NOT GIVING UP ON FOREVER

Chapter 35

Anna came to her senses after a while. Her head hurt from the blow. She tried to get to her feet, but the body did not seem to listen. Reaching for the phone, she glanced at the screen. The time on the clock didn't tell her how long she'd been unconscious—hours or minutes. The screen was flashing "18 messages from Randall Parleo."

Anna cried bitterly. Crying was not even the right word. She was weeping. Not understanding anything, feeling only the aching pain in her heart, she roared and screamed on the floor and did not want to stop. The pain was so unbearable that she gasped for air, shouting and begging the heavens to give her answers.

Randall kept calling, and she finally found the strength to open the messages and read them.

He kept asking where she was, begged her to pick up the phone, and in one long message, he explained everything she wanted to know.

"Anna, please pick up the phone. I'm worried about you. Yeah, I had sex once, right after I got back to Garth. We had a welcome party, and one girl kept harassing me. We danced for a long time and then we had sex, that's it. I don't understand your reaction. Aren't we friends? Why are you suddenly offline and not answering me? I'm endlessly worried. Please answer me!!"

Anna read the message. It would seem that a thousand times. She suddenly burst out laughing hysterically. The situation was ridiculous, and she felt like a teenage girl with a broken heart.

Randall was still online, and she wrote:

"We're friends? We. Are. FRIENDS? "

"???" followed by a response from Randall.

"Do you sleep with all your friends, Randall? Are we friends?"

"Anna, I was sure that we understand each other. I never meant to hurt you. I thought we were on the same wavelength and having a great time!"

"Liar! I hate you!"

"Anna! Don't write to me insults. I'm telling the truth. That is why I calmly replied that I had sex. I didn't think it would hurt you. You must be having attention, too. That's okay with me. We're friends, and we didn't promise each other anything. Or do I misunderstand?"

Anna threw the phone on the bed. She couldn't stop crying. Resentment seemed to cut her heart. Randall had a point, but that didn't make it any easier. She was hurt. She couldn't hide it, couldn't ignore it, couldn't accept it.

She wanted to erase all their relationship from her life. Destroy all the photos, forget his name, obliterate everything they've been through together. She wished to never fly to Italy to see him. Now she hated this country, all the places, all the sights, all the people.

All of this, she wanted to erase from memory or...

Rewrite?

Or... rewrite...

Or—rewrite.

She grabbed the phone and ran outside.