text: Sandra Reyes Where My Memories Roam Things happen when history repeats itself To my beloved boyfriend Anthony. Great part of the story is based on our romance. 
   
   
   Epilogue  
   
       “She’s losing blood. Someone pass me a couple of bands and alcohol.”A lady said after those horrible sirens of an ambulance or police appeared in the scene. I could hear footsteps all over the place, but my major concern was to live and have him alive. The sky was bright purple, turning to navy blue as the stars appeared exploding into a beautiful mass of bright lives between the leaves of the tall trees. The sound of owls popped up and the flock of the little birds flew off to the sky. As I felt velvet hands pick me up gently but swiftly from my arms and legs and put me on a stretcher, my eyes turned to Damian, unconscious with a bleeding mouth and his left hand holding mine tight, like not wanting to let go. The distress signal of the cops rang in my ears making me wish I could shout them to shut down the car so the sirens would stop. 
       “Here you go, Adams. What about the boy?” A young man with a white buttoned shirt and blue latex gloves asked as he handed the paramedic the band aids and alcohol. His golden hair reflected red and blue tones due to the lights of the scandalous sirens that were near. His blue tired eyes looked at the lady and back at me. His mouth presented fear or uncertainty. His feet were separated from each other and lightly bended as if he was ready to run. As she took them and quickly opened them, she put alcohol and rubbed it against my clavicle and passing it down to my left arm through the opened wounds. As soon as the alcohol touched my skin, it was like if fire had fallen on my arm and burned down with strength to make my eyes drop tears and my weak vocal cords explode into a sharp cry. Then a chilly sensation ran through the cuts and the pain slowly faded away. She began to wrap my whole arm and part of my chest, crossing the bands to my right side of the neck to create more support. 
       “Check his vital signs and put a mask on him. Move him carefully in case he has something fractured and get him straight to an ER, please.” All I could do that moment was look at Damian and give out more tears, tears of sorrow and worry, of sadness and lost hope. The young man stood besides Damian and demanded to have a mask and air over. I looked at Adams and noticed her blank expression. Her face said “I don’t care” but her big brown eyes lied. I thought about how she would feel every time she had to see and act on an accident. Of course her face had to fake it. That way at least she would not scare the awaken patient (like me) and her work would be much easier. 
       “He is still alive, but his signs are very weak. He will probably make it to the hospital but I’m still not one-hundred percent sure.” The man kept on verifying on other vital signs on Damian when the mask of oxygen arrived along with tubes. The man prepared everything quickly and put the tubes in Damian’s mouth, but I wasn’t strong enough like to see the rest of the process. I could hear him hum to a song that was on a local radio station, probably to distract himself for a bit. Everything became blurry and the sound of the paramedics voices faded as it echoed slowly away from my ears. It was as if the world was swirling and playing jokes on me. But all I could think of at that moment was of Damian’s life and what would possibly happen to my existence. For some reason I felt secure that my life and his life would be in the best condition when this was all over, but then the thought of the “what if’s”  came to my mind. What if one of us two died? What if I get blamed on everything that happened? What if I have to live with guilt the rest of my life? What if I die? He would be devastated and out of mind. Everyone would be upset and lost without him. I didn’t matter much. Indeed I didn’t matter at all. Damian was Rose´s son, not I. I was just a stranger that had arrived recently with no reason other than not knowing who I was and I was terrified enough to not want to let go of Rose; that was all I was. She would probably hate me if something bad happened to Damian. 
       I would not forgive myself if something happened to him, much less her. I would feel like I didn’t need to live any longer and who knows what my coward side for being alone would make me do. Then I felt his hand slip off mine and a little boost up followed by what sounded like two car doors closing. All I could have in my thoughts at that moment was that song that gave me the hope I needed, the hope Damian gave me the instant he sang it to me even though he hated My Chemical Romance and that song in particular. But I loved them and he decided to arm up strength to sing it to me and play it along with his keyboard just for me. 
       “When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band. He said ‘Son, when you grow up, will you be the singer of the broken…’”  As I sang in my head I felt unconsciousness reach me completely and sleep while my eyes closed, the unfinished lyrics faded off into distant dreams of my memories. At the end I had gone back to where I had started. I was again lost and alone inside another vehicle with strangers. The only difference is this stranger was a girl paramedic, not 3 perverted kidnappers. 
  But that didn’t change things around. I would still have to wait for news from Damian and news from his family that unconditionally accepted me and appreciated me. For now my mind just roams around on its way to, apparently, the hospital. My dreams seem to be far away from where I am at the moment.  
   
   
   
   Chapter I: The Bloom of Beginning  
   
       I live in Glendale, Los Angeles in an ordinary house around ordinary people with ordinary lives. My school is also very ordinary, and everyone around here thinks about the same. I am October Winters, a 21 year old girl, but I am not extraordinary or outstanding from everyone else nor am destined to save the world. I go to Los Angeles College to study nursing for my third year of preparation, and of course, I now have about a year living alone but near my family. Since I only dedicate to school, my life has been more difficult and doesn’t permit me to have a love life, or a life, at all. Also, it’s not like I can take guys’ attention. From my point of view, I am not the best looking girl in the world. My hair is dark brown and straight a bit lower than my shoulders. I have big round green eyes and pale skin. My guess is men are more attracted to the blue-eyed blonde girls that do sports like volleyball as hobbies. They are not so interested in a girl that wants to be a nurse, plays music and makes art as her major interests. Either way it’s not like I ever needed a boyfriend.  
       My last love broke my heart so bad I couldn’t trust anymore on what a man ever told me. This, of course, happened when I was about 19 that Christopher Jacobs took me to the clouds and let me fall when he told me it wasn’t going to work, and two months later he goes with a girl that was unknown to everyone. It was easy for him to get a girl especially since he had that mysterious look behind his brown eyes and his long Rocker hair. He had such a way to talking to girls that it was easy to fall for him. 
  Luckily I do have my friends. It’s been so long we graduated from high school but I am still in contact with them. Amber, my metal-head friend and her boyfriend, Jacob, the shy man, and Elizabeth, the most stubborn of all, was the three people I had known my whole life and, no matter how they were, I loved them all. But I had so much I hadn’t talked to them. School absorbed most of my time and life, though, I was willing to reunite with them any time possible and have another of those crazy nights. Drinking is not my fort, but when I go along with Amber and Jacob, everything is about a “shit face” and Elizabeth then joins. First, I would have to see if Amber and her boyfriend Charlie were available to come someday soon. Jacob had a new residency so I had to ask Amber where he lived, and Elizabeth was still with her parents, even though she was willing to leave her house and go somewhere closer to her job. I still had time.  
       Then I opened my eyes and looked at my phone lying on the night stand. It was Wednesday March 14, 2012 and the time showed 9:50 in the morning. I had to leave to college in 10 minutes and I wasn’t even out of bed. So I jumped off bed, put on the first things I could find in my closet (a Blink 182 t-shirt and black pants), ran to the restroom and brushed my teeth. I grabbed my car keys and my phone, got on my Chrysler, and took off 11 minutes after. I didn’t have such a good sleep last night, just like many other nights. I was creating this horrible habit of waking up at about 2 in the morning and staying awake for about an hour and a half, but I was disposed to break that, I just didn’t know how. For now I would have to stop at the donut shop and buy an ice tea and something else. My advantage was that college was about 10 minutes by car away from my home, so time wouldn’t be a problem. And so it was that I went through a donut shop but I only had a chance to buy my tea and nothing else; I was running a little bit late. As soon as I got into my car I left straight to school and parked the nearest to the entry. I still had 5 minutes before the first bell rang and my heart relaxed. Still I decided to walk to class to be there on time, but then the corner of my right eye caught something. It wasn’t something; it was someone. Ulysses. Ulysses Smith, a handsome tanned boy with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes. His muscular tall figure was so much like the typical High School Football player. He loves to goof around with people, especially his close friends, and even more with me, even though he was a year older. He had confessed to me that he was in love with me, but the problem wasn’t me; the problem was he had a girlfriend, Tiffany, and they had been together since freshman year in high school, so I told him it was better if we only kept it as friends. Today he seemed to want to run towards me, but he went behind and further from where I was. 
       I was expecting him to jump behind my back and try to surprise me. But I was just getting closer to the entry door and nothing had happened.  I looked down at my feet, but I could only hear them pass on the grass. Then I looked back and saw him coming towards me running. As soon as I turned around he jumped on me more to my right side. I grabbed him by the left arm and with the strength of my shoulder pushed him to the front from his chest and down, making him fly above me and landing on his face first.  
  “Ouch!” I looked at him as my face changed to shock. He stayed in the lying position he was for a couple of seconds then he raised his head and turned it back to look at me. “Tobry, what the hell was that?” Tobry, the nickname he had given me. It sounded cute, but it wasn’t something I would have chosen as a nickname.  
  “Oh my! Ulysses, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that; you just jumped behind me and I did what I was supposed to do. Sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you.” I had said enough apologies already, so instead of more talking I stretched out my hand. He turned his body around to sit down and raised his hand to grab mine. When he was back at his feet he gave me a suspicious look for 3 seconds then changed his expression to a smile and playful eyes. 
       “Don’t you worry my friend, Tobry.” He put his hands around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. “I was just trying to scare you, not to voler you.” Voler, what a word to say, especially to a girl. It means to steal or kidnap in French, a language Ulysses and I are both good at. I giggled and looked down to the ground to notice we were both walking.  
  “Of course not, Ulysses. I wouldn’t even be near you if you were a kidnapper. Good thing is, as you now know, I know how to escape from them.” 
  “Oh yeah! That, I did notice a while ago. You know, you’re pretty strong to be a girl.” 
  “Are you calling me manly?” I looked at him and gave him an ironic look. 
  “Oh no, no! Of course not; I am not calling you manly! I’m just saying you have a good strength.” 
  “Good. I shall take that as a compliment.”  
  “Okay, take it like that. Just don’t tell me anything if I tell you that you decided to not do your hair this morning. But don’t misunderstand me; it goes well with your style. You look like a cute punk girl.” He blushed. It was true what he said, though. I love rock and metal of all kinds. My clothes are all black and I love the Motorhead and Cannibal Corpse t-shirts. My hair has always been a mess, but today it was beyond crazy. I fell asleep today so I didn’t have time to do my make up, but Ulysses seemed to not care about that; he still saw me as the “punk girl.” I just gave him a small smile and detained my feet. I was already in front of my class. I took his arm off my shoulders and faced him.  
  “Well, Ulysses, I guess I’ll go to class since it’s here in front of me.” 
  “Wait, not yet; don’t go in yet. Wait until the bell rings so we can talk a little longer.” Then the bell rang. It lasted for about 10 seconds, enough time for Ulysses to change his expression. He looked exasperated with his eyes mingling around. I had to giggle the whole time. 
  “Well the bell rang now, so I go to my class, you go to yours and we can talk later.” 
  “Okay, okay. See ya later Tobry.” He walked away looking upset, but I wasn’t up to dealing with his attitude. He wasn’t my boyfriend and I couldn’t be behind him all the time consoling him for everything he didn’t like. So I just went to class and sat down in the middle of the class. There was only the teacher, my presence and a guy I didn’t talk to much, Ling Fa. 
       Within a couple of minutes the class began to fill up. Then the second bell rang and the last students arrived to their seat. My first class was Phlebotomy. In this class I have been learning how to use a lot of medical utensils, and at some point I was learning how to draw blood, one of the scariest parts of this class. I still loved it, even though it lasted about 3 hours. I have to presume my grades have always been good and no class, other than Physical Education, was a real challenge for me. I could even pass P.E. class with a B. The only good thing I ever learned in that class was swimming and self defense. Sports have never been on my strong list, but it didn’t bother me to pass the class and I put enough effort on that class to pass it well. Today, for some reason, Phlebotomy class was going by really slow, but then it was over. I only had to deal with a one-hour Health class and a Theory class for 3 hours. It seemed like the day would never end after lunch. Ulysses was talking non sense and he was mostly telling me that I was a great person and he wished his girlfriend was more like me and he began to annoy me, but then after lunch and Theory class, it was finally over, I ran to my car. Then I remembered what I was thinking of this morning. I took my phone and looked through my contacts; the first one, Amber. So I called her, but she didn’t answer until the third call. 
  “Hello?” A natural mocking voice answered. It was Amber. She had a little high pitched voice, more demanding than dry. 
  “Hey, Amber it’s me, October. How is it going around? We haven’t talked for a while.” 
  “Oh, October, it is you! Hey girl! Everything here is fine. I am now living with Charlie. It’s a little difficult ‘cause of the mess and stuff, but you know I’m fine and happy with him. What about you? Does that one guy, uhm, Ulysses, still follow you around?” 
  “Well, what do you think? He still does but I told him to focus on his girlfriend. He is still a little awkward with me though. I’m here in college right now, actually. I just got out of class and I was actually planning on hanging out some day with you, Charlie, Jacob and Elizabeth, like the old times; remember?” 
  “Yeah, yeah, of course I remember. I’m so down to hanging out. Let me call Jacob and give him your number so he can call you and tell you what his address is. He now lives in San Fernando Valley but I don´t know around what area.” 
  “It’s okay just give him my number and tell him to call me so I can go down to where he lives. I will call Elizabeth in a while and tell her so she can join.” 
  “Okay, October. Call me whenever everyone is up to it. I have to go and make Charlie a snack. I’ll talk to you later, girl, bye.” 
  “Okay, Amber, see you later. Bye and tell Charlie I say ‘Hi.’” Then the conversation ended. But a knock on my window took my surprised attention. I look at the passenger seat to see that Ulysses was there with both hands on the window and his face in between his hands. He walked forward to the front seat as I lowered down the window. 
  “Yo. Why aren’t you on your way home? It’s dangerous that you go alone especially at this time of the year that night comes out earlier.” Ulysses gave me a trusty smile as he put his arms on top of the door. 
  “Since when did you become gangster with the ‘Yo’? And well, I was on my way home, I just made a phone call. What still has you here?” 
  “Oh Tiffany won’t be able to pick me up today. She had an emergency with her brother so  
  she told me to get a ride from someone else or take the bus. Only problem is I don’t know how to take the bus and I was wondering if…” 
  “If I could give you a ride? Sure, get in the car.” I unlocked the doors and he opened the door slowly.” 
  “Thanks, Tobry. You’re a good friend. Now I see why you and my girl get along so well. You take care of me and you make her life easier and she’s much happier.” 
  “Well Tiffany is a really nice girl.” I turned on the car and put my seatbelt on. Ulysses followed. “I’m not that close to her but she does seem like the lovely kind.” 
  “Indeed, sometimes her love is too much. She gets really kinky from now and then.” 
  “You still love her, right, Ulysses?” 
  “I don’t know at this point. See the thing is that she is not as brilliant, beautiful or good as you are. She doesn’t understand a lot of things and she is just interested in looking pretty and going shopping. You like to go to school and you’re bright. And plus you seem to not be so attached to people.” I was becoming a little awkward, but I kept driving. 
  “And what do I have to do with Tiffany?” Ulysses didn’t say anything; he just kept looking at me in a day dreaming way. He passed the next 20 minutes like that until we reached his house. The awkward sensation of his seductive stares was only making me feel it would bring disaster at the end. 
  “You know, October. You have nothing to do with Tiffany. The way you see things and the way you act is what makes me like you so much. I’ve told you this before, but I guess you just won’t take me serious, will you?” 
  “Well, put it that if you cheated on Tiffany to be with me and you break up with her, she will be heartbroken. You guys have been dating since what 7 years? That is a long time. And plus if you cheat on her, what gives me the certainty that you will not do it to me ever? And Tiffany has been a good person to me. I wouldn’t ever do something to her like that.” 
  “It doesn’t matter. I know how to be careful around her. She never notices what I do. Again, she just cares about new clothes and make up. And I would not cheat on you because I want someone like you. Plus were both interested in the medical area and imagine what we can do together. Some day we can even play to the doctor.” He winked. 
  “Oh no; I am not ever playing that game with you. And are you telling me you have already cheated on Tiffany? See? This is what I’m talking about. I don’t think I could ever be with someone like you especially since you may even to that to me. And Tiffany doesn’t deserve any of this. I’m truly sorry, Ulysses, but you’re not my type, and I won’t betray Tiffany with you. I hope you see why it can’t be.” 
  “And again with Tiffany! Gosh; this had nothing to do with her at all. It’s about you and me and what I feel for you and if you want me.” 
  “Well it involves Tiffany as well if she’s the victim because of your womanizer life.” He said nothing. 
  “Well, October, thank you for giving me a ride. We can talk later and I’ll try to fix things.” Fix things. That sounded suspicious. Plus he called me October; it had been the second time he called me like this today instead of Tobry. He stood there looking at me with his hand raised for a shake. My stare wouldn’t leave his hand so I shook his hand and he pulled me towards him with little strength. His shoulder and mine met and my face went directly to his. Quickly I turned my head to the left, leaving his soft pink lips on my right cheek. I departed my face from his and looked at him with a dry grin. 
  “You’re welcome, Ulysses.” That was all I could say. Then my eyes turned to the door of his house to see a thin blonde girl talking on her cell phone come out of the house. It was Tiffany. Ulysses turned to the direction I was looking and then looked back at me. He opened the car door and got out. He waved good bye and went towards Tiffany. Tiffany turned to the car and looked at me. Her big smile gave me a sensation of guilt. I waved and she waved back, then I departed. I looked at the time to find out it was 6:23 P.M. Ulysses’ house was about 30 minutes away from mine. When I arrived home it was almost seven. 
       I decided to relax and turned the T.V. and put a movie. Van Helsing was on, probably half way, but I was falling asleep when the phone rang. The caller ID said Richards Jacob. It was my friend. I could feel the corner of my lips curling up in a little smile and my hands move slowly. 
  “Hello?” I said anxious hoping it was him. 
  “Hey... October?” 
  “Yeah it’s me.” 
  “Oh hey! It’s me Jacob! How’s it been, you, Witch?” I missed that name, Witch; Jacob told me that my name reminded him of the witch seasons, so he began to call me Witch since we were in Fifth grade. 
  “Hey! You still remember that, Gaycob!” 
  “Ah it’s not funny anymore” 
  “Hey, come on, take a joke, man. Don’t be a cry baby.” 
  “Okay then… So what’s up? Amber told me to call you to this number.” 
  “Yeah this is my new house number. I now have my own house. I told Amber to hang out with me and you and Elizabeth. So what do you think?” 
  “Hell yeah. Just tell me when and where and at what time.” 
  “Well I was planning to hang out at my house next Saturday. I don’t go to school that day. It can be around 5?” 
  “Oh okay. Just tell me where you live so I can find out what bus takes to your house.” 
  “Well if you have to take the bus I can go pick you up instead. Just tell me where you live.” 
  “Okay. I live in San Fernando Valley in Tarzana. If you want you can pick me up at the mall Northridge. You know where it’s at?” 
  “Uhm well I have a slight idea on how to get to San Fernando Valley. I can ask for directions, though, and when I get there I’ll just have to ask where the mall is at. And in case I get lost I’ll call you. What about that?” 
  “Sounds good to me.” Want me to call Elizabeth to tell her?” 
  “Sure, please, and also call Amber to tell her what the plans are. Thanks. I got to go now but I’ll call you later, Jacob. Bye.” As soon as I hung up the phone, I turned the T.V. off and went to take a bath. It was relaxing as the warm water covered me and the bubbles touched my skin. I was reflecting everything that happened today, the long classes, lunch, the “almost got it” kiss. It was a crazy day, but I had hope tomorrow would be much better. 
   
   
   
   Chapter II: Danger in Every Corner  
   
       Every night was becoming more and more tiresome and the mornings would become hell with no sleep. School was getting on my nerves, especially the long hour tests I had to take. The only thing that kept me awake was a good coffee and ice tea. Ulysses didn’t get near me today; he saw me and waved from far away. Of course I answered back in a friendly way, expecting nothing else, but it was strange that he didn’t want to be around me. That was about it, even at lunch time. The only unusual thing was that one of Ulysses’ friends passed by me and made a “you’re in trouble” look. Of course that didn’t matter much to me; probably Ulysses told him what had happened. Things would be a little awkward between us two for the next couple of days. When my classes were finally over, I called Amber, hoping she would be able to tell me the plans for the weekend. 
       She didn’t answer the phone and so I wanted to leave home and rest a bit. I drove slowly, making my way home almost 20 minutes. It was about 6 at night when I could stand it no more and I just went straight to my room and threw myself on the bed face down with my arms falling in any random position. My back began to relax as I felt tickles running down my spine and my legs stretch comfortably. Then I closed my eyes, letting my mind enter into the dimension of dreams. It lead me to finding myself in front of an old two-story house with a serene porch, red tainted windows, a cabin-like style. It had a garden around with tulips of all sorts and red roses. The beautiful red afternoon was taking over. There were many oak trees, pine trees and so many colorful flowers. My eyes began to delight with the beautiful scene of a crystalline lake and the chirp of the birds flocking around and the singing toads and frogs, letting the green mountains almost hiding the sun completely. I felt as if I was in a fairy tale land. All it needed was magical creatures. 
   The sun disappeared behind the mounts and all the flowers changed to a fatal dry olive green color. Red and white roses were only thorns now. The tulips looked like laid up sticks that had been intentionally burnt leaving a shell of wood. The beautiful lake became a swamp, bursting various sized green slimy bubbles that popped after growing so much. The little magnificent cabin seemed like a haunted house, so gray and deep penetrated violet, deteriorated from roof to floor, with the red window paint almost fallen off, the roof covered in dust and dead leaves and the porch isolated into the darkness with the floor’s timber broken and filled with plastered stomped insects, making the house look as if no one had lived in there for at least 50 years. 
       The air became dark and heavy as it carried metallic-like voices, as if demons were flying in the skies. To my horror I sighted three beasts coming to where I was standing. Their gooey grayish brown skin falling off their body as the see-through bat wings carried their massive beings around. Their feet were full of dirt and bleeding cuts. It appeared that their slight portion of hair was old filthy mops attached to their broken cranium. Red eyes that pierced through thoughts were accompanied with ferocious yellow pointed teeth with raw meat in between them and nothing but two nostrils dark where the nose was supposed to be. Their ribs were revealed by the missing flesh and their arms were so thin and long they appeared to only have pure bone covered with a millimeter of that grotesque skin. Six claws scanned around the airs as their goat feet slowly landed in the terrain. The three of the monsters glanced at me as if I were an easy prey or as if I had something they had longed for. As they gathered together and came closer to me I tried to run inside the house but my feet felt heavy and my running was slow. I was becoming desperate with my pace and I could feel the big knot in my throat and a thought that told me I was going to die.  
       I could hear them all behind me, coming faster and faster until my nose detected their fixating breath. I didn’t wish to look back. I was almost having a heart attack. As soon as I reached the porch the door automatically opened and I threw myself in. It closed again as it left me in complete darkness and a sharp pain the recurred my whole arms. But the creatures went on top of the ceiling and instantly broke the roof and the second floor to reach me.  
       They managed to get in and herd me to a corner. Then next to me fell a dagger that inserted into the floor. Then a knife fell. I looked up to see that there was raining knives and daggers and swords from the sky. I ducked down to the floor and went on a fetal position. But none of them fell on me or on the monsters. My eyes let me find myself on what seemed a beach so tranquil. The waves reached my knees and as the water went back I saw my phone. It was turned off and as I wanted to grab it, one of the creatures took me by the torso with its long nasty arms. Its skin was slippery and humid as if covered with saliva. I tried to kick and twirl around and scream but it was worthless. It took me to the second story as the other two monsters trailed behind. Then it set me on the floor as if letting me go, except it didn’t let me leave. The creatures all gathered around me in a circle, guarding me of wanting to escape from them. But as soon as they sat down on the floor, they fell into a deep sleep. Curiosity told me to poke the head of one of them to make sure they were unconscious. They didn’t move. All my body rose from the ground. My feet jumped in between their arms and bones that were lingered together. Their wings almost scraped my hands. My heart was beating as twice as fast. Respiration seemed to become noisier. I was afraid they’d hear my breathing. I closed my eyes. Then as I gave my last steps, I opened my eyes and looked back. I did it. I had gotten out the circle of monsters. I was free. Then the biggest beast began to move. As my eyes catched the movements, my feet ran to the hole and threw me in. My feet landed first, followed by the palms of my hands. The sharp pain recurred to my back cramping a great part of it. Then to my right, just behind a little wooden round table, I found a container with a strong familiar scent; Gasoline. 
       My first instinct was to run upstairs again, this time with the gasoline container. To my luck, along the stairs there was a long rope. I took it and rolled it on my hands creating circles. Then I reached the monsters and tied them carefully one by one then all of them together. I created a ring of gasoline around the monsters. Then I passed the rope around them for a last time. As I was tying the last knot, one of them woke up and looked at me, but it was immobile. It was confused for what it was seeing. Then it gave a short growl, followed by a stronger and longer one, waking up the other two beasts. I jumped to the hole again with the gasoline in my hands. I grabbed the container of gasoline and spread it throughout the whole first floor. Then a voice told me to go to the kitchen. It looked old and forgotten, full of darkness and silence. Draped curtains and broken dishes on the floor. Nasty roaches and beetles running around everywhere in the stove and counters. Cupboards were empty. My eyes turned to a countertop full of insects mingling around. My hands didn’t care and shook some of those bugs off. On top of it I found matches. Perfect. My feet almost flew back to the floor full of gasoline. The beasts’ growls and cries reached my ears. Their brutal movements shook the whole second floor.  
  I lit a match and looked at the red flame raise and settle. My hands let go of the burning match and I ran outside the house, only looking at the flares grow in delight as the petroleum fed them. The creatures cried and groaned but I didn’t look back anymore. Then the house exploded into millions of pieces. My whole body raised a couple of feet in the air and let my body fall to the ground. My eyes closed and my breath was stronger and faster than ever. I looked back to see that the house was completely gone. Rising to my feet, I went towards the position of the now gone house to only discover a small green stone that looked like jade. 
       As I took it with my hands, the ground under me began to shake. It shook so hard I couldn’t keep my balance. It didn’t stop quivering when suddenly I open my eyes. My cell phone was vibrating in my left pocket. I twisted my body enough to reach for my phone. It was Jacob. The phone stopped. I had seventeen missed calls from him. Ten seconds later he called again. 
  “Hello?” My voice sounded weak and sloppy.  
  “Hey, Oc. What’s up? Why do you sound as if you had a cold?” 
  “I just woke up from sleeping. Actually, your calls woke me up. First thing I see when I check my phone is ‘seventeen missed calls’ from you.” He laughed for an instant. The only thing I could do is rub my eyes with my hands so I could truly open them. 
  “Well yeah; I tried calling you a couple of times. But you didn’t answer until right now and now I know why.” 
  “Well school has been tiring for me lately. I can’t sleep well. And worst thing is I don’t even know how much I slept. Probably hours. Good thing you woke me up; I was having a nightmare.” 
  “Ha! Good! It’s better if you’re scared. It’s funny to see you scared, Oc.” 
  “You’re so mean to me! Anyway you were the cause of the nightmare. Everything was fine until you appeared in it” I lied and laughed. “So what is going on with the plans?” 
  “Everything the way you said. I just called Elizabeth she said it was perfect. She wanted your number. She lost her old phone and now she has a new one. Let me just give you my address so you can come pick me up.” As I looked for something to write on, Jacob waited.  
  “Okay my address is San Fernando Valley, Tarzana Boulevard Tampa Road. Go straight to the mall and we’ll find each other there.” 
  “Perfect; then I’ll see you Saturday. I’ll be wearing an Epica shirt and black pants. Just tell me what entrance to take and I’ll go there.” 
  “Well there is a Costco right next to the mall. Go to the Costco if you want to it’ll be easier. And I gotta go because I want to rent a movie before the store is closed.” 
  “Okay; I’ll be there Saturday around 3 in the afternoon, Bye and I’ll see you tomorrow for sure.” He hung up and I hung up my phone. The nightmare was so horrible I only wished to go to sleep again and not dream anything.  
  It was already Friday in the morning when I opened my eyes again. Then I realized it was the first night I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night. It was 8:34 A.M. and I had enough time to get dressed and ready to go to school. But it was Friday and tomorrow I’d have to go to Jacob’s house to go pick him up. The weekend would be great.  
  So many years have gone by and I couldn’t really be with my friends of basically my whole life. I was so anxious to see how much they had changed. Last time I saw Amber her hair was long and black and in many layers. She was hoping she could make another piercing somewhere else in her face since she already had two, one on her eyebrow and the other one under the inferior lip. Her chunky body no taller than mine. And Charlie, he had cut his beautiful long light brown hair into a mohawk. He was tall and on the big side, but now I had no idea of how he looked. Elizabeth; I remember her as a normal slender looking girl with little make up and her hair still light brown. I saw Jacob more often and he didn’t change his long black hair and still kept on his beard. His cinnamon skin would turn more than with the sun. 
       After a relaxing shower I looked in my closet to decide on a black V neck gothic blouse with red details and black pants. I left early to school this time. My decision was on going to eat breakfast somewhere instead of cooking just because I didn’t feel like it. The donut shop had a great variety of foods so I took on my addictive coffee and half a cinnamon roll. Afterwards I ordered another coffee and left to school. The coffee was great. It had the exact quantity of caffeine, sugar and cream and it also animated my mind. 
       Then I arrived to college, got off my car and went straight to the door of the first building. As I entered the building just at the right side of the entrance was Ulysses standing there with his back lying on the wall and his arms crossed. He was looking down as if waiting to be surprised by something. He looks up at me and gives me the sexiest but innocent smile I had ever seen on him as he stood up straight and came towards me. My feet froze in place as he tied his right arm around my waist and said in the most shameless way  
  “hey baby,” followed by a kiss on my head. Instinctively my hands put around his torso and pushed away from him. I walked back a couple of feet and looked at him in a nagging position. His eyebrow raised but his smile was still on his face. 
  “Ulysses! What was that?” 
  “Nothing; can’t I do that? By the way you look extra beautiful today.” 
  “Well thanks, but you can’t. I’m not your girlfriend; just your friend.” 
  “Well you can become my girl now. I broke up with Tiffany yesterday night.” Half of my face fell down leaving my mouth open. His expression didn’t change a bit, only his smile into a playful grin full of desire. 
  “You did what? Oh no, you didn’t break up with her. Why did you do that? How did she take it?” 
  “She’ll be alright later on. The only thing that matters here is that I am now available for you.” 
  “What makes you think I’ll date you? I told you; you’re like my brother and nothing else. And plus we talked about this two days ago. Yesterday you didn’t even talk to me!” 
  “I know, I know, but we can try it; come on I don’t bite. For now.” He winked as he said the last words. 
  “Agh! No, I’m not dating you at all. I’m sorry, Ulysses but I can’t date you; not when you’re a super jerk that just likes to use women. I know you probably just want to use me.” I looked at my coffee. 
  “No; I wouldn’t dare to use you. I really like you. I really do; since I met you I knew I had to get to you in any way. Now is the time.” 
  “Yeah; it’s time for me to leave and you to get things straight. I’ll talk to you later.” And so I left him with the “wait!” in the air. I glanced back to see him standing there like an idiot and then I heard a big slam. My eyes caught his fist hitting the classroom door he was next to, but I just entered my class with my coffee almost spilling it. I didn’t even have the desire for coffee. What a waste. I love coffee so much; it’s my addiction and I had to throw it in the trash because that fool ruined my appetite. 
  My favorite class sucked that day and the rest of the classes sucked even more. Ulysses tried to reach me in lunch but I didn’t want to talk to him after what he had done with Tiffany and after making me not want my delicious and perfect coffee. I went straight home as soon as the last bell rang. Then I threw myself on the sofa and began to cry. I wasn’t crying because I was sad. Usually I cry whenever I get really mad for something. I was angry at Ulysses for acting stupid with me and not understanding that a “No.” was a “No.” I could be too stubborn but there was something about Ulysses that I didn’t really like, and by now I could tell he is only a player and nothing else but a player and of course I deserved better than that. What woman doesn’t? But I had to stop being so goddamn stubborn as well. At that pace I would probably spend the rest of my life with a bunch of cats and feeding birds at the park. Somehow that didn’t sound bad. 
       I chose to forget about it just because I desired my coffee. I don’t know what I was capable of doing if I didn’t have my caffeine. I’d probably go nuts or go psycho. My hands cleaned my tears running down my face. Then I went to the kitchen and boiled some water. I had half a sandwich while I waited for the water to be ready. As soon as the water was in its boiling point I turned the pot off, grabbed a cup and put a spoon of coffee grains, the hot water, a spoon of sugar and cream. My coffee tasted ten million times better than the other one. Now no one would ruin my coffee, at least until I finished it. Then my phone began to vibrate. It was an unknown number. 
  “Hello?” 
  “October, it’s Tiffany.” 
  “Oh! Tiffany, I didn’t recognize your number. Are you alright?” 
  “And you think I should be alright? After you seduced my boyfriend into your slutty arms? You bitch. Learn to get your own guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have no girl friends; I’m pretty sure you do the same to all of them.” 
  “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the hell are you talking about? Seducing your boyfriend? I didn’t do that. Your boyfriend is just a whore and I’m sorry it’s me the one that has to tell you but he is a damn whore. I have no idea what that idiot told you, but he told me he broke up with you because he wanted to go with some other girl.” I didn’t tell her it was for me. 
  “Oh! Now you’re calling me a liar? Oh no. You’re the whore here. I don’t even have to know anymore how many times you did it with Ulysses, but you will pay me some day, October Winters.” 
  “Wait, no! I didn’t do shit with your sorry ass slutty boyfriend. He’s probably lying to you because I don’t even consider him my friend anymore! And if you’re going to be calling me a whore a slut or a bitch, then you’re gaining nothing but shit ‘cause you’re calling those names to the wrong person. It’s not my fault you fell in love with that idiot. I’m sorry but I am not taking your goddamn shit.” 
  “Well guess what? I’m not taking yours either, especially since you like to play the Good Ass Prostitute with Ulysses. I thought you were better than that, October, But I now know you’re a fucking hoe. You were too perfect to be true. 
  “Perfect? What are you talking about?” 
  “Don’t act like you don’t know anything. Perfect body. Perfect face. Smart and in medicine school. You live alone and you have a loving family. Everybody likes you because you’re fun to be around. That is just plain bullshit you make to cover your slutty side.” 
  “Oh no. I don’t fake any of that. I am all that and still I am not perfect. You’re just too goddamn childish and immature to admit that your idiotic love cheated on you more than once. And again, I have no idea of what he told you about me but I’m pretty sure it’s not true. In fact let me tell you what he told me. He said he broke up with you because he is in love with me and that he’s tired of you and your make up and you going to the mall to only buy clothes and look pretty. He said he wanted a smart girl, not a superficial cheap copy of a ninety-nine cent store Barbie doll. So good luck with your life Tiffany because I’ve lost all respect for you. Bye.” I waited a couple of seconds. She said nothing. I hung up my phone, looking at my coffee cup, luckily empty by now. 
  I knew that after all this chaos and after drinking coffee I wouldn’t be able to sleep so I decided to go for a walk. Even though sports weren’t my thing, I have to admit that I somehow enjoyed walking in the afternoons. And so I changed into the blue college shorts that had my name and a white shirt, grabbed my music player and my phone and left my house for a good walk. I was saluting everyone that was usually outside. Everyone seemed so happy and so worriless about problems. I only kept thinking but apparently I had gone too far from my house at some point. All this time I was thinking about my attitude and if it was correct to be the way I was with Ulysses. 
       I knew I was acting very stubborn and cruel and that maybe I should apologize to Tiffany because of all the things I had told her about an hour ago. But then I thought about stupid Ulysses and his Player games and all the things Tiffany told me and that maybe they deserved what I had done to them. Either way it wasn’t my business anymore. It was their problems and their life that was in drama, not mine. 
       It was already 9 at night when I realized I didn’t know where I was. My feet turned back the direction I was coming from trying to memorize and analyze how was it that I got where I was at the moment. I turned left. Nothing; I recognized nothing. Then I went back and turned right. Nothing either. My heart was pounding fast. I kept going right. Still there was nothing familiar. Then I turned left after 4 blocks.  
       What the hell was I doing? I had no idea. Where was I? That question was unanswerable even to me. Was I scared? Oh yeah was I scared; more than any other moment in my short life. I kept walking straight and turned to the right in block three. Then I see a black van pass me very slowly. The man driving lowered the window and stared at me. I stared back. His mustache covered part of his upper mouth then fell into a long bushy beard. He was bald from the top, revealing hair in a ring at the back of his head. He had an earring in his left ear. His arm that was sticking out the window had a tattoo of a naked woman that must’ve been her girlfriend. I only kept walking. The van accelerated. 
  I kept walking in a senseless direction for about 20 minutes. Then I remembered I had my phone, I could call a taxi. My feet ran to the nearest corner as I took out my phone and looked for the taxi phone number.  My face began to smile as the number was being dialed automatically.  
  “Taxi, goodnight; how may I help you?” Her voice sounded tired. 
  “Good night; May I please have a taxi over in,” I looked at the name of the street. “624 Sun Flower Street in Glendale.” 
  “Sure; your taxi will be there in about 15 minutes. Is it alright?” 
  “Yes; thank you.” I hung up. It would be there in a while. One of my favorite songs was on so I put the volume higher. I could see from the corner of my eye two people walking together and I could hear a car calmly coming around the corner, then stop right behind me. I paused the music player. Someone got out of the car. My heart began to go crazy on me again. The people walking my way were men. Then I turned around to see a little Volvo and a senior lady get out of the car. She waved. My heart calmed down. She kept walking until she reached her house and went in.  
       But the two men walking were in silence and were observing me. The grind of wheels from a vehicle driving quickly sounded behind me. As I looked back I realized it was the same van I saw earlier and it was the same driver. I heard feet running and I look back. Both men were running to my direction. I began to run but after a couple of feet one of them caught me by the waist. I punched him in the stomach with my elbow and stomped on his right foot. I kept running, thanking P.E. class for what I had learned there. But the other man was quicker than me and he catched on to me and jumped on me. I felt my feet stop where they were and my body fall with at least 120 more pounds on top.  
       My being reached the ground but I twisted my body around and kicked the man on the face with my knee. I began to crawl and tried to stand up as fast as possible, but the man on the floor grabbed my foot. The one I had knocked down put his foot on my back leaving me immobile. I kicked about three times the man holding my foot and I, again, twisted my back to set free of the one that was holding me down with his foot on my back. I was still on the floor and I had lost a tennis shoe, but I got into fetal position but with my gluteus to the ground. He tried to catch my feet but I rolled around my butt. He couldn’t catch me. Then when he got near enough I kicked him in the testicles and he fell down to the floor, twisting of pain. The other man ran towards me but I quickly stood up and turned around to run. 
       But I saw two hairy hands holding a metal tube that came straight to my face. I heard something banging against metal. I saw an instantaneous white image followed by little stars. A major migraine popped from the front right side of my head. My legs lost balance and swept around. I saw the tattooed man and I slowly closed my eyes. All this happened in a question of seconds.  
  “Good night, Bitch.” Those were the last words I heard as my vision became blurry and my eyes shut. This sharp noise was ringing in my ears. I could feel like if I were drowning in the ocean. But there was something peculiar. The sea water didn’t taste salty. It had a warm metallic flavor. I still couldn’t see anything but the migraine kept growing stronger. It made me swirl around as I held my head in both arms and felt how the metallic water suffocated my throat. 
   
   
   Publication Date: August 1st 2012 https://www.bookrix.com/-innocently.rebel