Out of the Darkness

29

I grabbed my jug of water and chugged a few swallows, then cleared my sore throat again. "I wish I could hug you," she said quietly, looking up at me through her lashes. I was caught in her gaze for a moment, and my heart felt like it stuttered for a second. "Me too," I answered, without thinking. A soft, sweet expression accompanied the smile that spread across her pretty face. "Tell me about yourself Colby. I want to know everything." I thought about her request then shrugged. Why not? "I was born January 2nd, 1997 in Kansas. My parents and my brother still live there." I don't know why I felt so comfortable talking to Anna, but I did. So much so, that I even told her all of the embarrassing aspects of my life, my triumphs and failures with girls, fights that I had with Sam and my brother, and pretty much everything in between. The rest of the night and well on into the next day, Anna and I talked. She commented at just the right places with just the right words, even if I didn't understand some of them. After I finished talking about how a girl stood me up one night, she acted like she was the one who had gotten hurt and embarrassed. "Oh that's so bunk! You shouldn't have let her dis you like that...she was probably an airhead anyway. You deserved better." My mind was trying to understand some of her unfamiliar words but I didn't mention them. We talked about everything, and she even had an occasional memory of something pop in. Not anything that would help us, but little things, like the face that she loved pancakes and bacon for breakfast. I didn't even recall the conversation ending. When I woke the next day, well into the afternoon, I lay there smiling as I thought about our talk. It had been a while since I had completely opened up to anyone like this. It felt nice. I sighed, looking at the sunlight flooding into my window, and threw my covers back. I glanced around my room, but didn't see any shimmer, or smell any fruity scent. I guess Anna was wherever ghosts go when they aren't in our physical world. On my way downstairs, I caught a whiff of something delicious being cooked. Who the hell was cooking? We didn't cook. Ever. Sam would sometimes try his hand at it, but it never smelled like this. I hurried down the stairs, my stomach grumbling as I went.  When I walked into the kitchen and saw Sam at the stove flipping bacon, my eyes widened in surprise. "What are you doing?" I asked. He turned to look at me and smiled. "Cooking breakfast, what does it look like?" "But why? We never do this." He just shrugged and went back to the task at hand. "Is that pancakes?" I asked, peering around his shoulder at the stove. "Yup, and scrambled eggs and bacon. I woke up craving a good breakfast for some reason, and I didn't want to order out. So, I decided to make it. Here, you can have the first plate." He put a couple of pancakes stacked on top of one another, a few strips of bacon, and a good portion of scrambled eggs onto a plate and handed to me. I took it, and stared at him. "Are you okay?" I asked, still unsure what was happening. He laughed. "Yes, I'm fine. I told you, I woke up craving it so I made it. Nothing more than that. Syrup is in that cabinet. Tell me what you think." I grabbed the syrup bottle and poured some on my pancakes, before pulling out a stool in front of the kitchen island and sitting down. It all looked amazing. The pancakes were golden brown, the bacon crisp, and the eggs fluffy. I was hesitant to eat it though. This wasn't normal and that made me think that it was a prank of some kind. Maybe he had put something really hot in the food, or something that would make it taste disgusting. "Sam, is this a prank?" I asked, glancing back up at him. He rolled his eyes. "No Colby. It's just breakfast. If you don't want it, I'll save it for Jake. I'm sure he'll eat it." I picked up my fork and dug into the pancakes. When I put the bite in my mouth, I actually groaned with how amazing they tasted. "Oh my God, when did you learn to cook like this?" I asked around the food in my mouth. His forehead creased as he thought about it. "I don't know. I wanted it, and just knew what I was supposed to do. It's not hard though, and the directions are on the box. Bacon and eggs are pretty self explanatory." A thought came to the front of my mind, making me freeze mid chew. "You okay? Something wrong with it?" he asked. I shook my head, and swallowed, the pancakes feeling like a hard lump going down my throat. We had talked about this breakfast last night. Anna and I. Did she somehow influence Sam to make this? I didn't like the idea of her having control over my friend's actions but this was harmless, I guess. "No, nothing wrong. It's really good Sam. Thanks." "No problem brother. I'm gonna get ready and go to the beach with Kat. You wanna come?" I thought about it and shook my head. "No, I don't think so. I really need to catch up on my rest, so I'm just gonna chill here," I answered. He looked at me intently. "You sure you're okay? You never miss an opportunity to go to the beach." I laughed. "Nothing is wrong. Honestly. Just tired. Besides, I don't want to be a third wheel. You guys have fun though." I was tired, but that wasn't why I wanted to stay. I wanted to hang out with Anna. Talk more with her, maybe see if some of her memories might come back.