Living in Non-Existence

Ch.15 The Tragedy at Lock Lake

I was let out of the hospital within a few hours, when I said I couldn't breath around Marc, I wasn't joking. 

The doctor said I hyperventilated and the nurse next to him had looked at Marc and under her breath had mumbled, "no wonder why".  In any normal situation I would giggle but this wasn't any normal situation, I was in the hospital.

When I was let out, Marc tried his best to keep his composure but I could see him freaking out. Subtle little muscle twitches in his chin, the way his eyes darted to make sure nothing would scare me, even the way hi hand shook slightly in mine. Maybe at this point I looked like a ticking time bomb so I couldn't blame him for being frightened. 

My house looked oddly out of place now. It was too white compared to the others, no real fading through the years, no little lights twinkling and flittering with motion. There were no audible signs of laughter or a sense of home. I felt a further tug on my heart strings, I could remember the beautiful memories we had created here when I was little but it all seemed so far away, something I could never gain back. 

Marc took the key from my hand, skipped up those couple steps to the front door and inserted the key ever so gently. A slight breeze of cold air wafted outside but Marc put his arm around my waist and suddenly I wasn't so alone. 

"Darlin, you have to go out at some point," Marc was saying an hour later as I sat on the sofa watching some sort of raging reality show. If anything made me feel better about my life, it was definitely this show with such a fake family that they only had each other in common. I knew Marc was right, sweatpants, oversized shirt, and a fuzzy pair of flip flops were not the ideal look. 

"I could," I said lifting my chin and twisting my neck to look at him, "or you could just come cuddle with me." I know this sounds like I'm a bipolar freak but seriously I had actually considered everything he said.  We did have two weeks left and I was going to take advantage of every second of it, starting with watching TV and doing nothing. 

Isn't it strange that your whole life can be filled with event after event and yet you're more bored then, than you are doing nothing? 

"You know what, I got this," Marc said smiling as he walked over to the couch. His strong arms propped themselves on either side of my body, I felt his warm breath on my face. My heart beat to every inhalation of his breath, my mouth opened slightly so air could flow into my lungs. "Be ready to go out by 6 tonight," he said leaning down to kiss me like a rose petal falling on my lips. 

I tried to ask what it was going to be and how I had to dress but he closed the door before I could have any answers. I sat back down, extending my legs in front of me, my arms limp at my sides. I was the picture people would see if they googled what laziness looked like. I looked down at the clock on the remote, three hours to get ready. So I sat there.

Six o'clock rolled around too quickly for my liking, I was completely ready but I was not happy to get off the couch and throw piles of clothes on the floor just to find the perfect outfit. 

Marc rang the doorbell like any courteous boy would even though he knew the door was always open. Like always, I opened with an exaggerated flourish as the breeze blew his hair back.Immediately I knew I had assessed this spur of the moment decision correctly.

He was wearing a loose pair of slightly ripped jeans, a button down light blue shirt, and just a normal pair of slip on black vans. Coincidentally, I was wearing almost the same thing, in, you know, girl form. 

As usual, he held up a bouquet of flowers, and as always, it was different from the last. This time it was a dozen red roses gleaming as though they had just been dipped in a bucket of paint. My heart leapt out of my chest, he really was perfect, no boy would ever even come close, I knew at least that much.