Letting Go

Chapter 6

It was the last class of the day, and I was just sitting in my chair gazing outside of the window. It was starting to become cloudy outside, and the clouds were shifting into a darker shade of grey. I wonder if it's going to rain tonight.. I've already handed in my class work and the teacher didn't mention anything about having homework. Sighing I looked away from the window and looked up at the clock. 10 more minutes. I clasped my hands together on top of my desk and my leg started bouncing. Thoughts about what happened today started to flood my mind. Why does Elson want to have dinner with me? I just met him. And why did he defend me..that's..he-it's not even worth defending someone like me.

The bell rang taking me out of my thoughts, and I got up to leave the classroom. As I was heading towards the door I felt someone tug on my book bag. Suddenly I was yanked backwards and fell into one of desks. Getting up, I kept my head down and started to make a run for the door, but this time someone grabbed me by my hair and threw me into a wall. My head banged against the wall and my ears started ringing, my vision started getting cloudy and all I could feel was the coldness of someone's hands around my neck. It's only been a couple of days in school and it's already gotten this bad. What did I do now to deserve this?

"Hey fatty" the person who had his hands around my neck leaned in close to my face and whispered "where's your little friend now? He's not here to protect you is he?"

I heard laughter coming from behind him and tears started to well up in my eyes. I tried holding them back and tried to open my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. The grip around my neck tightened and I felt like I couldn't breath. As soon as I felt like it was coming to my last breath, I jumped out of bed and started panting. My clothes were drenched in sweat and my hair was sticking to my face, my whole body was shaking and everything around me felt cold. Bringing my legs up to my chest, I wrapped my arms around my legs and rested my forehead against my knees. I wanted to cry, but I wouldn't let myself. Crying will get me no where.

The doorbell rang, but I didn't bother to get up. I just wanted to be alone and stay in the position I was in. Then the doorbell rang again. And again. And again. Sighing, I got up from my bed and walked towards the door and opened it not bothering to check who it was first. I looked up I saw Elson's face. Immediately I remembered about the dinner and looked down at what he was wearing. He dressed up so nicely.. he was wearing navy blue dress shoes, navy blue slacks and a white dress shirt. I missed the dinner. Looking back up at him I opened my mouth to say something, but instead I was suddenly met with hug. His arms were tightly wrapped around me and my face was buried in his chest. Something started to come over me and for some reason, I started crying. I don't know why I was letting someone who I only met a few days ago hold me like this and I don't know why I'm crying, but I just kept crying and crying and letting him hold me. He nuzzled his face into my hair and his grip around me tightened. This felt different. This didn't feel like the grip in my dream where I felt suffocated. I felt..safe.

A few moments had passed and I stopped crying and Elson had let go of me. I moved to the side to let him inside, and once he stepped inside I closed the door behind us. He turned his head slowly looking around my apartment. Then he walked over to the living room area and sat down on the couch. Following him, I sat down next to him and grabbed a pillow to cover myself. There was nothing to cover, but I just felt more comfortable that way.

"Cartier." Elson had his arms crossed and he was looking at me with sort of sadness. "What happened?"

I looked down at my lap and began telling him about my dream and apologized for not going to the dinner. He asked me about the people in the town and why they do what they do to me. He also asked me if I was okay, and I told him I don't know to all of those questions. I don't have the answer to any of his questions. I don't have the answer to anything.

"I'm really sorry about missing the dinner.." I was still looking down at my lap and twiddling with my thumbs. I felt awful about missing the dinner. Elson tapped my nose and I looked up at him confused.

Grinning he said, "It's fine. Talking to you and getting to know you was what I really wanted. Just don't do it again."

Nodding my head, I reassured him that I wouldn't do it again. Grinning even more, Elson started wiggling his body in such an odd way, I wouldn't be able to describe it. Elson then turned his body completely in my direction,

"CARTIERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! I'm hungry."

Blinking a couple of times, I became confused. Why did he have to yell so loudly. I'm right in front of him.

"Cartier. Go get dressed. We are still having this dinner."

Tilting my head to the side I looked at him confused.

Flipping his nonexistent hair behind him, he crossed one leg over the other staring right in to my eyes, "CARTIER." He sang in an opera voice, "GET DRESSED SO I CAN EATTTTT"

Oh my goodness.. I got up and ran to my bathroom quickly taking a shower and then ran into my closet with a towel wrapped around me. This is happening too quickly. I don't know what to wear. I looked around my closet and picked out a plain grey baggy shirt and black sweat pants. I wore my nice sneakers as I tied my hair back. Good enough. I walked back outside to the living room and Elson was leaning against the counter. Once he saw me he smiled and he held out his hand. I hesitantly placed my hand on top of his and he grabbed my hand lifting my arm up.

"ONWARDS!" Opera singing once again, he swung our hands back and forth and skipped towards his apartment.

Once inside I didn't really take a chance to look around since he immediately took me to the dinning table and sat me down. There were many plates that had different types of meat on them and different types of Korean side dishes. In front of me were chopsticks and bowl full of rice. Elson taught me how to use them and after many attempts, I finally got the hang of it. It was a little embarrassing, but he didn't judge me, which felt nice. Elson told me about the food placed in front of us and some Korean words, but I failed miserably at trying to pronounce them. The rest of the dinner consumed of Elson talking about about his family or him pretending to be a walrus with his chopsticks. It was a nice, yet an eventful dinner. Hopefully he would want to do this again.