Every Breath You Take

18

           "Are you ready to go?" Aiden asked down the hall. Dropping his bags on the floor, he made his way into the living room where I sat, feet lounged on the table with a bag of chips beside me.

I tilted my heads towards him, sighing through my nose, "Yeah. Are your bags packed already?"

Aiden nodded, running a hand through his sweat damped hair from practice just now, "I'm going to go take a shower real fast, be down in 15?" I nodded, sticking my hand back into the chip bag.

School had been absolutely uneventful. I basically sat there in school—poor me—enduring a smirking idiot who seemed to sit behind me in almost all my classes. Oh. And I was right about him never letting me live down what had happened this morning, because whenever I saw him, he never seized to bring it up the fact that I had some 'freaky' side to me that I shouldn't be ashamed of. 

God... I was miserable.

And then at practice, while little me was minding my own business, running around the track for some exercise, Kaden had graced me with his oh so lovely presence and annoyed me further by accompanying me on my running... Well, dad forced him to run laps since he was screwing around a bit, but still! He could run three lanes down from me or in the opposite directions, not right beside me.

So now, I was utterly exhausted and slightly irritated, and these chips that I was currently stuffing into my mouth, was getting the heat of my aggression. Sighing, I grabbed the bag and rolled it up, getting up from the couch and putting it back in the pantry.

I was basically done packing for tonight but I still needed to add just a few more things to my bag... I should probably do that even though I currently wanted to do nothing else but sit on the couch and eat chips.

Petting Tina, who was sleeping soundly in her little cloud bed by the couch, I went upstairs and finished packing the rest of my stuff. My bathing suit was beneath my clothes so I made sure to pack extra undergarments and my pajamas for after we finished hanging out around Nolan's pool.

When I was done, I set my stuff by the door of my bedroom, nodding contently at my overstuffed bag. Running my hands down the front of my shorts, I glanced upwards. And as if my eyes knew what they were doing, I found myself staring down the hall at a white, wooden door that had remained untouched for years now... at least by me. A gentle ray of golden sunlight sliced across the door  and the doorknob brightened under the caress of sunlight shining in through the small window in the hall. I tensed, my back stiffening.

The world slowed as memory after memory recalled the notes and melodies of a piano that once played behind that door. I swore I heard those phantom notes now gently playing. I knew they were in my head, just a reciting of the songs from my memories, but I still took a step forward as if those phantom notes were a siren song and I was the sailor.

I took another step and another, my chest tightening and tightening with each step.

How long had it been since I had actually gone into that room? Would I remember the slightest scent of roses the air seemed to always be filled with? Would I remember the feel of the keys on the piano or the Sun beating on my back as I sat on the bench?

It had been a very long time since I had gotten close to this room and hadn't dared go inside. Even now, I knew that I'd only make it so far before turning back. There were too many memories swirling around in there, beckoning me to let them resurface so I would break again.

I took another step just as a door not far behind me, swung open.

"Emily?"