The Blood In Our Water

Marked

I woke up the next morning in my own bed, but with no memory of how I got there. In fact, the whole night was hazy, I didn't remember anything past Danny kissing me. . . and his name apparently. I knew something else happened, perhaps a few things even, yet the memories just escaped me. They sat on the edge of my mind, just out of reach, the mental equivalent of a word stuck on the tip of your tongue. 

"Craig!" I said suddenly, bolting up from bed.  I completely forgot if Craig came home with me or not. Something could have happened to him! My mind, still waking began to flash with alarming images. Craig dead from having choked on his own vomit, Craig dead from hitting his head drunk, Craig dead from a drunk driving accident. . .

But as I threw open my bedroom door, there my brother was just coming out of the bathroom. He looked a little pale, probably hung over, but no worse for wear. I blanched at him, not sure what to say but incredibly relieved all the same. I threw my arms around my brother, tears stinging my eyes. I was scared, scared of what could have happened to Craig, scared about the missing memories from last night, but even more scared by the fact I could have forgotten about my own brother.

"What the fuck happened last night?" Craig questioned, pushing me off him.

"I-I don't know." I stuttered, staring up at my brother. Craig's face contorted into one of anger, but he lowered his voice none the less.

"I was out looking for you till four AM. Four AM, Liz?!" Craig hissed, "And then I come home to find you hear in bed. You left without me."

"I left without you?" I asked, although it was obvious I had. Yet hearing it out loud that I would do that, and not remembering even making the decision to leave the party, it was hard to wrap my head around. Craig snorted at my response and pushed past me towards his bedroom.

"Craig," I called out. My brother, however, continued on ignoring me. I reached out and grabbed his arm, but Craig wrenched it away and slid into his room. I didn't follow.

At breakfast, my parents were their usual selves. Relaxed and still content with their early retirement decision. Clearly, they didn't know what happened and still suspected nothing. Craig didn't join us at breakfast, which wasn't unusual on weekends, and I was the same I supposed, at least to my parents. They didn't see the dread tightening my chest. The fear of what may have happened last night. After talking to Craig I had examined my body in the bathroom. No bruising, no pain, no signs of possible assault. But scarier than the portion of the memory that was missing, was the fact that I wasn't scared of Danny. At least not enough to not want to see him again. The palid blue-eyed boy sat in the back of my mind taking up space and lingering like a ghost. 

"Darling, did you fall last night?" I looked up from my cereal to my mother who sat beside me. 

"No, I don't recall." I answered. Her pale slender hands reached out to my neck, pushing my hair back in the process. I flinched when she pressed on a part of my neck I hadn't realized was tender till then.

"Hmm. . ." My mother's sharp eyes inspected whatever was on my nack closely.

"Perhaps a nasty bug bite," My mother suggested, "It red and a bit swollen, and you've always had such sensitive skin." I moved my hand over the bump myself once my mother withdrew having satisfied herself with her prognosis. There certainly was a bump, puffy, tingling, and warm to the touch but I didn't know how I would have gotten it. Maybe from the being on the porch? Or maybe there was an explanation that rested somewhere in the forgotten memories of the night before.

The weekend soon passed and school resumed Monday. What had happened that weekend still haunted me, however. The more I thought about it, the more pressing it became as well as the desire to see Danny. I wanted to ask him what happened if he had missing memories as well. The thought had occurred to me, what if Danny had cause me to lose my memory, but I had dismissed it as best I could. Subconsciously I supposed, I didn't want another reason to fear Danny. The fear and excitement I felt whenever I was around him was enough for me to realize there was something off about him.