What She Left Me

Chapter 3

By the time I stopped crying, the sky had become orange as the sun began to set. And even then, we both still sat there. We must have fallen asleep because the next thing I noticed was that the sky had gone dark. The bugs had grown loud, but not loud enough to muffle Marek's steady heartbeat right next to my ear. To say I had dreamed of being held by Marek growing up, may be a slight understatement. I thought maybe I'd have his babies someday, and Teresa would be my sister-in-law. Though when I dreamt of it, Teresa was alive, and I wasn't crying and leaking snot all over her brother's shirt. The thought of this quickly sent me into embarrassment, as I sat up removing myself from his chest, wiping my face with the sleeves of my jacket.

"Um... I really need to get home. My mom will be worried." I said as I stood up and went to grab my phone only to find it missing. "Shoot."

"What?" He said, remaining on the ground.

"Um... My phone, I must have dropped it when... well I dropped it. Do you see it?" I started feeling the ground in search.

"Here let me help." He pulled out his phone clicking on the flashlight. He checked the ground for a second, bending down to search. "Here it is..." He grabbed my phone and turned around to give it to me. As he did, the light from his phone shone into my eyes, and as I moved to shield my eyes, he dropped my phone back to the ground. "Shit! um sorry, I just um..."

"It's fine, I'll get it" I bent down to grab it, and at first, I thought my eyes were still slightly blinded and I was seeing things, but when I grabbed my phone, something shined slightly from under the pine needles in the dirt. I grabbed onto whatever had been hiding there, and when I brought it up to examine, I forgot how to breath.

"Is that..." Marek stood with his light focused on the small glinting object.

"Yeah, It's her necklace. It must have.... come off in the accident." I held my best friend's necklace in my hands. The small silver chained pendent, with a small opalesque gem. She had always worn the necklace since the day I met her. She wore it swimming, she wore it while she showered. She never took it off. I had always believed she would be buried in it, but it had been left behind. I took a breath, and my attention shifted to Marek. Behind the glare of his light, his eyes focused on the necklace. I held hand out to him, the necklace dangling from my fingers.

"Here. It should have never left her neck in the first place." He held his free hand out and I dropped it into his hand. He just looked at it in his palm. I looked finally to the time on my phone seeing that it was 8:00, and while I might have survived a car crash, I would not survive my hysterical mother when I got home. I turned and started making my way up to the road.

"Hey where are you going?" Marek said, looking away from the necklace and placing it into his pocket.

"Home. It's 8:00 and I never told my mom I was leaving." I said not stopping my climb up to the road. I could hear Marek's footsteps follow me up the incline. Once I made it up, I noticed a car parked not far from the memorial.

"Well, let me drive you back. It's a little over two hours back on foot, and you probably shouldn't be walking in the dark by yourself." I didn't want to walk all the way back home. But I also didn't want to accept his offer to help me. I had already cried in his arms for hours. and now that I think of it, ruined his visit to the place his sister had died, by being there in the first place. I couldn't let him waste any more time helping me. "Listen, you're getting in my car, and I'm taking you home. Seriously. Don't argue." I just nodded and followed him to his car and got in.

We drove silently through the dark road. My heart quickened slightly in my tightening chest. The way the headlights shone on the passing trees reminded me exactly, of that night. If we had been in a thunderstorm, I would have been thrown into a full-on panic attack. I just practiced my breathing, and kept my hands clenched on my legs. We eventually made it into town, and from there the car made its way down my road and stopped in front of my house.

"I'll see you later, Okay?" Marek said as I unbuckled the seatbelt and opened the door. I just nodded and made my way to my front door. I turned the knob, and as soon as I stepped inside, I heard my mother's footsteps coming quickly down the stairs.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" she said, wrapping her armed around me and holding me to her as she checked me over. Aside from a tear-soaked face, some pine needles and dirt, I knew I looked ok. "I have been driving around for hours looking for you. I almost called the police. And I thought for sure that if I called the police, they would tell me you were dead!" She shrieked, a couple tears falling down her face. "Do you have any idea how I felt when I found the house empty. When I waited for 2 hours, and then drove around for 3 more, before coming back home to a still empty house."

"I'm sorry, I just, lost track of time. I was walking, and then... then I ended up at... at the crash site... and then Marek found me there... And I just... It got dark and he drove me home. Ok I'm sorry. It won't happen again." my chest was no longer tight from the car ride, but I still found it hard to breathe through the words.

"Damn right it won't happen again. Next time you leave a note, or a text message. Where is your phone?" I pulled my phone out from my pocket, and it began lighting up and dinging with multiple missed calls and text messages.

"I must have been out of range..." I looked into her eyes. She sighs exasperated. 

"Just please... next time... some kind of word of where you are."

"Ok... I'm sorry mom."

"Why don't you go to bed. Its late."

With that I went up the stairs to my room, and shut the door behind me, sliding down the door onto the floor. Tears slid down my cheeks and I hugged my legs to my chest. I eventually fell asleep, right there on the floor and slept again for many, exhausted hours.