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" it'sastrangeworld isn'tit?"
21st of febuary 2025
Martin directed the group towards a small house, stranded in the waste-land of our town. "It's gonna rain soon, so get inside already." He sighed as we trailed after him. I glanced around the small doorway and sighed. The thought of spending the night here made me wince, but I wasn't going to argue, especially with someone like Martin. I'm safe now, aren't I? If you call Martin threatening to kill you if you make a wrong move safe, then, I guess I am. I wiped a hand across my face. That day felt like twenty-four years instead of twenty-four hours. At least I could try to get a goodnight's sleep.
{ time skip }
I guess I was wrong about getting a goodnight's sleep. My thoughts just started and kept going up and up and up like a rollercoaster until they got unbearable. I pulled my knees closer to my chest and sighed, looking at everyone around me. All fast asleep on tables. I couldn't help but feel jealous about how easily they slipped from reality and into a dream where they can be anyone they want to be. I was sick of being trapped in this body that they called 'Nora'. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Rasmus propped himself up on his elbow before turning to look at me. He tilted his head on the side and furrowed his eyebrows. I gave him a smile, but as if he knew something was wrong, he got up from his table and padded across the room towards me. "Are you ok?" He whispered. I couldn't look him in the eye. "Yeah, I just... I can't sleep." He sat himself next to me on the table, his legs dangling off the edge. "Why? What's the matter?" "Nothing. I guess I'm just thinking too much or something." I replied. "Tell me." "What?" I engaged eye contact with him. "What's bothering you." He sounded genuinely curious. I sighed, resting my chin on my knees. "I'm thinking about what happened... When the rain came." He nodded, looking like a child about to hear a bedtime story. "You want me to tell you everything?" I asked. He smiled. "Yes." I breathed in. "I was nine when it happened. It started out as any normal day, except, I had to go to school. So I called my mum to tell her I wanted to go home. She said there was something wrong with the rain and the people that she worked for wouldn't let her leave, so I was left there I guess. Alone for six years..." I trailed off and took a glimpse of Rasmus. He seemed so intrigued about my past. It made me uncomfortable as I hadn't had this much attention since I was young. Rasmus nodded at me to keep going. I shook off the feeling that I was telling an almost foreigner my life story and decided to carry on. "I found a way to survive in the woods somehow. Looking for food every five seconds. But I think I just got sick of the lifestyle, you know? Having to watch the world fade away before your eyes, people around you dying... and I felt... I felt nothing anymore." I paused and realised that I was crying. As if I hadn't cried enough already. Rasmus didn't really know what to do, he kind just watched the tears roll down my cheeks and patted my shoulder. I wiped my eyes. "I tried to kill myself twice." I said it so quietly I couldn't even hear it coming out of my mouth. Rasmus looked at me. Studying my face. "W-why?" I felt myself breaking a little bit more. "Everything... it was too much for me." He gave me a half-smile and said: "But, it's going to be ok." I bit my lip to try and stop the tears from spilling down my cheeks. "When?" "I don't know, Nora." He whispered. I wanted him to kiss me like in the movies I saw when I was young. Perfect strangers falling in love. Maybe it was what we were.
