Eternal.

Chapter Twenty-Four

My straightener made a clanking noise as it hit the bottom of my medium sized suite case. I told my mother I was leaving as soon as I had enough for a ticket. She objected, but I told her I wasn’t listening. She screamed at me, I cried and told her why I need to go. She gave up, I started packing. I left my room to go get some tape. “Why are you packing?” Aiden appeared. “Because we’re going that’s why” I sat cross-legged on my bed and picked at the start of the tape roll. “Going where?” Aiden asked, although he knew. “Home” I said. Aiden smiled as I still picked at the tape. He stood at the edge of my bed with his hands behind his back, never offering to help. I thought about what Lynn said earlier that day at the ice cream shop. How everyone at once is telling me what they think of me. Once I got the tape to unravel I stopped and I thought about what Aiden has told me. Everyone has told me everything they think about me. But Aiden was hiding something. It felt important, but I wouldn’t know how to ask. Somehow I felt like something just wasn’t adding up.

Two thoughts came together. I always thought Lynn was perfect; perfect hair, perfect makeup, and perfect friends. And me, with Aiden telling me I am the lost Goddess of wisdom I felt words form in my brain. Words that now seem to be true. Aiming at Lynn I said,

I am a memory

You are a dream

Two worlds that can never be

I mouthed those words that came from my head. Somehow Aiden knew what I was saying and nodded. I put a piece of scotch tape on the handle of my suitcase and was writing my name on it. Aiden sat down behind me and it was as if he was answering my poem with another one. He said,

Two worlds can collide, my darling

And when they do,

The memory becomes the dream

“So what happens to the dream?” I asked putting the cap back on my marker. “The dream becomes the nightmare” he said in the low voice.  “So which one are you?” I asked tossing the marker on my nightstand on my way to the closet. Aiden smirked like he’s never thought of it before. His eyes looked tarnished and his hair fell more over his face. I returned to the bed with a couple of dresses and a pair of boots. “Why are you packing so much?” he asked as I was stuffing them in. “This is a lot?” I asked him. “You have your own wardrobe over there” he said as I pulled a couple of shirts and two pairs of jeans. “So what,” I asked, “I’ll get there and automatically I’m back as this Goddess?” Aiden gave me a face like he didn’t know, so I continued stuffing my suitcase. I folded a nice shirt with net-like straps and was putting it in the suitcase when my vision blacked out. I couldn’t feel the shirt in my hands anymore. A few seconds later my eyes opened to a land outside with dull green grass; a sunset overlooking an ocean below a small cliff. I looked down and saw a long white dress wrapped around my ankles, flowing in the wind. I noticed a stain at the bottom of the dress; I noticed the same stain under my neckline. The stain was blue, and dried. I touched my hand to the blue stain. It felt rough as it chipped off onto my fingers. I came to the conclusion that it was blood. Behind me were a small hill of rocks that looked like from dried glaciers. I remembered seeing this place this morning walking to Lynn’s house. Nothing was different except that I was new sitting on those rocks.  The wind blew my hair and it was then I noticed how long it had become.

The color was different too. It was long enough for the bottom to touch the rock’s surface. It was a golden red color and was wavy to no end. What was this? A dream? A memory? My vision blurred again and before I knew it I saw my hands in my suitcase putting in it a pair of folded jeans. I turned to Aiden who was sitting next to it on my bed. But I couldn’t speak. I figured it would sound bazar coming out of my mouth. Maybe it didn’t mean anything. I was known for having bazar dreams that I’d only remember for fifteen minutes after I woke up. But I wasn’t just going to sleep and dreaming, I was blacking out to something that felt strange like it’s happened before. It’s like watching a movie and once you see this one scene you suddenly remember you’ve seen it before. I grabbed another pair of jeans and a pair of leggings from a drawer in my closet. Walking back to my bed I noticed Aiden looking at the stuff on my nightstand: a broken pencil, a little stuffed teddy bear Alex gave me once, some lip-gloss that I was going to throw away, a piece of folded paper that probably had an old written poem on it, and some sparkly blue nail polish that I like to put on my toes, all surrounding the base of my vintage lamp.  “Aiden,” I said and brought his attention back, “Do you ever have weird dreams?” I asked re-folding my leggings. I heard air rush up Aiden’s nose like an old man with a nose whistle. He held his elbow out and his hand clenched to his knee as he looked up at me with gold eyes that no longer had its ungrateful tarnish. “Dreams hold a lot of meaning. You should pay attention to them.”