Tear You Apart

Lost On You

"How's work going?" My father sat at the opposite end of the rectangular dining table that was nestled in our small kitchen. He barely looked up from the newspaper he was reading. Despite the fact he was a mere five feet in front of me, he might as well be a thousand miles away.

"Fine."

I didn't bother responding. My father and I were birds of a feather. My cerulean eyes and Greek nose were my mother's, but that ever-present detachment was my father's. That's why mom left us behind. She wanted to join the world of the living; she was tired of living with a couple of apathetic corpses.

Standing indifferently, I grabbed my half-finished bowl of food and carried it to the sink. Discarding the contents into the trash, I stood in front of the sink washing the dish slowly. The water was hot on my hands, turning my flesh from its normal alabaster to vermillion. It felt good. A momentary flash of color in my world of grey oblivion. I continued my task, enjoying the steam rolling up and caressing my face lovingly with butterfly soft touches. I felt dizzy.

I couldn't think. I couldn't focus.

A small voice in the back of my mind was trying to claw its way to the surface and after a fuzzy moment I recognized it after a second as self-preservation, begging me to remove my hands from the near boiling water.

Blinking in confusion I dropped the bowl, barely registering the dull thud the ceramic made in the sink basin as I stared at my skin. They were blood red and throbbing.

I turned away, the steam dissipating indifferently into the air.

My skin was felt like it was on fire.

I cursed under my breath, standing there staring at my palms which were raw and angry.

How long had I been standing there like that?

**

I decided to skip school the next day.

Feeling on edge still from the events in the kitchen, I tried to justify to myself that a mental health day was what I needed.

Dad wouldn't notice anyway. He had his own problems to deal with.

I was laying in my bed wrapped in my favorite grey Sherpa throw blanket watching some old school black and white movie on my aging laptop when my phone buzzed.

Where are u?

It was Leah. It was only seven thirty AM, but she didn't miss a beat, I thought to myself as I texted a reply. I'd been up since four AM and hadn't moved. I made up some lame excuse about not feeling well and tossed my phone on the bed so that I could be reabsorbed in my world of cheesy monsters and blonde bimbos.

As soon as the phone hit the sheet it was buzzing again.

Hope you feel better! If you want to swing by later, I can fill you in about what you missed and give you the notes. We got assigned as partners for the Govt project btw!

I'm sure that was just chance, I thought with heavy sarcasm.

I didn't reply, instead putting the phone on silent and setting it on the nightstand beside me. There was nothing coming from that piece of plastic and glass that couldn't wait for my attention. I needed to get back to my movie.

The creature was chasing the blonde through a lagoon when my eyes started to sag.

The next thing I knew, I was running.

Where was I?

There was a sense of panic in my chest that threatened to burst out. I was wading through knee deep black water that clung to me, trying to drag me in. There was a shadow moving somewhere behind me. It was getting closer.