In Blood And Ink

It Started With A Visit

It was a Monday morning in August, 2008, when Bernice had woken up to her daily routine. Falling out of bed, and struggling to get back up. Tripping over things in her messy room, while looking for clothes that didn't reek of onions and bad hygiene. Brushing her teeth so hard, they bled, and breaking yet another hair brush, with her thick tangled mess of hair. She had just gotten ready for school, when she blacked out, seeing a reoccurring dream of nothing but darkness, a crack beneath her feet, opening more and more, until she is swallowed whole, by the ground below. She has had the same dream every night, since the first day of school, a week prior. On this morning, her uncle had just arrived from some "vacation", holding gifts for the whole family. A family that consisted herself, her mother, her sister, and two brothers, with her being the youngest out of all of them. For her mother, her uncle got a beautiful necklace. For her sister, her uncle got her a designer handbag, not even available to the public yet. And for her brothers, signed jerseys from their favorite teams. She thought excitedly, since the others got such nice gifts, she herself would get one too. For her, her uncle pulls out of his messenger bag, a journal. A dusty, old, ragged, empty, journal. As upset and disappointed as she was, she said thank you. Walking away, her uncle follows her out the door, apologizing if she didn't like the gift.

"Mija, I'm sorry. I just thought, you would like something unique, since you are yourself".

She knew he meant well, but just as she is about to respond, her uncle continues,

"Just, please, be careful what you write.".

Confused by this request, she misses the bus. Realizing what just happened, Bernice runs after the bus, to no avail. Feeling bad he caused her to miss it in the first place, her uncle offers her a ride in his old beat up truck. She never liked her uncle's truck, since it was an older model. It looked like something straight out of a horror movie, with paint chipping along the sides and hood, a hanging rear bumper, and reeked of old meat. As they drive her to school, her uncle doesn't notice the red light. Stomping on his breaks, he crashes into the car's in front of him rear bumper, pushing it into oncoming traffic, with the car getting crushed by a another truck on it's right, causing a pile up at the intersection.

"OH MY GOD",

screams Bernice, as she sees the unfortunate outcome. Half the car, pushed into itself, with blood gushing out of the passenger door, and an arm sticking out of the broken window. Hyperventilating, she watches in horror and disbelief, as they try to pull the driver from his seat, hurting him, and tugging on his leg, that is broken, and trapped between the seat and his car door. The man, screaming in agony, sounds familiar to her, but not being able to handle the scene, Bernice faints, lastly hearing her uncle tell her

"it's gonna be okay Mija",

placing the old journal in her hands. When she wakes, she is back home, in bed. When she goes to get up, her morning repeats itself. She falls out of bed, trips over everything, brushes her teeth too hard, and breaks the exact same brush she broke in the morning. Downstairs, her uncle awaits with gifts for all, again, and she is given the same dusty, old, ragged, empty, journal. Not distracted by being upset over it, and not wanting to risk seeing the same tragedy twice, Bernice makes it to the school bus, where she is greeted by best friend, Raymond.

"Hey Tsuks, glad to see you made it",

he playfully said.

"What did I say about using my screen name out in public, you ass",

she murmured.

"You will NEVER believe the dreams I had dude",

she continued. At school, the pair are an unlikely match. To their peers, she looks mediocre at best. Short, chesty, chunky girl, with glasses, who wears her hair in buns all the time. On the other hand, Raymond is "a catch". A tall, "normal" bodied guy, with a nice haircut, who dresses casually sharp. The only "flaw" their peers around them could point out, was the scar on his face, brought on from a childhood incident. Bernice was often treated like Raymond's charity case, when in reality, he had always admired, even loved, Bernice. It was just like any other day, nearly late to every class, because they were all spread apart. Eating lunch with Raymond, out towards the fields, so they could be left alone. As Bernice began thinking about the "dreams" she had, the image of the passenger's arm sticking out of the window consumed her thoughts, and she screamed in the middle of the field, causing her to inhale a piece of her sandwich, and choke. Her face begins to turn red, slowly turning blue, while her eyes water from the sheer fear and pain she is feeling. Raymond not understanding, but not caring why, grabs Bernice with her back facing him, and squeezes her. He squeezes her twice, before nearly crushing her towards him, to get the sandwich bite out. Passed out once again, Raymond rushes her to the nurses office. Overhearing how worried her friend sounds, even hearing her bag get knocked over, she comes to.

"You gave us quite a scare Bern",

the nice nurse lady said.

"Yeah, well, I've been giving myself a scare all morning",

she said with a nervous laugh. As Bernice goes to pick up her knocked over bag, she notices dust coming from inside. As she looks inside, she notices the journal her uncle had gotten her, completely forgetting she had it to begin with. As they leave the nurses office, Raymond hears Bernice murmuring

"why did he get me this stupid thing to begin with".

"What's wrong Tsuks?",

Raymond asked concernedly.

"It's nothing, just, my uncle got all these amazing gifts for everyone, and all I got was this crappy journal. Look, its so old, I'm surprised it isn't falling apart. The least he could have done was get me a new one from Walmart for like, two bucks. I just don't get it.",

she said angrily. Raymond asking to see the journal, was amazed by it.

"Tsuks, don't you even know what this is? It's literally an artifact! The way it looks, and the feel gives me like, 1800s retro",

he jokingly said. As they both laugh, Raymond asks if she has opened it yet.

"No, I was too busy choking on a sandwich you jerk",

she responds while playfully hitting his arm. They stop by the vending machine to open the book, to read the inner cover of the journal,

"Write Your Name In Blood And Ink".

Not even a second after reading, the vending machine malfunctions, short circuiting. Disgusted by what they just read, Bernice puts the journal back in her bag. Nearly to class, Bernice is called to the office, due to an emergency phone call. As she picks up the phone, she hears crying, and sounds of distraught, engulfing the background noise. Finally saying

"hello?"

on the line, her mother, in a shaky voice, and sore throat, says

"Mija, there's been an accident".

The world stops, for a second, if not for years. Her heart drops, then begins to pick up pace. Faster and faster, her heart is racing, she is sweating, as she flashes back to the "dream accident". As this is going on, on the phone, her mother tells her

"Shortly after you left to school, your tio left to the store. I didn't hear back from him for hours, until I finally got a call a bit ago".

Still within her head, she asks,

"do you know what happened?".

Her mother getting louder with sadness and pain, cries out,

"it was a car accident".

And, at that moment, Bernice froze in place, dropping the phone, nearly breaking it from the drop.