A Time And Place

Part 1

Tuesday, September 10, 2019
6:45 AM
The Cruz Residence
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Another day has gone by since the death of my mother. The moment she walked out that door three months ago ruined all of our lives. Well, at least mine. My father acts like it never happened, like she never existed. How can someone forget so easily? Over 22 years they've been together. 22 years of love and hardship they had in the past. And after one day, all of the love, memories, and happiness just... disappeared. Sometimes I wonder if he even misses her. I miss her. I miss her beautiful smile that lit up a room every time she walked in. The way she sings to me when I was afraid or had a nightmare when I was little, calmed me down. The way she knew something was wrong or something happened to me, she knew every time no matter how hard I tried to hide it, she always knew. Now she's gone and part of that is my fault. I should have never let her walk out that door. I should have never asked her to drive that day.

I woke up in a cold sweat. Memories rush into my head all at once. The only thing that is clear is a girl. I remember her very clearly. Long, brown, curly hair, dark smooth skin, dark brown eyes and dressed in a black skirt with a leather jacket with a white shirt underneath. She was a very beautiful girl and I remember she was in a bookstore. Almost identical to the one right down the road from school. Then suddenly, random numbers are starting to come to me. These numbers stuck in my brain like glue. I try to ignore them but they keep running through my head. I reached for my notebook and pen on the side of my night stand and wrote out the numbers horizontally. 3 56 9 10 19. I studied the numbers to try and make sense of them, but nothing comes to mind. The only things I remember are these mysterious numbers and a random girl I've never seen before.

I sigh and finally got the motivation to get myself out of bed. It seems harder and harder to do each day. I stood up and realized I slept in my clothes again. Geez, I can't even put in the effort to change. I thought. All I do is change my shirt into a plain blue T-Shirt and slipped on the dark gray hoodie I always wear.
As I walk down the hallway leading into the kitchen, I feel this heavy weight on top of me that is slowing me down after each step I take. I stop myself and look at the most recent family photo we took several years ago. I was maybe around 14 or 15 years of age but it's hard to tell. My brother is probably 17, but he always looks like he's 5 years younger which Isn't necessarily a bad thing. I check the date behind the fame and it says September 24, 2016. Guess I was 14. We were planning on taking a new one last weekend. Now we'll never be able to.

I started walking again but then it came to me. I rushed back into my room and grabbed my notebook and flipped through the pages until I saw the five random numbers again. I walked back to the frame and looked at the date again. September 24, 2016. 9/24/16. I write those numbers down underneath the numbers 9 10 19. These numbers aren't random. The last three are today's date. Of course it's a coincidence, right? But what does the numbers 3 56 mean? I shake my head. It's not important. It's not worth going insane over. Stop overthinking it, Gray. I threw my notebook back on my bed and continued walking to the kitchen. The first thing I did was put in two pieces of toast in the toaster and grab some coffee. With the numbers still stuck in my brain, I didn't even notice my father walking in.

"You're up early." It startled me at first. But I turn around acting like I wasn't bothered by it.

"Yeah. couldn't sleep last night. Nothing unusual there." I don't like small talk. Especially with my father. It's the only thing we do now ever since mom died. He's scared to feel something. Scared to miss her. He can't even talk about her anymore.

"Trouble sleeping? Are the nightmares starting again?" He takes a seat at the kitchen island drinking his cup of coffee he made earlier.

"Since mom died." I said it. I brought her up. What are you going to do now, Dad?
Nothing. Silence was all I got. No movement or even a glare. He just froze there like a statue in a museum with his coffee mug halfway to his mouth. There was this awkward silence for at least a whole minute until he finally said something. Felt like the longest minute of my life.

"Maybe we should get you back on your medication. Maybe even have you talk to Doctor Morgen. How about this weekend?" He pretended I didn't say anything. I knew it.

"Hey, You know what? I'm running late. I should go." I just need to get out of here. Away from him. Away from all of this. I grabbed my two pieces of toast and sat on the brown leather couch putting on my tennis shoes.

"You sure? It's only seven ten."

"Yeah, I've got to-" I froze. "Wait, what was the time again, dad?"

"Seven, ten. Why?" The numbers. I tied my shoes as fast as I could and rushed into my bedroom and ripped the page with the numbers on it. I folded up the paper and shoved it in my back pocket."Is everything okay, Grayson?"

"Yeah! Yeah! Everything is fine!" I shouted from my bedroom trying to find a pen as fast as I could. Once I finally found one, I started walking back to the living room to grab my bag. "Just didn't realize what time it was." I grabbed my backpack and opened the front door.

"See you at dinner."

"Yeah." I walked out the door and closed it behind me. I pulled out the numbers from my back pocket and began walking to school staring at the paper. So, if 9 10 19 is actually September 10th, 2019, and 3 56 is actually 3:56 o'clock. What does it mean? Is it connected to the girl in my dream? Wait, in my dream she was at the bookstore down the road from school, does that mean- Before I could finish my thoughts I bump into someone and fell flat on my back.