Her Name Was Mallory

Who Are You?

The car door opened suddenly, awaking me from my dreams which to my surprise did not contain Elijah. Though I was awake I continued to pretend to sleep and I could hear mom turning on the car and her driving away. It was good to know I'd be going home now, it had been a long day. Just as I was about to fall completely asleep I felt the car stop. When I opened my eyes slightly, I realized we were at a gas station and I supposed it made sense for mom to get some gas. She walked into the gas station, and walked out with drinks and some other junk food. As she got in the car I looked at her confused as to why she had gotten snacks and drinks.

"You're going to eat while you drive? You never do that" I said and instead of pulling out the car keys she simply sat there, eating a bag of potato chips she had purchased.

"No, I'm not going to eat and drive. I'll just eat" she responded.

"It's been a long day, can't we just go home and get some rest?" I asked but she seemed to ignore me and she failed to give me an answer.

"Please can we go home?"  I asked and she kept quiet. I pulled out a Sprite she had bought for me and I drank it slowly.

"No, because we are staying here until it's time for church" the moment she said that I nearly spit out my drink.

    "What? Why? We've been at church all day!"

    "Service is at 5 so we have about half an hour and afterwards there will be a birthday party to which we were invited"

    "Have fun by yourself, I'm not going. I rather stay in the car"

    "You wish! Mallory, you have never disobeyed me and you won't start now"

I was not going to tell her the truth. Normally I would be okay with being in church for a long period of time, I was used to that. However in this occasion, I was afraid. My fear had name and his name was Christopher. It was the way that my stomach felt when I saw him that made me want to runaway. I was afraid of feeling and I did not want to find out if he felt the same way I did. It was indeed much too soon to say that I liked him, therefore I let that go. But there was something about the way we interacted that made everything around me seem unreal. It was like we were the protagonists of some romantic comedy movie. It was his persistence and my neglection that made me smile a little. I had been smiling since I met him. To smile because of someone is never a good thing, and I learned that the hardway. And for that reason, I was not going to let this strange feeling take over me. I would run away from these thoughts and hope they never catch up to me. I knew that once they took over me, it would be a disaster because I myself was a disaster and nothing would change that.

* * *

    I spent about thirty minutes listening to music. It was really relaxing and what I needed right now more than ever was to relax. I could not help but get anxious because I knew that no matter what I did I would end up seeing Christopher somewhere. But I tried my best to avoid any thought regarding him. So instead, I thought about Romina. She had not messaged me today, which was odd. I also remembered the message Elijah left me the other day. It was insane how much hate he felt towards me, even miles away he would  find a way to make me miserable. I never understood Elijah, perhaps that is why he hated me. If I could only understand him, and make things right. If I could have changed myself to be pleasing perhaps that would've made him stop bullying me. But how can one change something when it is unclear what there is to change? Maybe I would find out someday what about me was so destructive and so unhappy.

I just hoped that when I did, I would be ready.

Until then I had to take care of bigger problems such as how to remain unnoticed at church, which we were standing right in front of. I had been replaying scenarios in my head of ways to excuse myself and leave to be alone. So far, all the ways I had found were oddly rude. I would have to come up with something on the spot. With mother in front of me, I walked keeping my eyes on my combat boots. I could not help but wonder what people thought about me by now. It was not everyday that a girl dressed like me would go to church. Anyone who saw me would think instantly I was goth. I opened the door, and walked as I was sinking deeper into my own thoughts. I heard someone speaking but it was mostly likely directed to someone else so I stood in the lobby while mother talked to some tall, slim, man.

    "Hey! Hello? Anyone there?" someone said and when I looked up it was a guy I had not seen earlier. He was just the opposite of Christopher. His skin was a nice tan color, his hair was slightly curled and he was taller. His eyes looked at me with wonder and by the time I realized what had happened I already felt awkward.

    "Oh, sorry. Hey" I said and waved very slightly. I went on my way, and kept walking into the sanctuary.

    I tried my best to take in what had just happened. I was now curious to know who that guy was. I guess I would find out sooner or later but he was strange, definitely strange. Service began immediately after I had entered and it lasted about twenty minutes which was not too bad. However, I remembered how I would be staying here for the birthday party afterwards. After the last prayer, I stood up immediately and left. I had left mother behind but she would most likely think I was dragged out by some people my age that want to be my friends. That was obviously not the case but I would let her think it was, that way she felt a bit more at peace knowing I was making an effort. Meanwhile, I was trying to find a good place to hide but I had nothing. I opted for sitting on a couch in the lobby. I figured everyone would be busy in the gym.

I was resting peacefully until mother came and I could assume she wanted me to eat.

    "Mallory honey, why don't you come eat something?" she asked and because I did not want to argue I simply did as she asked. I followed her into the gym which was decorated with balloons of all different colors and I had to admit it was really beautiful. I got in line to get my food, while mom sat at a table somewhat near. Waiting in line, I felt a tap on my shoulder and it was the boy from earlier that was trying to get my attention.

    "Are you hungry?" he asked, and I was confused as to why the question.

    "What?" I asked and for some reason he was the only person I had met here with which I could hold eye contact.

    "Are you hungry?" he asked again, his voice calm yet something about it sounded funny.

    "Um, yeah" I said slightly smiling.

    "Here you can have my plate" he handed me his plate and took the empty plate that was in my hands for himself.

    "Uh, thanks" I said and walked over to where my mom was sitting. I looked at the kid again and he looked at me with a smile on his face. I began to eat, and only ate about half of what was on my plate. The rest was thrown away, I did not want to have another puking incident.

Time went by slowly, I was bored out of my mind sitting next to mom as I heard her talking about how beautiful Seattle was. I hoped no one would ask me my thoughts on Seattle because I was afraid I would say the truth. I did not think that speaking about how much I hated Seattle was a good conversation topic. I felt a buzz come from my purse and it was my Facebook indicating me that I had one unread message. I was mentally preparing myself for a message from Elijah. Instead, I found a message from Aiden Castellano. I did not know an Aiden and it was honestly scaring me a bit. I opened the message, and read it to myself. It said:

Aiden Castellano: "Mallory, meet me at the lobby"

    The profile picture of this person was the guy that gave me his plate. I was surprised and confused as to how he got my facebook name. I had a bubble of curiosity building in my chest. I walked out of the gym and made my way to the lobby where I found him, listening to music. I was not sure if I should disturb him or not. I decided to do so, and I was not sure why. I tapped on his shoulder and when he looked at me a smile appeared on his face.

    "Hi, um... I'm Mallory" I said, my voice trembling.

    "I know" he responded.

And I was more confused than ever. Who was he and how did he know me?