Faceless Memories

III - Think Hard

When Jennifer woke up the next morning, she half expected to see her mother downstairs making breakfast. Only when she got downstairs did the realization hit her that her family was gone. She sighed and slipped back upstairs before her aunt could see her. She started to unbox some of her things and smiled slightly when she came across her laptop. She plugged it in and let it charge as she put away her things, and also pulled out her camera and plugged it in. She took a momentary break to update her black journal. Thirteen pages were pilled by the time her aunt came upstairs and knocked on her door.

"You've made this room really nice, Jennifer!" Her aunt smiled.

"I haven't even gotten my paintings and posters up yet." Jennifer chuckled and looked at her. "Do you need something?"

"Are you hungry?" She asked.

"No, I'm okay." The teenager managed a slight smile as she pulled a few things from a box. "Thanks."

"Just tell me when you are."  Her aunt said before leaving the room.

When she left the room, Jennifer looked out the window and into the forest below. It seemed so peaceful and nice. Once she finished unpacking, she pulled on some jeans and a hoodie. After grabbing her camera, she went downstairs and out the back door. The air was already warm, but the sky was overcast. She inahled the scent of nature as she ventured into the forest. It was absolutely beautiful. She slipped the camera off her neck and began to take pictures of the trees. Eventually, she stumbled across a stream. She spotted a tiny frog resting on a rock and smiled. When she knelt down, the little frog hopped toward her. She took a few pictures of it before capturing it.

"You're so cute." She mumbled and her smile grew as it crawled up her sleeve.

A cracking branch made her jump, and the frog leaped off her and away. She glanced around silently, half expecting something to come out of the bushes. Upon the fright, she realized how parinoid she was acting. She stood up and ventured a little deeper into the forest. She gasped at the sight of a field filled with dasies. That seemed to be the only place where the sun broke past the clouds, because sunbeams glittered everywhere. She didn't hesitate to take pictures of the beautiful setting. However, she stopped for a moment and put the camera around her neck. It reminded her of something from her childhood.

"Go outside and play, Jennifer." Her mother said. "I'll call you for lunch."

"Okay, mama!"

The little girl dashed into the backyard and began to play on the wooden playset her father had made for her. She pretended she was a princess looking for her prince. To make it more exciting, she wandered into the forest and began to dance in a field. She sang the song Strangers Like Me at the top of her lungs, and out of key. When she turned around, she saw someone standing in the shadows.

"Hi!" She waved to the stranger.

"Hello." The stranger had a deep voice, but it was pleasant.

"I can't see you very well." She frowned. "Can you come out of the shadows?"

"I would rather stay here." He said. "It's far too bright out there for me."

"Can I come over there?" She asked.

"Of course."

With his consent, she happily skipped over to him. He was very tall and had a neatly pressed suit on, its blood colored tie shining in the sunlight that broke through the branches.

It almost bothered her that she couldn't remember the man's face. She sighed and turned away from the pleasant field and headed back to the house. When she stepped inside, she saw her aunt on the phone. She sounded slightly irritated. She didn't want to make her more irritated, so she went upstairs to finish decorating. She pinned a few posters from her favorite movies on the wall, and rolled the rest of them up. She chuckled at seeing the one for Smiley, which she had seen with a few friends back when it first came out. The movie was stupid, but funny.

She flipped open the laptop on her desk and pulled up her facebook. At the sight of everyone telling her things about her parents, she sighed. She posted a large thank you note with all of her other friends tagged and then pulled up the messenger. She sent a few messages to some friends and then went onto pandora. She needed some music to drown out her thoughts. She continued to organize her things and hummed to Somebody Told Me in the process.

When she had everything set up and organized to her liking, she started talking to people on facebook. She wasn't going to lie to herself or anyone else, but most of her friends she actually met on omegle. She had only met one of them in real life, and that was Eli Buckley. Both of them had met online during the seventh grade, and hit it off nicely. They went from omegle, to email, and eventually to facebook. Eli was such a quiet teen and so was Jennifer.

'So I heard about the wreck and I'm not gonna bother to say I wish you luck cause a million other people already did, but I will say I'm always here for you~ <3'

'Damn it, Eli. Stop being such a sugary sweet little thing, it's obnoxious. Rlly.'

She couldn't help but smile. They would have already been in a relationship, if it weren't for him being gay to boot. As they talked, Jennifer began to draw in her sketchpad. It was just a profile of her friend and he was sticking his tongue out. She pulled up a picture of himself he sent her and laughed. It was him with his new calico kitten. They were touching noses. She noticed that he died his hair again, but it was black this time. He still had the same lip and cartlidge peircings that he did when they first met.

'You and your kitten are cute as heck :D'

'Awww thank you!~ /)\\\\\\(\'

She laughed at the little blushy face and continued to draw. When she finished the picture, she sent him a picture of it. He didn't respond for a while, so she took the time to look for some stories online. When he did respond, his response was hilariously enthusiastic.

'OMFG it's so perf I just can't even think about how you....OMFG HOLY CHEESE BALLS.'

'Where did the cheese balls bit come from?? Ahaha!'

She sighed and placed her sketch pad to the side. She got up and set up her easel, It took a few minutes to find her acrylic paints and blank canvas. She glanced out to the forest and then began to paint. She enjoyed working with her best skill, which was art. Whether it was writing, drawing, or painting, she was good at them all. She got the ability from her mother. Her strokes were long when it came to the trees, and very small when it came to the needles on the trees. She sighed when she finished the forest. Something was missing, but she'd have to add it when the artwork dried.

"Hey, Jennifer?" Her aunt poked her head into the room and then smiled at the sight of her painting. "That's really good!"

"It's just something I whipped up." Jennifer shrugged and then looked at her. "What's up?"

"Something pretty urgent came up with Casey and I need to go to Seattle for a few days." Adrienne said with a rough sigh. "Are you alright by yourself?"

"Of course." The teenager nodded. "What's wrong with him?"

"Well," Adrienne frowned slightly. "He was walking home from a bar last night and got mugged. He was stabbed multiple times in the stomach."

"Oh.." Jennifer automatically felt sick. "Is he going to be alright?"

"The doctors think so, but they're not sure." Adrienne replied. "Casey wants me to come down and discuss arraingements for his clothes line. Just in case, you know."

"Yeah, yeah." Jennifer nodded and then frowned a bit.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Her aunt seemed slightly suspicious.

"Totally." Jennifer managed a weak smile and nodded. "Go ahead and leave."

"Alright." Adrienne dashed over to her and planted a kiss on her forehead. "I'll lock the door, food's in the fridge, ectera, ecetera. Love you!"

"Love you, too." Jennifer's voice was quiet as her aunt left.