Belief Of A Nonbeliever

Paranoic Death

It’s morning. The sun rays struggle to get through the curtain. A
sweet smell surrounds Ikarrus’ room that makes her open her eyes with a smile. “Agh!” Ikarrus yelled. She whipped her face and felt like if she forgot something. “Breakfast is ready everybody!” yelled Chloee from downstairs. Ikarrus felt nostalgic. She decided to check the time, something was suspicious. Her phone showed 6:57 am  August, 11, 2017. “Wait…that was last year,” Ikarrus whispered. “I’m fifteen again?!” This was the first day of school. Mom had made pancakes for breakfast. She quickly got prepared and noticed she had her stone necklace in the mirror. “It’s here?”  When she skipped down the stairs she…she saw her mother, Peneloppe and…and her father eating at the table. “Come on Iky, if you hurry I’ll give you a ride too,” said Isaac.

“DAD!” Ikarrus yelled from the top of her lungs.

“Ugh, don’t yell. It’s too early,” said Peneloppe.

“What’s going on? This can’t be real,” said Ikarrus searching for a reason in her mind that flew aside.

“I believe it’s your sisters first day of high school,” said Isaac.

“Here, I made us all pancakes,” said Chloee.

  Ikarrus sat down uncomfortably and poked her food. Isaac kissed Chloee as thanks for her making food for everyone. Everybody seemed so happy. When they all finished eating, both girls got in her father’s car and went to school. When Ikarrus got off the car with Peneloppe, she saw Daniella waiting for her already but…Aalex wasn’t there. “Oh my God, Ikarrus!” shouted Daniella hugging her. ‘God’? Did she say ‘God’?  Ikarrus didn’t hug back, she felt resentful for something. “What’s wrong Ikarrus? We didn’t see each other all summer!”

“Where’s Aalex?” Ikarrus questioned seriously.

“Aalex? Did you just say Aalex?”

“Yeah, I need to talk to him”.

“Uh, who’s Aalex?”

“What do you mean ‘who’s Aalex’? He’s our best friend since we were kids!”

“No Ikarrus. It’s been only you and me through all these years”.

  What? Why did she have memory of a person who never existed? Suddenly her head hurt. She even saw Daniella wearing the charm bracelet Aalex gave her on the same day. Her face was hot and she began to sweat. “Where did you get that?” Ikarrus asked pointing at Daniella’s charm bracelet.

“Really? You gave me this before summer, silly!”

“Uhh”.

“You can’t tell me you don’t remember. That would really hurt”.

  Most of Ikarrus’ old memories were suddenly intact. But for some reason her new memories as well. She lived two lives? One of them has to be a lie. These new memories are nice but…Aalex wasn’t in them, not one. She focused her thoughts on her necklace as hard as she could, hoping she could ask someone what was going on. That’s weird…it didn’t work. Why was she doing that? Her head still hurt. “Ikarrus do you want to go to the school nurse? You seem in pain and clearly out of whack,” Daniella suggested as she inclined Ikarrus’ weight on her.

“No. I’m fine I just ate my pancakes too fast and I’m still sleepy,” Ikarrus denied politely.

“You sure?”

“Yes”.

“Okay let’s go”.

“But wait, where’s Peneloppe?”

“She ran off to look for people she knew from middle school, of course. That’s what everyone does”.

“Huh…she didn’t need directions,” Ikarrus whispered.