Red Rose

Stained with Blood

            There’s a girl sitting in front of me…her mouth is moving…what is she saying…Why is she so blury…okay everything is becoming clearer now, I think I can make out what she’s saying…I hear her but I also hear another voice…A mans voice, I can’t see him though…The picture becomes clear but im looking in the mirror…my mouth is moving but I haven’t said a word…wait this is not a mirror I am looking at myself…I can here what im saying now.

            “So, how long have you been at middleton college?” The mans voice said, I wanted to look at him but I couldn’t look at him. “Ever, since freshman year.” I said to him. “Wow all this time and I’m just seeing you now?” “What do you mean?” “I mean how could I go this long not noticing a pretty girl like you.” The mans voice said. “You don’t mean that.” “How could I not it’s the truth.” “Okay well thanks.”

“We should spend more time together Anna, I feel like im just getting to know you.” “Haha well you are just getting to know me.” I said to him. “Anna do you think I’ll ever have a chance with you?” I stare at myself waiting for the answer also. “To be honest, I really care about you and I have been hoping we could be something more.” “Do you mean that Anna?” “Yes I do…Ryan.”

            Ryan?! What?! Im able to face the mystery man now to see Ryan sitting there on the other side of the table grinning at myself. He leans in on the table and I see myself doing the same…I shout something but my voice sounds so faint…I shout again…”Stop!” I say to myself, but myself doesn’t listen. Everything becomes blury again…I can’t make out what im looking at…everything becomes so blurry until it becomes dark. Then its bright again, and I can see clearly. I’m looking at the fan on my ceiling…It was only a dream.

            I sit up on my bed looking around the room, the house is quiet…silent. I rub my eyes thinking about the dream I just had. The only thought that runs through my mind is why did I have that dream. Maybe it was only because I just met him yesterday, and he was that last person I had thought about before I had went to bed. Oh yeah! It was, when me and Jenn were talking last night over chinese food.

            I looked at the clock on my bedside table and saw that it was only 8:00am. If it’s so early then where is everybody? I got up washed my face and took a look around the house, no one. I walked back upstairs and turned on the shower. I undressed from all my clothes and threw them in the laundry basket. I stepped into the hot water letting it run down my back and through my long brown hair. I stood there for a moment and thought of Justin.

            It was one summer, I was wearing my denim shorts and a light pink blouse. I sat in the passengers seat of Justin’s black truck. The music was blasting out the windows and the summer air wrapped around us like a blanket. Justin and I were singing along to some random song I couldn’t remember, when the drums came  on Justin would hit the steering wheel like it was his own drum set. We drove down a road that led to a park with a river beside it and through it. We got out and walked all along the path that led deep into the woods where me and Justin’s secret spot was. Justin wrapped and arm around my shoulder and I held him around the waist.

            He looked down at me our faces inches apart. He kissed me softly on the lips “Anna I wish I could just take you away…I wish I could just swoop you up and runaway with you.” He said picking me up in his arms. I kissed him again and he smiled setting me down. “So wheres my surprise?” I said to him. “Right here.” He said turning  me around to a small pound surrounded by pink japanese blossom trees. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, and kissed my neck. I was breathless, I didn’t know these trees were blooming around this time of year. The wind blew and carried a wave of pink flower pedals threw the air and all around us…It felt like a dream…but it was more that a dream…It was a memory…it happened and I’ll never forget it. Justin wrapped his arms tighter around my waist and I let myself sink into his soft warm embrace. He planted another soft kiss on my neck and we stood there in the calmness of the wind.

            The sound of the water hitting the tub in the shower came back to me as I slipped away from my thoughts. I finished washing and stepped out of the shower, getting dressed and drying my hair. I went into the kitchen to get some breakfast. The memories that me and Justin shared together before he transferred flooded my mind,  I couldn’t stop smiling. After I was done eating I went down to the parking lot jumped in my car and drove of, just to take a ride around campus. I turned up the music loud on a station where the music went with this peacful morning.

            It was kind of funny to me, that I woke up from something I could call a nightmare to be flooded with beautiful memories. The cool morning air filled my car running through all the open windows. I sang quietly to the tune.

            -I wake up with thoughts of you running through my mind, I’m scared to think that maybe you have left me behind.

            My love is still strong for you, burning bright and true.-

            The melody of the song then comes in tune with ,an ambulence siren? I look up to see that it’s not the radio but an actual ambulence sitting in the west side of Middleton College. A whole huge group of students and other people are surrounding the scene. I park my car on the side of the street and run out pushing through the crowd to see what had happened.

            A man. His body lays stiff on the cold stone streets of Middleton. I see his face just as they cover up his body with a white blanket I don’t know this man. Once the blanket covers him bright red spots of blood soaks through the sheets, showing where it had all gone, where he might have been wounded. The next verses of the song come to my mind as I whisper them quietly to myself.

-Our blood flows like a river in eachothers veins and stains the white sheets we lay on-

            The cops come by trying to clear everyone out, but before I walk away I stop to notice the mans hand uncovered by the sheet holding a single red rose.