Asher
Her laughter bursts like the bubbles floating through the air. The front yard is littered with her toys and she spins around popping the soap bubbles. Suddenly there is a knife in my hand and I am barreling toward her. Her eyes squinch in confusion as her little voice squeaks something that I don’t hear. I can’t hear anything except my heart which seems to be beating so loud it will pop out of my chest.
My feet are nearing her and she falls on to the ground. I insert the knife into her chest. I’ve killed her. I’ve lost her. The little body of the small girl morphs and grows older her hair turns into a dark brown-red color and I realize she is Alice. I not only killed a girl but I killed my love.
I wake up unable to move. My body is stiff and I have the feeling of sick all over me. I make the decision to stay home instead of going to school, just because I feel like I won’t be able to get up. My muscles are sore from soccer last night and on top of that I just feel tired, like I didn’t get enough sleep.
When London comes in about thirty minutes later I pretend to be asleep.
“Bro, are you asleep still? Asher, you are a terrible faker I see your eyes flickering and your alarm is off you dodo!” London scolds throwing something hard at me
throat feels raw when I breathe in.
“Dang, sorry, I thought. Are you sick?” London asks with a softer tone as he walks over to me. He places a hand on my forehead and curses due to the heat of my skin.
“I think, I think I’m sick.” My voice rasps
“Naw duh dipwad!” London smacks my arm with the back of his hand and I flinch even though it didn’t hurt that much.
“Careful, I’m really sore. I think I may have a stomach bug or maybe strep throat. I’m so tired.” I say out of breath from just talking.
“I think you are just love sick. Get up.” London laughs, sticking his tongue out at me
“Shut up you butt.” My now raspy voice charges on with a pitiful comeback.
Taking his command seriously I swing my legs over the bed side and they feel like sacks of lead. When I am standing upright I try to be careful but I end up falling into the night stand and creating a gash on my hip.
“Great job, genius.” He spits at me
I respond with a fit of coughing and a dirty look. London, even though he is mean, helps me back to my feet and then I get onto the bed again. I am pretty sure my muscles aren’t sore, they are weak.
“I’m not-“ pausing to cough I continue “going to school.”
“Okay, that’s fine retard. I will tell Alice why you aren’t there.”
“No!” I yell at him, causing him to jump
“Dang! Fine Mr. Nun. I’m going, you have fun here by yourself.” He says and then leaves.
Once he is gone I slouch down in my bed and curl up to go to sleep but the burning in my throat hurts too bad and I can’t close my eyes without focusing on the pain. Hacking up a lung, I reach across the bed to get my computer so I can do some web searching.
I go to the typical search engine and type in Alice Marie Daily. I know that it’s very creep worthy but I do some deep searching and end up finding nothing on Alice except from three years ago when she moved to Livingston at the end of eighth grade. One of the pages that pops up is a social media page. I click through the posts and then, looking around to make sure there is no one here, I click through the pictures.
Most of the photos are old, from sophomore or freshman year but there are a few at the end that make me smile through the pain. One is of her smiling, on the day of the picture walk and the other is of both of us that she took.
I keep searching until it is evident that there is no trace or fragment of her life before she moved here. What could she be hiding? I close the computer and rest my hands on my stomach. Upon feeling something warm on my hands I look down and see that I am soaking with blood.
Quickly I get off of the bed and try not to fall so I can make it to the bathroom. When I get there I wrap a wet towel around my gash to soak up all of the blood. Even though it hurts I apply pressure so it will stop bleeding. Once I believe the bleeding has slowed I use the clean part of the cloth to wipe up the rest of the dried blood so I will be clean.
After a while I decide it would be wise if I went to the doctor so I make a call for an appointment and they tell me to come whenever I am ready because they are having a slow day today. I have to move slowly so it takes me about an hour before I am presentable.
When I step outside it hits me that London probably took the truck. I sigh when I think about walking to the doctor’s office because I am so tired I don’t think I could have even driven myself. Digging in my pocket I produce my cell phone.
Hoping against Hope I click Brady’s contact and he picks up. He must be skipping already.
“Brady?” I rasp
“Asher, are you okay?” He responds
“No, I need you to come pick me up. I need a ride to the doctor’s office.” I explain
After some shuffling on the other end I hear the cranking of an engine as Brady replies “On my way little bro.”
I am the youngest of our group, only by a few months, so everyone calls me Little Bro instead of just Bro. I have to stand outside for a few minutes but Brady gets to my house quickly and I am grateful for that so the heat doesn’t get to me and cause me to pass out. As his car pulls to a stop in front of me I start to move towards him.
When I get in and am buckled I look over to see that Brady is looking at me all concerned “What are you looking at? I know I’m hot.” I say
“Oh, it isn’t your stunning looks but the lack of color in your face that is taking my attention little child.” Brady says with true worry in his voice
“I’m sick, by the way.”
“Yeah, well, we are going to the doctor’s now.” He says turning back onto the main road and it doesn’t take us long to get to the sterile building where the physicians are in this town.
I go in by myself and tell Brady to wait outside for me. The waiting room smells like subbing alcohol and medicine that makes me feel nauseous. I’m the only one here so I get called back quickly. After doing the typical checkups we get to business, testing my immune system for the couple of major diseases that I could have.
Only one of the tests come back positive, flu. I get a pile of medicine and then go back to Brady’s car and then go back home. I take my prescription and it finally lets me sleep in a dreamless, medical induced coma.
