A Thousand Lies

Chapter 5- Christina

All day, I couldn't stop thinking about Jayden. My mind was filled with questions about who he was, and where the picture came from. Maybe the girl in the picture was just a random girl who happened to look like me? But the girl and I look so much alike. The same blond, curly hair, the same pale skin, and, as I looked closer at the photograph, I realized we even had the same blue eyes.

Jayden looked pretty similar to the boy in the picture. His jet black hair was still as unruly as it was in the pictures, and his skin was still the same beautiful olive color. He even had the same tattoos on his arms that he had now, which made me wonder, did he really get those when he was just ten years old? Is that even legal?

Suddenly, something pulled me out of my thoughts. My teacher, Mrs. Thompson, was looking at me as if she was expecting an answer. "Well?" she said, still staring at me."I'm sorry, what?" I answered. She just sighed and turned back to the board. A few people stared at me, and one of them snickered. I felt my face grow hot. It wasn't my fault I wasn't listening to Mrs. Thompson's boring math class. Okay, well it sort of was my fault, but never mind that.

The day seemed to stretch on forever, my only thoughts being about Jayden and the mysterious little picture, which I had stored deep in the back pocket of my jeans. When I finally got home, I was suffocated by my mother's huge hug as soon as I walked through the front door. "Oh Christina, sweetheart, I missed you so much!" I let her squeeze me for a solid five minutes before pulling away. My mother had been gone on a trip for her work for five days. It wasn't very long, but she always reacted this way when she got back. "So," She said, after telling me all about her trip, which honestly sounded pretty boring, "What happened to you while I was gone?" I hesitated for a moment before answering "Oh nothing much. Natalie broke up with her boyfriend, and that's pretty much the only thing that happened." I left out the part about Jayden.

My mother always told me that my real parents died in a car accident when I was three years old. I don't remember them at all, but sometimes I imagine what they looked like: my mother with blond hair and pale skin like mine, my father with brown hair and blue eyes, the same color as my eyes. But, I really had no idea what they looked like. They could be huge purple aliens for all I know.

I walked up the stairs to and entered my bedroom, quietly closing the door behind me. If I didn't take my time closing the door, it would slam and make a sound that could compete with the noise a rocket made taking off. When I was five years old, I named my door Sammy, because it made so much noise. I'm not very sure what the name Sammy has to do with loud noises, but hey, I was five.

An hour later, I was laying on my bed staring at the ceiling as I listened to music. Suddenly, my window shattered. Just like that. I jumped off my bed, making my way to the windowsill, which took me a while since I was trying not to step on the pieces of glass scattered around the floor. Once I finally got there, I found a note attached to a fist-sized rock. I picked it up with trembling fingers and read it:

Trust me, even if you don't believe me

I sighed. Sure, I didn't really believe him about the whole "You have magical powers" thing, but did he really need to throw a rock at my window? I know I should probably call the police or something, because that's what you do when a guy you don't know throws a rock through your window. I grabbed my phone and dialed 911. My finger was about to press the call button, but there was something holding me back. A part of me was saying: Go ahead! Call the police! While another part was saying: What about that picture?

I set the phone down.

I heard my mother rushing up the stairs, then my door swung open. She was standing in the doorway"What happened? I heard a crash, and..." She panted, not bothering to finish her sentence. I turned to look at what was left of my window, my mind racing. What should I tell her? I know I can trust her, but if I tell her the truth she would call the police for sure, and I will never find out who Jayden is, if Jayden is even his real name. I could say it just spontaneously shattered, or maybe I could just say someone threw a rock at my window, but I didn't know who did it, I thought. I decided to go with the latter. I was holding the rock in my hand, after all.

I started explaining how someone (I stressed that I didn't know who) threw a rock at my window and even gave her the rock as proof. I took the note off the rock before giving it to her and shoved it into my back pocket. My mother asked me a million questions about if I knew anyone who would throw a rock at my window, if I saw the person who threw the rock, etc. Finally, she said she would rather I didn't sleep in my room after what happened, so I wound up sleeping on the couch.

While I was about to fall asleep, I realized that Jayden knows where I live. I pushed the thought away, and drifted asleep. As soon as I was asleep, I had one of the weirdest dreams ever.

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I was standing in a large soccer field, the same as the one in the picture. Standing beside me was Jayden, looking a lot younger than I remember. He had the same weird tattoos, except they were moving, the patterns swirling across his skin. We were both smiling, posing for a picture that was being taken by a tall, skinny woman with purplish black hair. Once the woman took the picture, Jayden hugged me, his tattooed arms pulling me into a warm embrace. I couldn't stop smiling. It was like I wasn't controlling my actions, something that usually happened when I was dreaming. Everything about the dream felt so real, the sound of our laughter, the smell of freshly cut grass, the warmth of his body pressed against mine...

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I woke up suddenly, my arms crushing my pillow in a bear hug. I let go of the pillow and stood up. Jayden said my dreams were real. I had a dream that resembled the scene on the picture perfectly. I walked over to the door, shrugging on my coat. I opened the door and stepped outside, closing it quietly behind me.

It was time to see Jayden.