...know what you think.? My dad left when I was a baby. Not that we needed him, my mom and I only ever needed each other. At least until she met Jack.
Jack was a doctor. They met when I had an asthma attack in the fifth grade. They started dating and a year later he proposed. They got married fall of that year and my mom gave birth to my little brother, Ashton, a year later.
Even though Jack wasn’t my dad, I thought of him the same way. I wasn’t bitter about him stealing my mom away from me because I saw how happy he made her. I loved my little brother. We were that perfectly happy family I always envied. Until the November Ashton turned four.
I was in my sophomore year of high school. The guy I had been crushing on for two years, Leyton, finally asked me out. Unfortunately, it was to a party the same day as Ashton’s birthday dinner. I decided that there would always be another birthday dinner, and that I couldn’t pass this opportunity up. Mom and Jack reluctantly agreed.
At the party, I got a little tipsy, so Leyton started to drive me home. We lived in Oakhurst, California, so driving down a deserted road with the forest on both sides was common. It was dark, cold, and a little foggy. Leyton went around a curve and I saw a flash of white before he tried to brake. It was then that I realized I was screaming. The ice on the road made his car run into a ditch. I sobered up quickly when I saw Leyton slumped over the wheel.
Shaking his shoulder, I said on a hysteric sob, “Oh my God, Leyton! Oh, please don’t be dead!”
He moaned and lifted his head up.
“Anneliese?”
I sighed in relief. He’s okay. “I’m here.”
“Don’t go outside,” his dark green eyes were pleading.
The tone of his voice scared me. I unbuckled my seat belt, scrambled out of the car, and climbed up the side of the ditch. What I saw made me drop to my knees and cry out in agony. Jack’s white Toyota was in the middle of the road. It was all smashed up; looking like it had just come from a demolition derby. Fog wrapped around my brain and pulled me toward a black abyss.
A year and a half later, I’m walking through the teeming hallway of my new school in Tampa, Florida. I barely notice the people around me anymore. I don’t feel anything, I’m just numb. It wasn’t hard moving to live with my retired grandparents. There were just too many memories in Oakhurst.
“Anneliese! Wait up!”
A small sigh makes its way through my lips. I look over my shoulder at the auburn haired girl making her way through the mass of people in between us. Finally, after knocking a freshman to the floor, she reaches me.
“Oh my gosh! How was your break? We…,” she starts telling me in lengthy description, every single thing she did, said, or even thought over the two week winter break.
This is exactly why Taryn is my best friend. She talks nonstop about trivial things such as the perfect nail polish color. Most people would be annoyed, but I love it. Her less than enviable case of logorrhea keeps my mind busy from thinking about that night….. No, I won’t think about that! I’m trying so hard to push the memories down, my head starts to pound. I start getting a little light-headed and accidentally trip into someone’s back.
“Oh my gosh, I am so…,” the words die in my throat as the boy turns around. I feel as if the air has been knocked out of me. What is he doing here?
Those dark green eyes that have been haunting me since that night, bring back all of the memories I have been quelling. Images of that night run through my mind. My mom’s favorite white dress covered in blood, Ashton’s small bloody form slumped over in his car seat, and Jack being put into a police cruiser with handcuffs on. The power of the flashbacks is so great; it makes me fall to my knees.
Taryn, realizing I’m not beside her, looks in between me on the floor and Leyton standing over me. She narrows her eyes and pushes Leyton away from me, then helps me to my feet. Wrapping her arm around me, she throws one last glare toward Leyton and walks me into the bathroom. As soon as we are inside, I burst into tears. Taryn sits there patiently, hugging me until my sobs die down. She hands me a tissue.
“Thank you,” my voice is weak.
“I don’t expect you to tell me now, but eventually…,” she says quietly.
“I know.”
She helps me up and we walk to class. I can’t find the energy to care that I’m late. The rest of the day goes by in a blur.
But the same question repeats itself in my mind. Why is he here?
Jack was a doctor. They met when I had an asthma attack in the fifth grade. They started dating and a year later he proposed. They got married fall of that year and my mom gave birth to my little brother, Ashton, a year later.
Even though Jack wasn’t my dad, I thought of him the same way. I wasn’t bitter about him stealing my mom away from me because I saw how happy he made her. I loved my little brother. We were that perfectly happy family I always envied. Until the November Ashton turned four.
I was in my sophomore year of high school. The guy I had been crushing on for two years, Leyton, finally asked me out. Unfortunately, it was to a party the same day as Ashton’s birthday dinner. I decided that there would always be another birthday dinner, and that I couldn’t pass this opportunity up. Mom and Jack reluctantly agreed.
At the party, I got a little tipsy, so Leyton started to drive me home. We lived in Oakhurst, California, so driving down a deserted road with the forest on both sides was common. It was dark, cold, and a little foggy. Leyton went around a curve and I saw a flash of white before he tried to brake. It was then that I realized I was screaming. The ice on the road made his car run into a ditch. I sobered up quickly when I saw Leyton slumped over the wheel.
Shaking his shoulder, I said on a hysteric sob, “Oh my God, Leyton! Oh, please don’t be dead!”
He moaned and lifted his head up.
“Anneliese?”
I sighed in relief. He’s okay. “I’m here.”
“Don’t go outside,” his dark green eyes were pleading.
The tone of his voice scared me. I unbuckled my seat belt, scrambled out of the car, and climbed up the side of the ditch. What I saw made me drop to my knees and cry out in agony. Jack’s white Toyota was in the middle of the road. It was all smashed up; looking like it had just come from a demolition derby. Fog wrapped around my brain and pulled me toward a black abyss.
A year and a half later, I’m walking through the teeming hallway of my new school in Tampa, Florida. I barely notice the people around me anymore. I don’t feel anything, I’m just numb. It wasn’t hard moving to live with my retired grandparents. There were just too many memories in Oakhurst.
“Anneliese! Wait up!”
A small sigh makes its way through my lips. I look over my shoulder at the auburn haired girl making her way through the mass of people in between us. Finally, after knocking a freshman to the floor, she reaches me.
“Oh my gosh! How was your break? We…,” she starts telling me in lengthy description, every single thing she did, said, or even thought over the two week winter break.
This is exactly why Taryn is my best friend. She talks nonstop about trivial things such as the perfect nail polish color. Most people would be annoyed, but I love it. Her less than enviable case of logorrhea keeps my mind busy from thinking about that night….. No, I won’t think about that! I’m trying so hard to push the memories down, my head starts to pound. I start getting a little light-headed and accidentally trip into someone’s back.
“Oh my gosh, I am so…,” the words die in my throat as the boy turns around. I feel as if the air has been knocked out of me. What is he doing here?
Those dark green eyes that have been haunting me since that night, bring back all of the memories I have been quelling. Images of that night run through my mind. My mom’s favorite white dress covered in blood, Ashton’s small bloody form slumped over in his car seat, and Jack being put into a police cruiser with handcuffs on. The power of the flashbacks is so great; it makes me fall to my knees.
Taryn, realizing I’m not beside her, looks in between me on the floor and Leyton standing over me. She narrows her eyes and pushes Leyton away from me, then helps me to my feet. Wrapping her arm around me, she throws one last glare toward Leyton and walks me into the bathroom. As soon as we are inside, I burst into tears. Taryn sits there patiently, hugging me until my sobs die down. She hands me a tissue.
“Thank you,” my voice is weak.
“I don’t expect you to tell me now, but eventually…,” she says quietly.
“I know.”
She helps me up and we walk to class. I can’t find the energy to care that I’m late. The rest of the day goes by in a blur.
But the same question repeats itself in my mind. Why is he here?