Fireflies

Chapter 3: Troubled Waters

                                                                        

                                                                          ARYAH
May 16th
I awoke with a start in the middle of the night to the sound of sirens. Red, blue and purple lights swirled around my room - a reflection of the street outside.

I realized that my hair was plastered to my face in sweat.

Suddenly, I was outside in the pouring rain only wearing a pink sports bra and gym shorts. Nothing else. I was barefoot.  In my hand was a basketball and I kept dribbling it, just standing there dribbling while people ran past me trying to take shelter in the rain. I think I was waiting for something. The thunder clapped. I didn't flinch.

I was waiting for Adam, but he never came.

So I ran.

"ARI WAIT!" I felt my father lunge for me somewhere in the darkness, but I slipped out of his grasp easily and ran down the street in the pouring rain, my clothes sticking to me like a second skin.
Everything was a blur. Houses blended into one another as if the world were melting away.
But I kept running, straight up into a driveway and onto a porch where I saw Adam's parents standing in the doorway talking to two police officers. One held Adam's tattered backpack. Adam's mother was crying and holding onto her husband for dear life.

I could hear my heart not only beating, but breaking into a million pieces. Shattering like shards of glass, clattering as they danced across the floor for a moment and then lay silent.

NO. A voice inside my head screamed.
NO NO NO NO NO NO! T
he screaming grew louder and I could see that the police had turned to look at me now. The screams were not in my head but coming straight out of my mouth.

I saw them warily approach me like a wounded animal. My chest heaved and my fingers were balled into fist. The world got smaller and smaller. All things faded to black.

***

"Hey, Hey. Honey, wake up! Hey!" I felt my father's warm hands caressing the side of my face, pushing the sweaty locs away from my forehead.

I blinked a few times and looked around.

"How are you, honey?" My father asked. "You were having a nightmare."

Everything looked normal. The sun was shining. I could hear birds chirping outside. I was tucked in my own bed. So...I'd only been dreaming? But why couldn't I shake the feeling that something was wrong with Adam.

"Adam..." I muttered, tearing up.

"Sweetie, who's Adam?"

I promptly ignored my father. All I kept thinking about was how it was my fault! How I should have been the one to drive him to safety. I should have insisted that he let me take him home yesterday. The dream, if was even one at all, just seemed so real!

"What time is it?" I asked hurriedly. My gaze frantically searched the room for my cellphone. "I have to go."

"It's time for you to get up for school. I thought since you've been having problems with your alarm clock I'd wake you up myself. "

I looked at him for the first time. He wore a soft white cotton shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans. His face seemed weathered, despite the soothing smile he wore - a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Okay, thanks." I placed a hand over his.

I slid out of bed and headed towards the dresser where I saw the pink covering of my cell phone. The screen lit up when I touched it, revealing a text bubble. I slid the bar to open the phone and read:

Adam: Shit, what was Henderson's homework for today?

The log on my phone said I'd received it about an hour ago. I blew a sigh of relief as I turned and leaned my back against the dresser.

Okay, so he didn't get into a terrible car accident and die, I thought.

Then I got mad. How dare he not text or call me? He could've put me out of my misery a long time ago. But noooo, now he expected me to just give him Henderson's homework. Just like that?

Meanwhile my father stood over my bed fixing it. Occasionally he looked up, silently watching the war I was waging with myself.

To text him back or not to text him back? That was the question.

I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. I slapped my phone back onto my dresser and began to collect my things for the shower.

"Daddy, what are you still doing in here?"

"Oh you know, just tidying up." I realized that my uniform was at the edge of the bed neatly folded and cleaned. He must have done laundry late last night.

"Uh...okay." I began to turn away but his voice halted my movements.

"Ari, wait! Honey, you know your graduation is coming up in two weeks. Do you have any idea what you want to do? Vacation? Money? We can throw a party!" He sang happily.

"I dunno, Dad. I haven't really thought about it."

"Okay, well you let us know alright. I'm going to go downstairs and start breakfast."

"Okay. Is Mom still here?"

Ari didn't miss the wrinkle line that creased her father's forehead or the slight dip in his mediocre smile. "No, honey. She left early as usual."

There was something off about his tone.

"Be honest, Dad. Did she even come home?"

He cleared his throat. "No."

I sighed and walked out of the room. I could hear his heavy footsteps go down the stairs right as I closed the bathroom door.

****

I was content as I walked down the shiny corridors of Windlyn's hallway.The sun was shining.  I got to school on time. My clothes were clean and my shirt wasn't inside. It was going to be a good day. I had about 15 minutes before my first class and I was wondering if I would catch Adam at his locker. I turned the corner and saw him gathering some books and sliding them into his back pack.

He looked healthy and whole. More than that, he looked good. Gosh, it must be a crime for someone to be that good looking. I mean, I bet he didn't realize that even the little things made him attractive. Like how when he was thinking really hard about something, he'd wrinkle his nose. Or how when he laughed, he almost always held his stomach even if the joke wasn't that funny. He made our school uniform look like something out of an express catalogue.

Beautiful people like him could afford to be careless with other people's feelings, despite the best of intentions. Everyone always forgave them in the end.

Passing the school's trophy case I stopped and looked at myself in the dull reflection of this fall's football championship trophy. I flashed a smile, fluffed my hair a bit, and pulled at the neckline of my shirt. I looked up to see if anyone was watching me and noticed that Adam had closed his locker and was heading down the hall.

Shoot!

I took one last look at myself and then sprinted down the hall after his blue back pack.

"Hey, douche bag!" I called, catching up with him down the now crowded hall. Everyone was trying to get to their classes.

Adam looked a bit uneasy, but he still smiled. Maybe I shouldn't have said that out-loud. "Hey you."

"So..." I pandered, matching his stride.

"So...?" he cocked an eyebrow.

"So last night....I wanted you to call me to make sure you got home safely?" I said with a "DUH" expression on my face.

Silence.

"Adam, I was worried sick about you! When you didn't call I thought the worst! I mean it was raining." I was blabbering, I knew.

"Well sorry, I didn't realize it was a big deal or anything." He shrugged. His nonchalance kind of irked me. I don't understand why he didn't get where I was coming from. Being protective was in his nature.

Like that one time two summers ago when our parents took us to a lake about 30 minutes outside of Chipley, our town. Adam and I had immediately gone off swimming and we had a contest to see who could hold their breath under water. Adam and I took turns sitting on the dock; one would sit on the dock and count the seconds while the other went under water. Adam's turn went fine, he lasted for 20 seconds. The water was dark and murky, but I could still see his pale skin. Mine, on the other hand, turned out to be harder to see. On my turn I took a huge breath and plunged deep into the water. I held my breath, swam a feet feet away under water and waited until I felt like my lungs were about to explode. I came up sputtering and laughing, especially once I caught the look on Adam's face. He was in the water a couple of feet way splashing around looking bewildered.

"That's not funny," he yelled swimming to the dock and pulling himself up. I watched him stalk down the wooden planks back towards the campsite we'd set up, muttering under his breath.

He didn't speak to me during dinner and when I finally got him to talk, he simply said:

"You shouldn't scare people like that. I thought something happened to you."

"But nothing did."

"And if something had. I would've felt like it was my fault."

So I knew that if the tables were reversed I'm sure he would have lit into me.

"Why wouldn't you think I'd want you to return my call when you got home? You made me text you to make sure I got home safely."

"Look, I'm sorry if you were worried. But like I said, it was no big deal."

I mean, what he was saying was true and I probably should've dropped it, but I kept going off. I had been so worried.

"Yeah, well a considerate person would have just picked up the phone or at least texted in the morning or something..."

"My phone died, okay!" He stopped and yelled at me. I jumped a bit, startled at his reaction.

"Dude, what's your problem?" I asked incredulously.

"What's my problem? What's yours? You're acting like I have some duty/obligation to call you, to let you know where I am at all time. You're NOT my girlfriend."

Wow. That last sentenced reverberated down the hallway. A few of the students left lingering stopped and looked at us.

So was that what this was all about? Some stupid rumor I made up just to show up the flat-faced Theresa. Hadi was right. I had overestimated my knowledge of Adam.

"What makes it worst is that someone saw us in the gym yesterday." He gave a frustrated groan, raking his hand through his dark hair.

"Nothing happened." I said quietly.

"I know! But your little rumor doesn't help anything now, does it?"

"Look Adam I'm sorry alright. I didn't mean it. I was just fucking around with those girls. They were being stupid."

"Yeah, well next time you want to "fuck around" keep my name out of it."

"Why is this such a big deal, Adam?" I asked, her tone pleading. I just couldn't understand why he was so upset.