Like It Was Yesterday

Part Six

A few more weeks went by and it was starting to get a little warmer out. There was still a lot of snow on the ground though. Spring break was at the end of the month. I was still a little nervous about her finding out. What exactly was I getting myself into?

One night as I was trying to sleep I woke up at 2:00 in the morning hearing something outside. I sat up and stared at the window, but it went away. It sounded like someone was walking around behind my house. Terrified of looking out and actually seeing someone, I laid back down, covered up, and acted like it was nothing.

The next morning I got up and my mom asked me if I had been walking outside in the back of the house at all during the last week. I tried not to freak out too much when she asked. I simply said no and asked why. She told me there were footsteps about my size leading up to my bedroom window, but they didn’t go anywhere else. They just ended there.

I walked into my room and looked out the window. Sure enough, there they were, and she was right, they stopped at the window, but didn’t go anywhere else. I thought about last night. How I heard the footsteps, but then they just stopped as if whoever was out there just disappeared. I decided that I probably shouldn’t tell my mom. She’d probably think I was nuts if I tried to tell her there was possibly a ghost outside my window last night because I heard it. Plus, if I told her I heard something, she’d probably think it was a person trying to break in and call the cops anyway.

A little later I walked outside and stood in the spot where the prints were, looking at them. They were definitely my size. Meaning they were most likely from someone close to my size. I didn’t think that robbers were going to be the size of a small 16 year old girl, so that definitely ruled them out.

“Who are you?” I asked. “And why are you always following me around?”

I didn’t get an answer, but didn’t want to give up either.

“I know I’m not just imagining things. I also know you can hear me, so why not answer me?”

I stood there for a few seconds before turning around to go back inside. Whoever was following me didn’t seem to like me noticing. Rachel was wrong about that.

-

Monday when I went to school I was walking around by myself in the morning and couldn’t find Ashleigh anywhere. I always hated walking by myself, I felt like I was being watched. So I did the one thing I always did when I need someone there with me, as strange as this may seem.

I didn’t need to look to see who appeared next to me, I already knew. She grabbed my hand and walked with me like she often did. I did however, look over to see her look back at me and smile. I knew I wasn’t alone.

I know it probably seems weird, but whenever I’m in an uncomfortable situation I try to picture her there with me, even though I know she’s not really there. It always helps. I feel safer when I’m with her, and I’m not so afraid of things as much as I normally would be. The only problem I think I have with that is that I accidentally forget she’s not real sometimes, and start talking to her. Most people think I’m nuts because they see me talking to myself, but I’m seeing her. They just aren’t.

In case by now you’re thinking I should be locked up in some mental hospital and never let back out, I swear, as weird as I get, these things were not controllable. It seemed like I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I needed to be the way I was… or I’d possibly really go insane.

Sometimes she would kind of in a way answers back ,or at least I’d think of what she would say, but some stuff was pretty accurate, because I knew her well enough to know how she might have reacted to something I tell her.

When I walked down by my 5th hour class I saw Rachel and her boyfriend Ryan standing with a group of friends by their lockers. I walked up to them and let Iliana disappear again. 

“Hey Stacie,” Ryan said cheerfully as I walked up.

“Hey Ryan.”

“Guess what!”

“What?”

“There’s a dance this Saturday you should go,” said Rachel. “Ryan and I are going.”

“I don’t know. I don’t really have anyone to go with.”

“You can go with us. We can do a group thing or something. Or maybe you could go with David. He seems nice. Plus you kind of like him don’t you.”

“I mainly like him as a friend,” I told her. “And I’m sure he already has someone to go with anyway.”

“You won’t know unless you ask.”

Me ask David to the dance… yeah, not likely to happen.

Later on in the day during 3rd hour I sat on the steps again trying to work on my picture of Iliana. I was getting better. Every once in a while someone would look at it and say it looked just like her, without me even having to tell them who it was. The only thing I didn’t like is that it wasn’t real enough still. Close, but not quite.

As I was sitting there working on it I looked over at David and saw him talking to another girl in my class. Her name was Kaitlin and I think he kind of liked her. I wished that I could hear what they’re talking about. He was probably asking her to the dance on Saturday. Maybe that means I already lost my chance.

“Hey Stacie?”

I turned around to see Iliana standing right behind me.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Will you to com help me with something?”

“Sure.”

I got up and followed her over to the little room connected to the band room where all the auxiliary percussion stuff was kept. Apparently we were supposed to be looking for something, though I’m not quite sure what. Her definition confused me. A minute later Mr. Connor walked in.

“I’m missing five kids that were here earlier. Have you seen them anywhere?” he asked. “I know you talk to Aaron”

“Aren’t they practicing or something?” Iliana asked.

“They aren’t supposed to be. They’re supposed to be in here practicing for our concert.”

“Well, I could go look for them and bring them back for you… umm… Stacie? Can you keep looking while I’m gone? I’ll be right back.”

“Yeah, of course.”

She smiled and walked away.

You have got to be kidding me. I finally get the chance to spend the majority of my hour helping her and talking to her and he had to come and ruin it. Our concert was in two months, and whatever they were practicing for was in only a few days. They were only doing what they were supposed to be doing. I think that was more important than our concert if you ask me. So now she had to go get them and leave me here for no reason. Was I pissed… definitely!

For the rest of the hour I spent the entire time looking for something I’ve never even seen before, which meant I had no idea what it looked like, but whatever. I kept looking anyway. I stopped to check the clock every now and then to see how much time we had left. I was disappointed to see how much time was passing by and she still wasn’t back yet.

At the end of the hour I finally gave up and was just standing there when she finally came back. It didn’t matter though, she had to leave.

“I’m sorry, I kind of got held up. Thanks for helping me though. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah…”

I then sat there and watched her get her stuff and leave. Still pissed at Mr. Connor, but I knew I’d get over it eventually.

I looked over after she was gone to find a few people just staring at me. They were in my grade and they all new I liked her. None of them said anything, but I could tell they knew I was pissed by the looks on their faces. I knew they knew why too.