What I Call Life

Chapter 23

After we ate I'd fell into an uneasy sleep. For a while, I wasn't sleeping, but when the curtains were shut and the lights turned off, I did, I guess, eventually fall asleep.
I woke up in a bed unrecognizable, a time that seemed different than my own.
"Julia!" A voice said softly, as if surprised. I sat up, recognizing what happened. I was Julia Brodsky. Somehow I knew that.
A boy walked into the room. He had bright blue eyes and blonde hair, and dimples showed on his cheeks when he smiled.
"Hi, William." I said, patting a spot on my bed. I pushed my dirty blonde hair behind my ears. I couldn't make eye contact with the boy.
"Good morning." He said softly.
"Where am I?" I asked.
William smiled.
"What year is it?" I half shouted.
"Relax, Julia!" He laughed. "You're at my house! It's 2014! Remember?"
Something suddenly sparked in my brain.
"Oh!" I said. "Oh yeah."
I laid down across my bed.
"Julia, I want to take you somewhere." William said.
I looked up.
Suddenly I was in his car. I heard a shot ring out. And suddenly there was a flash of light before I woke up in a puddle of sweat.
"William!" I yelled.
I heard a scream from beside me.
"Ahhhhh!" Isaac screamed.
"Ahhhhh!" I screamed back.
"Who's William?" Isaac half shouted.
"I don't know!" I shouted back, almost in his face.
"What- what the hell?" Isaac yelled. A nurse came running in.
A light flickered but turned on.
"Who screamed?" She asked, her face red. She seemed stressed.
"Oh! Oh it's nothing!" I said. I was breathing extremely hard. "I- I had a nightmare!"
The nurse nodded.
"I'll get you some sleeping medicine ASAP!" The nurse squeaked, running to a table and grabbing a needle.
"This won't hurt!" Insisted the nurse. I saw a needle go into my skin right before everything went completely black.
When I woke up, I guess an entire week had passed.
"Marcy!" Isaac shouted. "The nurse gave you sleeping medicine that was too strong! Are you ok? It put you in a weird coma!"
I stood up, marveling at the fact I could support my own weight.
"I'm good." I replied as I began to walk towards Isaac. I blinked.
I suddenly saw a bright light in front of me.
I screamed. Suddenly something hit me in the chest.
"Marcy?" Isaac yelled distantly. I fell to the ground.
I couldn't hear Isaac scream my name anymore. Well, someone was screaming a name.
"Julia! Julia!" I heard someone screech.
I opened my eyes.
"Isaac?" I asked.
"M-Marcy? What just happened?" He asked.
I heard a radio playing downstairs.
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked.
"Two days!" Isaac said. He looked down. "Long enough for me to get you back to Maine."
I sat up, realizing I was back in his bedroom.
"This is where we danced-"
Isaac cut me off.
"Marcy what the hell is going in with you?" He asked. "First you wake up screaming, and then you hallucinate for two days?"
"I don't know..... it's just..... a presence. Like..... not a ghost or anything just like..... something's missing." I explained. Then I shot up.
"Who did your mother buy this house from?"
"Oh, jeez." Isaac scratched his head. "I was like, 12 when we moved here."
He ran to his desk and shuffled around papers.
He picked one up.
"Ah, a guy named William. He was a lot older than me at the time," Isaac sighed. "he said he was going to elope with someone and they went away to California."
I paused.
"Do you know the name of the girl?" I asked.
"No." Isaac replied. "Only overheard him talking with my foster dad when he was..... still alive."
"What?" I asked.
"Never-mind. I never have good luck with anyone who loves me. Something bad always happens to them."
He sat down in the bed holding the little piece of paper.
I reached out to grab his hand.
"Isaac, neither do I." I admitted.
"Good." He replied. "I guess we'll both die together?"
I struggled my hand away from his.
"That's not funny!" I snapped. "Don't talk about yourself dying!"
"Whatever, it's bound to happen one day," Isaac replied calmly. "and uh, I don't think my dad is actually dead yet."
I rolled over and poked him on the nose. His bed wasn't so big that I couldn't reach out a foot without running into Isaac.
When suddenly our eyes met. His were filled with more emotions than I could ever explain.
Confusion, worry, suffering and sorrow was deep within them.
"How old were you when you were orphaned?" I asked out of the blue.
"Eight." He replied. He rolled over to face me so that his eyes were only a few inches away from mine.
"I'm sorry I dragged you into this." I whispered. "I didn't need to drag you into my fucked up life. You're just a boy, a boy I bumped into at school. Nothing else. If you want to go, Isaac, you can."
Isaac's eyes seemed to shimmer.
"Why would I want to go? I already told you, I love you, Marcy." Isaac whispered.
I smiled.
"I don't think you get to decide who you love yet, you're only sixteen."
"Well too bad, because I did."
That single sentence sparked something inside me.
I heard a new song turn on the radio downstairs.

"Why do I do, just as you say,
Why must I just, give you your way
Why do I sigh, why don't I try, to forget
It must have been, that something lovers call fate"

"Oh my god, this song." I laughed.
"You mean the one we danced-" he replied.
"Yeah that one." I said quickly, cutting him off.
I stood up.

"For nobody else, gave me a thrill,
With all your faults, I love you still
It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you"

Isaac stood up and walked towards me.
"Seriously, don't make me dance again. I suck at it." I laughed.
"Too late!" Isaac said.
He grabbed my hands and held them in his.
"Did you take dancing classes?" I asked him.
"My mother taught me." He answered.
"Oh." I replied. Suddenly the movement of Isaac's feet became familiar, as mine stepped along with his almost instinctively.
It was as if I was absorbed into his eyes again. I moved my feet along to the beat, and next thing I knew, the song was over.
I laugh and practically fall into a chair in the corner of his room.
"Why did you make me do that?" I ask suddenly.
Isaac's eyes look up at mine.
"Because, that's our song, it just seems so....." Isaac pauses, as if to hope I already understood.
His cheeks turn a bright red.
"Because I haven't danced with a girl in a long time." He said. "Last time I did, last time she got killed."
I sat up.
"What?" I asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't think you'd like me if you heard I was the cursed child." He smiled up at me, hoping I got his Harry Potter reference.
"Jeez, you always have to make a reference?" I asked.
"Yeah!" Isaac replied. "I'm that kind of guy."
"Ok then." I said, sliding out of the chair and onto the floor.
Isaac walked over and sat next to me. We looked at his wall which was so plastered with posters that you couldn't see the wooden backing in the wall. It was a classic teenage bedroom.
He sat with his knees up to his chest and his right hand on the ground. His other arm was around me.
He looked over at me and parted my hair behind my ears.
"Wow, you have a cat poster?" I asked, pointing at his poster which showed all the different breeds of cats.
"Yeah." Isaac replied.
"Kathleen would've loved it here." I sighed softly. Just remembering her made a pain in my heart. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
"Hey, don't cry." Isaac said. He reached and brushed the tear off of my face.
He met my eyes.
I felt my heart jolt with feeling. It wasn't happy, but it wasn't even sad exactly, more like melancholy.
"Marcy. I wanted you to know, You probably thought you'd lost it...."
He pulled a small package out of his pocket and opened it.
Inside, charred and covered in ash, was my necklace.
"Oh my god!" I exclaimed. I hadn't given my necklace much thought after the- the asylum.
Isaac brushed the dirt off of it and cleaned it with his shirt.
It looked almost the same. Despite all it's been through, the gold still managed to shine.
"Thank you." I said softly. I unlatched the back and put it around my neck again.
I looked back around to see Isaac looking into my eyes. He glanced away.
"Sorry, you're eyes are just so beautiful." He almost whispered.
Compared to his, mine were dull. He had bright green eyes that could brighten the entire world.
"Thanks." I said. I moved closer to him and looked out towards the window.
Suddenly he was just an inch away from me. His shoulder brushed mine as I looked over to him.
"Don't." Said a voice in my head. "Don't kiss him. Don't do it Marcy."
I ignored my head and suddenly I was inches away from Isaac.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and suddenly, our lips were pressed together.
"Don't!" The voice in my head practically screamed.
I did, but only for a moment. Suddenly I heard the window break.
"Duck!" I screamed, pulling away from Isaac. We dove to the ground.
I saw a bullet go just inches past my head. I blinked. When I opened my eyes, everything froze in midair.
Everything froze around me. I saw Isaac's panicked expression frozen in place.
I saw a shadow reflect across the wall. It moved towards me. Long horns poked from it's head.
"Hello." Said my demon.
I froze in shock. I hadn't seen her in months.
"Why didn't you listen to me? I told you not to kiss him!" The demon snapped.
"I'm sorry, but would you know anything about love?" I shouted. "You're just a stupid demon, with an emotional range of a fucking teaspoon!"
The girl rolled her eyes, obviously unfazed by my insults.
"You need to sort out your priorities." The girl said, seeming proud she'd come up with a comeback.
"Next time I give you a warning, how about you follow it!" She extended her wings and flew out of the room.
Everything came back into motion again.
"Marcy!" Isaac screamed. He jumped onto me and made us dive all the way to the ground.
"Marcy what the hell were you doing? A bullet almost hit you!" He shouted.
"Jesus, Isaac!" I snapped, slapping his hand off of my shoulder.
Suddenly part of the roof caved in.
Isaac dove out of the way, but I stood there in shock.
Looking up, I saw the roof fall down. Right on top of me.
I covered my head.