember Me

Chapter 8

Blake arrived at Bozeman’s main police station at 7:30 am. He was early. He had tried to look presentable, because if he showed up with a black eye, a broken wrist, unshaven and with the deep bags under his eyes that were now familiar to see on his face, they would surely think he was a criminal turning himself in. He couldn’t do anything about the black eye his own brother had given him, Amanda had stayed the rest of the previous night applying ice on his right eye, but the hit had been so hard it was still there. He had shaved, something he hadn’t done in at least 3 weeks, and he had tried his best to sleep a full night, but it had proven to be hard because as tired as he was, his brain wouldn’t rest, processing and overanalyzing thoughts that filled Blake with dread. Maybe he looked okay on the outside, but his insides were far from okay, he felt rotten inside, empty. He felt betrayed by Marc, because he actually had thought that he was showing concern towards his state, but he had always held a grudge against him, and he knew it. Another thought that drove him insane was the strange apparition he had seen when he blacked out, he was certain he had seen Margot in that twisted version of the woods; she had felt so real…  But at the same time, Blake felt like he couldn’t trust his head, he was sure by now that maybe Margot hadn’t been real, he had no explanation for how he had pictures of the both of them, how he had seen her as a ghost, how he remembered her soft touch and the smell of her hair when there didn’t seem to be another soul that could remember the same. He felt crazy, and he didn’t like it one bit. He also felt… scared. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but something deep in his mind made him think he could forget her too, and he couldn’t bear with that thought. His phone buzzing in his pocket interrupted his thinking; the screen said the incoming call was from Sarah. Blake wondered what she would tell him, their last encounter had been disastrous, was she calling to apologize? Blake would be glad if she did, but he could never go back to her. The Sarah that came to Bozeman and left shortly after wasn’t the Sarah he had been in love with at some point, it had been a selfish, jealous version of her, and Blake was afraid that was her true face. For a moment, he was going to ignore her call, but he thought something could be wrong, he never knew nowadays, so he a answered the phone, getting out of the police station not to disturb the quiet of it.

“Blake? How are you doing?” he heard her voice through his ear. There was a lot of background noise so he figured she must be at work.

“Well, I’ve been better, but thanks for asking. Thought you didn’t care” he answered sourly, he wanted her to know he was still hurt. He wasn’t going to tell her on the phone that it was officially over, he wanted to do that face to face, but he might as well let her know things weren’t okay between them.

“I do care, I’m sorry, Blake… Can we forget that night?” she asked, her voice getting soft. He knew what she was up to, and he wasn’t going to fall in her death trap.

“No, we can’t forget that night. I don’t want to talk about it. If this is why you called then I have no intention in continuing this exchange” he told her, keeping his tone harsh.

“We’ll talk when you get back home; I’m not calling about that, anyway. I’m calling because Michael told me he was considering giving up your spot to someone else; he says he’s got a waiting list… He told me to call you, ask if you still wanted the job. He sent his condolences, by the way, but he’s not happy” she explained. Michael was their boss. He hadn’t called him in the time he had been at Bozeman, but he knew his mother was sick, and he was sure Sarah had explained the situation to him, but he knew he wouldn’t hold for long. He didn’t know when he would get back home, he wouldn’t step a foot out of Bozeman until he found someone who remembered Margot, or something, anything, that proved of her existence.

“Tell him I quit for the time being. I’ve got something to take care of here, so I might stay for a while.” He said, not entirely sure if he would regret this decision later, after all, that had been his dream job. His desire to search for Margot in people’s mind was so strong that he gave up on that, and now he wasn’t really sure if he even had dreams, or aspirations for the future. His darkness was consuming him, and he was afraid if he didn’t find what he was looking for, it would swallow him whole.