Waiting for the Sunrise

chapter four

Jake

Sitting in my room, I heard my dad slam the front door behind him as he left my mom in tears in the kitchen. Fuck. I knew better than to try to talk to either of them and looked out the window at the driveway below and watched my dad's Audi pull out into the dark road.

I could see into Rebecca's bedroom window, and for the first time since I moved here her blinds were open. I looked towards it and noticed the window was too. I sat up to focus, my eyes taking a second to adjust to the darkness of outside. That's when I realized she was outside the window, sitting on the front roof of her house holding something. She was leaning against her house and moving around loosely. I was sure whatever was in her hand was alcohol, I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to go check in on her, but I could sense that she didn't want my help as much as I wanted to give it. For some reason I couldn't stop worrying about her. I had my own shit to worry about yet I couldn't stop thinking and worrying about her problems. I had promised Will I'd look out for her, and something seemed odd about this current moment. Will had filled me in on as much as he felt he should, telling me that only Rebecca should finish the past and I'd promised him he could trust me to take care of her when he couldn't. I'd promised to call anytime I wasn't sure what to do.

I thought I had maybe panicked earlier when she didn't call and it had been hours, but he seemed grateful and had texted me saying thank you and that she should be okay. I was starting to wonder about her, about Will. This whole town seemed so close yet so far, and I had missed so much in 5 years. Savannah had been fairly easy compared to everything that had happened in the past few days since we moved back. Compared to what I was dealing with now, Savannah was a breeze. Everything was bright, and happy, and simple.

I looked back out the window at Rebecca. She was standing now, wobbly and almost dancing. She was walking but barely, and was almost losing her footing. Something was up, for sure. I debated between calling Will or just crossing the street to her house, but I knew Will lived a decent distance away, and if something was wrong I didn't want to be too late. I had an odd feeling and I followed it down the stairs, pulling on my brand new winter coat, sliding on a pair of sneakers and practically running out the door, ignoring my moms calls. Rebecca didn't even notice me running towards her house, walking into the front door and letting myself into her room. That's when I heard it, she was singing. She was singing loud and calm all at once, and it was beautiful. I didn't remember her being a singer when we were younger, or ever even mentioning it.

"Rebecca?" I said quietly, trying not to scare her. She didn't hear me. "Rebecca." My voice got louder and I walked closer to the window. Her singing stopped abruptly and I knew she heard. I reached my head out the window and gave her my hand. "Can you come inside? It's cold out, your rooms going to be freezing if you don't shut the window soon."

"Jake!" She smiled the first genuine smile I'd seen since I had moved back. Her eyes were wide and sparkling. I was right; she reached for my hand and slowly walked towards me. "I'm so glad you're here! Isn't it sorta late? We have school tomorrow!" She was grinning wide as she spoke.

"Are you okay Rebecca?" She laughed this time.

"Better than I have been in a long time, Jake." She entered her room and was still grinning wide. God, she was beautiful. I'd noticed it the instant I saw her again. Her bright green eyes always seemed bright no matter how miserable she was. Now that she was smiling, she was breathtaking. However, I knew something was up. Will hadn't mentioned any happy spells, and I wasn't really sure how to handle the situation. "Do you want a sip?" She asked, holding the vodka bottle in front of me. It was a different bottle than last night and was already half empty, which worried me. I shook my head no as she collapsed on her bed. I shut the window as she started talking.