VI. Color
I could not remember for the life of me what had happened after the moment I said 'dare'. I woke up the next day around noon with a pounding headache and a lack of underclothing. I was laying in my brother's bed, ice cold, wrapped up in all of his big thick blankets. I had to hand it to my brother, he knew what blankets to buy. He didn't care what they looked like (god, they were hideous), but they were hella warm and it was amazing.
When I had finally convinced myself to climb out of bed, I discovered that my entire house was empty. My brother, Viola, and Danielle all gone, I had no way of finding out what had happened the night before. I didn't even know where my phone was.
I walked around, peaking into each room to try and 'stumble upon' some piece of evidence or something that might at least give me a clue as to what had gone down, but everything looked perfect, abnormally perfect. My house was never clean because I refused to clean it, yet there wasn't a single thing out of place. Even my room was clean and it wasn't clean when I left it last night.
I found my cell phone on the kitchen counter and dialed my brother's number. After almost six rings, his familiar voice answered.
"Hello?" Adam spoke, girls' voices in the background. I didn't recognize them.
"Adam? Where are you?" I winced at how scratchy my voice came out and sat down on one of the barstools.
"Adriette? Jeez, I never thought you'd wake up!" Adam sounded extremely relieved at the sound of my voice.
"I've slept in before, dude." I made a voice despite his inability to see it.
"Ad, you've been out since yesterday morning." He responded, the background noise dying out. "You came in my room at six in the morning, freezing cold, and just fell into my bed. You've been out since then." He sounded worried again. I felt a bit shaken up at the information.
"Um, no. Danielle came over with the new girl and we all hung out and played truth or dare and-"
"What the hell are you talking about? Danielle hasn't been to our house since mom's birthday." His worry seemed to grow and I moved to the couch in the living room. Mom's birthday was yesterday.
"Adam, can you-"
"I'm coming home. I'll be there in about ten minutes." Then there was silence. I checked my phone again to see the date and mumbled to myself.
"What the hell was Adam on? Mom's birthday is the 11th. Today is the-" My eyes widened when I caught the month. It wasn't September 12th, it was October 12th.
Adam was home within ten minutes just like he promised. I ran up to him, my eyes filled with anxiety and confusion.
"What's happened the past month?" I nearly exclaimed. My brother looked alarmed and sat me back down on the couch.
"Uh, what are you talking about Ad?"
"Have I really been asleep for a month?" I felt my eyes begin to water, but Adam gave me a confused look.
"No? Adriette, are you okay?" He pressed his wrist to my forhead, "Ads, you've been a little out of it, but I didn't think it was that bad." He trailed off.
"I can't remember anything since the day Danielle came over." I muttered, burying my head in my brother's chest. I could feel my body trembling, but I hardly cared.
"When you called, you were describing that day. You've been acting like a zombie since then. What exactly happened when you went upstairs with Viola?" His eyebrows furrowed and I tilted my head. Had something with her been my dare?
"I can't remember anything past the moment I said dare as my choice." I leaned back to meet my brother's eyes and his widened.
"Really?"
"Yes, Adam, really. What happened? What was my dare?" I felt like crying. What the fuck happened to me? Why couldn't I remember anything?
"I-" Adam began, but the sound of the front door swinging opened cut him off. I heard heels click across the tile floors and in walked my mother. I hadn't seen this woman since the morning before her birthday. We might not be the closest people, but it scared me that I couldn't remember a single thing that had happened.
"Look who's finally up," She laughed, giving me a half hug from behind the couch, "You should do your laundry and get ready for school tomorrow. It's a big day." She walked out of the room and I turned toward Adam.
"What's tomorrow?" I whispered, knowing she could still hear me and I didn't need my mother knowing I couldn't remember the past month. She'd send me to the mental hospital.
"That means now, Adriette!" Her voice echoed through the house and I groaned, aware that if I didn't move now, she would come down and move me herself. I mouthed 'later' to my brother and started up the stairs to my room, wondering if I had been the one to clean up the house.
*
Everyone in school avoided me like the black plague. It wasn't odd, but the looks they gave me were. Or, more like the looks they didn't give me. Usually someone had some kind of expression on their face when they spotted me, but now it was like I was invisible. What happened?
After I had left my brother, I had never gotten the chance to speak to him for the rest of the night. I had planned on trying to talk to him this morning, but my alarm went off half an hour later than usual and I had been racing to get ready.
I guess Zombie Me had done a pretty good job at being a better me than me because my D in my English class was now a B and I knew damn well there was no way that was just from test grades. I was getting suspicious when my teacher was giving me flirtatious looks throughout the class.
Danielle met up with me before 4th period at my locker and I could feel the happiness pouring off of her in great big waves the moment our eyes met.
"You're back." She grinned and threw her arms around me. I already knew she was referring to Zombie Me. Danielle and I had clicked the moment we met. For some odd reason, she could see me inside and out within seconds and she knew when something was up.
"Feild after school. We need to talk about what the hell happened this past month." I mumbled and we spent the rest of the day, acting as if everything was perfectly okay. I had a few boys I had never seen ask for my number and my frustration began to boil when I realized nobody was afraid of speaking to me anymore. This wasn't good.
*
"So I passed out and Viola took me to my room? That's all that happened that night?" I couldn't believe a word she was saying. It wasn't that I thought she was lying, it was that I needed to know what happened between us behind closed doors.
"Yeah. It was weird. You suddenly got extremely pale and she offered to take you up so Adam and I could 'continue where we left off' and next thing I know, you're waking up in the morning, wanting to go out for ice cream and go ice skating and look at ice sculptures. In all honesty, you were obsessing over everything ice related. I could tell you weren't you, though. Besides, you don't like ice cream. I knew as soon as you asked, something was wrong." Danielle kicked a pebble across the track and I watched it bounce across the ground until it stopped.
"So I need to talk to Viola about all of this. Great." I mumbled.
"Yeah, that's the thing. She hasn't been in school since then. I see her at home all the time, but I think she's being homeschooled or something. I never get the chance to ask." She shrugged and I walked off to the side of the track and sat down. I needed to at least get my memory back so I knew what exactly had gone down over the past month.
I planned on having my brother come home again tonight and bringing him into my room for a deep session on what exactly I had done over this blank space of time. I really hoped he knew what happened.
"Thanks for talking to me about this." I smiled at my best friend, "Let me take you home." I took her hand and hefted myself up, ready to get this all sorted out. We walked to my car and I had a sinking feeling about what was about to happen.
