Remember Me?

Part I - Chapter 6

"What?! Nari!"

A pull at my wrist stops me in my tracks and I'm once again face to face with Jayce.

"Hold on a second, what's wrong?"

His eyes are so close that I cannot escape them.

"I just can't think straight right now."

He just smiles reassuringly as he touches his forehead to mine, "I know I've been acting different since a few days ago but -"

~ It has not just been the last few days. ~

***

"Where are you going?!" someone barked.

I just walked out the school, on my way to meet up with Kasey, Jayce, and Randy. So, I do not answer them and just keep walking.

"Don't act like you can't hear us."

All of them start to come after me.

"I know you have some money. Come on, let us have some. You know us too, we sit with you at lunch."

"No" I denied.

~ What I have right now is for mom's birthday present, there's no way I'm giving you any. ~

I start to walk faster as I see Jayce standing where he always waits. Jayce sees me and he smiles but that soon disappears as I'm pulled back.

One of them pulls my backpack forcing me to fall on the ground.

"Let me go!"

"We were asking nicely, just give us the money."

Jayce comes running over.

"You know this girl, Jayce?" the strangler asks while holding me up.

I look to him for help while holding out my hand.

~ Please just grab my hand and pull me away. ~

"Not really, I just know her a bit"

My hand drops.

My jaw drops.

My trust drops.

"Tell her to just give us the money."

A sniff comes into my right side and I revolt right away.

"So, that she can fix up her pretty self and go home."

I don't even know him. I want to get away from him, but he now has a firm grip on my arm.

Jayce takes my left hand, "Why don't you just give them the money?" he says with a sense of urgency.

I stare at him in astonishment and shake my head, tears already threatening to drop.

He already has my hand, he can take me away.

I mouth, "Pull me away, please."

There's no reaction.

I try mouthing again, "Jayce. Pull. Me. Away. Please."

Instead of a pull he gives my hand a squeeze, a hard one. Jayce is hurting me.

"Jayce..." my voice is weak as the tears are already falling.

"Just give them the money, so we can leave." Jayce says through gritted teeth.

"Stop," I sniffle, "it hurts."

"Then give them the money! It will stop hurting then." Jayce urged.

"Fine..." I cried.

The pressure on my arm ends but the one on my hand does not.

"I need to hand them the money, don't I?!" I retorted towards Jayce.

It was then that he realized what he was doing and lets go of my hand. I look at him. I want to see any type of explanation. He did not need to speak. I just wanted to see his eyes but my vision was glossy through my tears.

In the end, I could not find my explanation.

The money is in my pocket but I cannot pull it out because my left hand aches. I use my right hand instead and hand them the money.

When they had it, they all ran.

Leaving me speechless, hurt, confused, and with Jayce.

The cold winter air came in and I cried out at the same time. My hair flew back and my face stung with chills.

My tears still fell and they froze right as they fell down my cheeks, stinging. They were daggers that cut deeper as I let them.

He softly holds my shoulders. A complete opposite from the force that he just used with my hand. But his touch was cold. There was no warmth, protection, or trust with them.

"I'm...I'm sor - "

I know the words that were about to come out of his mouth and I did not want to hear it.

He did not mean it, so I interrupted him. Instead of interrupting with words, all I could manage were wails and tears.

***

"I don't think you understand" I say while trying to avoid his touch.

Jayce cups my face in his hands and starts to stroke my cheeks as he says "I will understand. I will. Just please stay and I will explain and fix everything."

~ No, stop. You had enough chances to that. ~

"I need time to think."

I escape from him and walk away.

"Wait, promise me one thing before you leave."

My steps stop at the word "promise".

"You'll come back and listen to what I have to say. Promise me" Jayce says.

There's that word again, "promise".

"I won't let you leave unless you promise" Jayce teases.

I want to leave so I comply and say, "I promise."

His footsteps are getting softer as he walks away. I start walking again.

He took that word so easily. As if he can throw it around any which way he wanted.

~ I wonder if he plans on keeping any of his promises. ~

I remember all the things we promised each other when we were kids. They were childish and we were young, but they meant something to me.

The question was, did they mean something to him too?

Even just at the thought of those promises, I start to feel my heart tug.

I can't let myself be swayed to them. Not now.

~ I need a quiet place to think. The garden. ~

That's the place where I wanted to go, the school garden. Surprisingly, I'm walking right by it. So I walk in.

The tulips have bloomed into shades of pinks and yellows and the grass is still glassy from this morning. I could hear the birds chirping from a nearby tree and squirrels prancing on the sidewalk. The air is crisp with the breeze casually coming and going.

I would come here to listen to music, draw, read, and basically any time when I wanted to be alone.

And right now is when I want to be alone the most, so here I am.

But I guess that will not be the case because the next thing I hear is Kasey's voice.

"Hi".

I turn around.

"Hi".