When the Lights Go Out {complete first draft}

Day Two: To Swim or Not?

why is friday on a loop hole?

 I couldn’t believe Vincent. By the time I left the party, with Vincent screaming at me in the pool, I remembered I had to get some gas. A drunken idiot was holding up the queue, and I wanted to just get home. It was nearly three in the morning, and this man wanted to pick a fight with the cashier. I wasn’t up for it, and in a moment of bravery, I told him to leave. For a moment, he looked like he wanted to come at me and hit me, but the cashier then ushered him out, telling him he’d call the cops if he came back. He then turned to me, and thanked me. I told him it wasn’t a problem; he was lucky I was feeling brave. Really, although I didn’t say it out loud, I figured I might already be dead. What’s the harm in a drunken man? Or rather another drunken person. 

                      By the time I actually got home, it felt like I’d only blinked and time had fast-forwarded to school hours. And now here I was, walking down the hallway, with people muttering. Obviously most of these people had been at the party last night, so they knew I had chucked Vincent into the pool. If this had happened the other day, and people were looking at me, I would have been so conscious. But now, now it didn’t bother me. I would have been annoyed that people were staring at me, but I was to busy staring at Vincent, who was looking at me with puppy eyes. He must have been feeling sorry for himself, with a hangover, and guilty because he knows he was acting like an ass. 

                        The only problem was, not everyone knew why I pushed him into the pool. Matthew was the only person who did, and he sure wouldn’t defend me in front of everyone. I heard someone mutter my name as I passed her and I shot her a look, just so that they would stop talking. Didn’t she and her friends have something better to do with their lives? If they were in my position, they would realize how pathetic they were being. They should be trying to live a little, rather than running other people down and talking to them behind their backs. I would love to see any of them reliving their last day over and over. Hopefully it was drive them to do irrational things to. 

                        I felt bad about dropping Vincent into the pool, I really did, but I was hurt, and in the moment, it was the best thing to do. If I could do it again – not that I was planning to go back to that party if I woke up again stuck in this trap – I would have put Matthew in the pool instead. He was the one that really deserved it. Vincent cocked his head to the side when I didn’t start to slow down towards him and I rolled my eyes, sighing. 

                        I could just walk off and leave him in the corridor but I had done that already, at the party. I couldn’t do it again. I stopped short of running into Vincent who stepped out to grab my arm. “Hey,” he said softly. “How are you?” 

                        I frowned. He wanted to make small talk, now, in the corridor at school? “Hi,” I said back. 

                        “Look,” he started, but I held up my hand and cut him off. 

                        “I’m sorry about pushing you into the pool, Vince.” I noticed people staring at me as they passed. Matthew had his arm around Kendal, and I shot her a look, telling her I wanted her to move away from him but she just shrugged instead. I left her to it, my attention returning to Vincent. I had to deal with this first; it was one thing at a time. “It’s just, you were acting like a douchebag.  I had to do something.”

                        He hung his head. “I know. I feel bad.” 

                        “Good.” I said, sourly.  I glanced at the clock on a wall, noticing that I should be going to swimming soon. I had purposely told myself this morning that I was going swimming, and I wouldn’t ditch it to be with Vincent. If I had to live this day over and over, I wasn’t going to do things his way. I would do things my way. A thought struck me on the way here this morning: if I was living this life over and over, what was happening to all the other people in my life – in the world? They obviously weren’t stuck in this paradox situation with me, so what were they doing? Were they sleeping, and this was all one big dream that seemed to be going on for ages? Did I vanish in the real world and they only existed, still, here? I wanted to ask my sister, or Vincent if our worlds were still the same, if they were experiencing this, but I didn’t want them to think I was mad.