by T R Tells
“Just take your seats and get your textbooks out to chapter 46.”
Amelia took her place near the front, and Alexei was in front of Trey, across from her.
Trey wasn’t done with her as he coughed into his hands ‘Spoiled Princess’. I snorted and tried to cover it with my hand.
Amelia’s head snapped around, and she glared at him.
“I’m sorry, is there something funny? I could expose you to the school’s newspaper and every social media platform. I have that many followers, thank you.”
Trey rolled his eyes. “Oh, I don’t doubt it, but all you’re going to do is apply lipstick to your fake ass lips.”
“Excuse me?” Amelia shrieked. “I’ll have you know that all of me is natural, and if you’re going to be a sexist bastard, we can take this up with the principal, or even the law. What do you say? Maybe we can get your friend’s brother to arrest you, that will be funny to post online.”
I raised my brow and snorted. “I still have a bone to pick with you, Amelia, about the article you wrote on Alessander. You have no right to write about him without his consent, so should we really be talking about the law.”
The teacher banged on her desk to get our attention as she stood in the middle of the classroom.
“If none of you stop this instant, you’re all going to detention.”
Even Amelia shut-up.
Mrs. Xiong sighed and went around to the side of her desk. “Now, before we begin reading the chapter, I would like to introduce your project for the year. It will be worth a quarter of your grade, so you don’t complete it, you will fail.”
Someone raised their hand. “Do we get to pick the project?”
Trey then also raised his hand. “Do we get to pick our partners?”
“No and no. The theme is ‘Truth: what that means to you and how your truth compares to the emotional trials and tribulations of Dante’s characters through his journey into hell.’ You can do the project in any kind of way you like, but it needs to be less than ten minutes. Now, I will call out groups of two.”
Mrs. Xiong started calling out names and grouping people together. She eventually called Trey and Amelia’s name.
“Someone kill me now,” Trey grumbled.
To which, Amelia responded back, “Well, if that’s my partner, I should obviously do this whole entire project myself so we can, at least, get a passing grade.”
Trey glared at Amelia as if he wanted to kill her. He raised his hand. “Mrs. Xiong, can I switch?”
“No. Next is: Hira Night and Helene Roe.”
I furrowed my brows. “Uh, who is that?”
“Helene, please raise your hand.”
I turned around in my seat, and sure enough, the girl with the fiery red hair raised her hand.
Of course, it is.
Once everyone’s names were called, Mrs. Xiong wanted us to get up and sit with our partners so we could read the chapter together. I went to the back of the classroom and sat beside her.
Helene sighed. “Well, I guess avoiding you is inevitable, huh?”
I didn’t know what to say, so I shrugged my shoulders. “I mean, I’m not bad, just a little chatty, but—”
“Oh, yes, I noticed. Look, Hira, I just want to get through this school year, nothing major.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded, this would be a long year with her.
We both opened our textbooks to the designated chapter, when my phone vibrated in my pocket. At first I thought it might be my mother, but she wouldn’t text me in the middle of the day.
I snuck my phone under my desk to see who it was. I could see Helene raising her brow as she looked over at me.
I gasped and gaped at my phone. My heart pounded in my chest, making it ache.
The text was from Alessander.
Alessander: I’m awake. I want to see you.
“What is it?” Helene asked. I almost didn’t hear her, I was so stunned.
He was awake now? I knew the doctors said that there was a chance, but I couldn’t believe it was so soon.
“Hira?” Helene called out to me.
“M-My boyfriend, he just woke up from his coma.”
I turned to her to see she had a look of surprise on her face.
“Your boyfriend is Alessander?”
I nodded. Everything around me seemed to move in slow motion.
“Do you want to see him now?” she asked me. Her question caught me off guard, and I wasn’t sure what she was implying.
“I don’t understand, what do you mean?”
Helene smirked. “You owe me one, partner. Now cover your ears.”
I wasn’t sure what Helene’s game was, but I did as she said and placed my hands over my ears. The entire room suddenly started to shake, the lights overhead flickered, and a loud frequency was heard.
Everyone in the classroom began to panic, and Mrs. Xiong directed us to get underneath our desks.
I gritted my teeth as the sound grew louder, and I placed my head in between my legs as I saw the windows shaking. Soon enough, all the hanging lights and windows shattered. I ducked as the glass rained over the class.
“Everyone get outside the classroom!” Mrs. Xiong yelled and started leading everyone out of the room.
I still had my hands over my ears as I stared wide-eyed at the glass scattered around the floor. I craned my head up at the broken lights over my head and looked over at Helene, who didn’t seem affected by the destruction or frequency at all.
Was that her?
Frankly, not only was I shocked and confused, but I was kind of scared shitless too.
What if the sensation in my neck was because I had found someone like me? Someone who could do what I could do?
Helene turned to me and smirked. “Now is your chance.”
Chapter Five
It wasn’t the first time that I’d skipped school. Alessander had taken me to several fairs and events downtown when they had something going on. Mahogany and I would even walk to the Six Corners and go shopping if the weather was nice.
I wasn’t too worried.
I’d already switched the emergency contact information from Mom’s to Uncle Garvy’s. So he could handle certain school situations if I had to leave school or if I was running late.
Uncle Garvy’s voice came to mind, reminding me that I shouldn’t risk anything if I wasn’t fighting. But it’s Alessander, that should count for something.
I waited at the bus stop at the corner of the school. I didn’t have to wait long, I could see the city bus heading toward me.
I stuffed some loose bills that I had in my pocket that would’ve been used for lunch and took my seat. Thankfully, there weren’t a lot of riders. If there are too many people in one place, the mass of clouds over their heads would suffocate me.
It left me more time to think about what I would say to Alessander. I’d waited so long for this moment, and I was not only excited, but nervous too. His text was kind of weird, but I blamed that on being comatose for three months.
All I wanted to do was to kiss and hold him like we always did. Hopefully, my actions would make for my lack of words and show him how much I missed him and how much he meant to me.
The bus parked a block from the hospital, and I practically ran all the way, sprinting through the sliding doors and to the receptionist at the front desk. She remembered me from before and handed me a pass before sending me on my way.
I raced toward the elevator and rapidly, desperately, pushed the button.
My entire body was jittery, and I was bouncing on my heels. Finally, the elevator doors dinged open, and a woman with short-cut brown hair stared at me with wide eyes. I didn’t care as I saddled into the elevator and pressed ‘3’.
When the doors slid open I went to the next receptionist desk to ask them if any of his family members were there yet.
The woman typed on a computer and said that no one other relative has come in to see him except for his girlfriend.
>
I was about to turn away from the window when my head snapped back around. “Wait, excuse me, what?” I knew I couldn’t have heard right.
The woman eyed me and slowly shook her head.
“His girlfriend checked in hours ago. She was here since 8 o’clock this morning.”
.
“T-Thank you,” I said curtly. My heart was beating in my chest, and I ran down the hallways as I tried to think who would try and impersonate me.
As soon as I reached Alessander’s door, I froze when I saw him sitting at the side of his bed. I didn’t know what to say or do.
“A-Alessander… ” I managed to say his name. He craned his neck up to look at me, but instead of relief and happiness; he looked at me dumbfounded.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a low voice.
He tilted his head to the side and the look in his blank expression and glazed over eyes, made his next words hit home. “Do I know you?”
It was like being hit with a ton of bricks. Fat tears slowly appeared, and I slowly walked further into the room.
“Alessander, it’s me… It’s Hira, your girlfriend. I got your message that you were awake.”
The tingling sensation on the back of my neck made me turn my head to see the girl from last night coming out of the bathroom to the right.
“That’s because I sent the text.”
The girl’s eyes glistened to violet before returning to gray. She walked over to Alessander and placed her arm around his waist. He looked uncomfortable being next to her, but didn’t move.
I didn’t know whether I wanted to cry or scream. I was still in shock that Alessander was awake and didn’t recognize me, but before my brain could even process that this bitch had her hands all over my man!
“What the hell is going on here?”
The girl only offered a coy smile. It made my skin crawl, and her eyes looked cold and distant.
She looked over at Alessander, “Why don’t you get yourself ready, babe?”
Alessander hesitated for a moment, looked at me, and then walked to the bathroom.
The girl turned her attention to me. “Now, let’s talk.”
I frowned. “I don’t need to talk about shit. You’re impersonating me and pretending to be Alessander’s girlfriend, when you’re just a stranger!” My voice cracked as I shouted at her. I didn’t care who heard me at this point.
“Stranger? Are you sure? Well, I guess you wouldn’t recognize me. You were a young, naïve little girl when you stole the love of my life.”
“What?” I exclaimed, frowning at her revelation. I didn’t recognize this girl, nor did Alessander ever tell me he had any exes. “Who the hell even are you?”
“Veronica Troy. I’m sure Alessander has mentioned me at least once; the girl next door perhaps?”
At first, it didn’t click into my head, but I briefly remembered Alessander telling me about a girl that lived next to him when his mom and their mom were friends. They had always been around each other, and while she had the biggest crush on her, Alessander saw her as a cute little sister. A couple of years later, after we were together, he never heard from her again.
“Yeah, I remember,” I told her. “The girl who’s no longer a thought process in my boyfriend’s life. You ended up disappearing, and now you decided to come back?”
“Because I heard about his accident and how there might be a chance he was waking up,” Veronica said. “And since he has no memory, I’ll have my chance to start over.”
The bathroom door opened, and Alessander stepped out, wearing his regular clothing. I turned on my heels and carefully approached him. He staggered backwards.
I stuck out my pinky. It was how we said ‘I love you’. Every time we did this, it meant a promise I didn’t want to believe that he had honestly forgotten me. He said that he didn’t know who I was, but he couldn’t have forgotten everything about us.
“Alessander, please, I know you’re still in there.”
Alessander tilted his head and stared at my pinky finger. My heart pounded in my chest, waiting to see his reaction. He finally looked up at me, face crestfallen.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do with that.”
I didn’t know how to feel when those words left his lips. It was like my heart collapsed, and I couldn’t feel it beat or throb in my chest. I dropped my arm to my side and gawked at Alessander. He continued to stare at me with an empty expression He really forgot about me.
My throat burned, and my eyes watered.
“Do you believe me now?” Veronica’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I spun around to glare at her. She had a snarky grin on her face.
I stepped over to her with my hands clenched in fists. She stood a few inches taller, and her eyes gazed down to look at me.
“So you’re going to resort to violence? How noble of you.”
“What the hell did you do to him?” I hissed under my breath.
Veronica sighed. “It’s obviously amnesia. Why can’t you just accept that the Alessander you knew is gone?”
“Because I know he isn’t!” I yelled. I turned to Alessander, hoping that he would snap out of it and see me. “You have to remember me, Alessander. Three months ago, you were shot. We were going out for our anniversary, and I found out that you were going to propose to me after graduation. You’re telling me you don’t remember any of that?!”
I knew I was a bit manic. My voice was shrill, and I was sure that someone would come in soon and escort me out, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t just accept that three years of our life was now nothing.
“I’m sorry,” he said and looked away.
My heart was suddenly being broken in two and shattered on impact.
I wished so much for this to be a nightmare, but I knew this was real. The tears sprung to my eyes. I turned away from Veronica and Alessander, and left the room. I didn’t want either of them to see me cry.
I collided into someone and looked up to see that I had bumped into Dr. Alina Mulgrave.
“Oh, Hira Night, how—”
“—I have to go,” I said and continued down the hall until I reached the elevator doors.
As soon as they closed behind me, I slouched on the floor and put my head in-between my legs, breathing heavily, panic wracking through my body. I pulled my legs closer to my chest and wept, remembering the blank look in Alessander’s face after three months of waiting for him. It was all for nothing.
***
I wasn’t aware of my surroundings when I stumbled out of the hospital and kept going. I didn’t bother to call a Lyft, even though the walk was long. The cold wind stung my cheeks, but I didn’t mind. I wanted to feel something else besides the stabbing pain in my chest.
I didn’t know how long it had been since I started walking. My mind was on auto-pilot the entire time until I heard the sound of police sirens coming closer.
I stopped walking and instinctively raised my hands in the air.
“Hira!”
The familiar voice made me turn around slowly, and I saw Omari getting out of the passenger side of his car, sprinting over to me. I put my arms down.
“What the hell are you doing out of school?” he asked. He glanced around before looking back at me.
How could I tell my brother in a way that he could understand? I couldn’t even tell him what’s been going on with me for the past few months.
My shoulders sagged, and I was tired of trying to keep myself afloat when all I wanted to do was to sink.
“Hira?” My brother’s tone was softer now. He didn’t say anything else and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, pulling me to him, and led me back to the cop car.
He opened the back seat, and I crawled inside. I could see Omari’s partner watching me from the rearview mirror with a forlorn look in his eyes. I didn’t need his pity.
“Sorry about this, Davis, but can we drop my sister home first?”
Davis nodded and pulled away from the curve.
> I had my head down, but I felt Omari looking at me. I knew I would need to offer him some kind of excuse, but right now I was just too tired.
After a little drive, Omari walked me inside of the house, letting his partner know that he would only be a moment. It was amazing that I didn’t trip over anything as I found my way to my room and slinked over to my bed. I didn’t even bother to take off my clothes as I flopped down on my comforter.
Omari sighed. I could see him in the dark, and he lifted my legs up, pulling the covers back so he could tuck me in. I pulled the blanket under my neck, curling in its warmth.
The end of the bed sunk, and I looked to see Omari sitting down.
“...So are you going to tell me what happened?”
I licked my dry lips. I was glad that he couldn’t see my face. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Omari didn’t say anything for a moment, then patted my leg.
“I don’t know what’s up, Hira, but you know I’m here for you, right? You don’t need to go through this alone.”
I didn’t say anything.
Omari stood, and I listened as he left my room, closing the door behind him.
***
I didn’t know when I’d fallen asleep, but when I opened my eyes, my room was pitch black, except for the bedside alarm on my nightstand that read 7:35 p.m. I sighed and rolled on my back, staring at my ceiling.
Someone knocked on the door.
I cleared my throat, “Come in.” I sat upright on the bed, and the back of my neck tingled.
Omari poked his head inside. The bright lights from the hallway poured into the darkness of my room.
“Hey, Hira, your friend is here.”
I narrowed my eyes, wondering who ‘my friend’ could be, since it wasn’t Trey or Mahogany; otherwise, he would’ve said so.
He opened the door wide to let in ‘my friend,’ and Helene revealed herself from behind the wall.
I was shocked she’d showed up.
“What are you doing here?”
Helene raised her arm to reveal a stack of papers in her hand. “Our assignment, partner.”
“I’ll leave you guys alone. Dinner is almost ready, Hira. I’ll text you when it’s done.”