A Nightmare's Fate

Letters With Roses

Chapter Five: Letters With Roses

Outraged with Periwinkle, I yell at her with every ounce of energy that I have left after my long walk to the gas station, which was another mile up the street from the cemetery.

"You never called me . . ." The excuse she gives makes me want to punch a hole in the wall.

            "Does it matter if I called you?" I snap, narrowing my eyes. God, why does she have to be so blistering stupid?

            "Yes, it does matter. But what matters most is that you're back and you're not dead." She stands in front of me, our toes almost touching. She gives me a small smile, pulling me into a hug. "I told you no one will get you," she says, joking. I feel like I don't want to joke and slap her face, but I don't say or do anything. Rubbing my back, she whispers, "How did the meeting go?" why in the bloody hell, would she think that this is funny? I'm soaking wet, frozen, and I can't feel my feet!

            I push her away, staring at her like a wolf watches its prey. "Is that all you care about? The stupid meeting!" I hiss, wanting to claw her eyes out of their sockets.

            "No, I also care about you. Now calm down," she pleads, looking to be worried.

            Letting a sigh escape my nostrils, I walk passed her, heading to the kitchen. "There was no meeting." Opening a cabinet, I rummage through it to find some red wine. When I find a bottle, I go through drawers to look for a bottle-opener, as I find one and pop up the cap. I pace my way to the living room while slouching on the couch.

            "I did take you to the right place, didn't I?" Her expression is more along the line of mystification, as she taps her chin with her index finger. She slumps down on a chair and keeps thinking.

            "Yes, you took me to the right place. However, all we did was do a test to meet our interests! And it wasn't a long one. It was boring. Including annoying harp music,” I say, sort of lying. I like the music to a certain extent, but it was a bit distracting at the time. The wine goes down my throat, its intense taste tingles upon the roof of my mouth as it keeps going down into my abdominal.

            "You've got to be kidding me?"

            "No, I'm not. If I was, I wouldn't be this frustrated." I roll my eyes, taking more nips of the drink in my hands. I wish she could just leave me alone; not like never talk to me again, but just to stop with the nonsense of me dating. I'm fine . . . am I? I know Periwinkle and Jessie are trying to help, of course, they're my friends, but couldn't they stop prying into my love-life and let me deal with my own matters? Probably not.

            Periwinkle's outbreath makes me lose my trace of thought. "Are you still going along with the dating-thing?"

When I look in her eyes this time, it makes me feel guilty. No, I don't want to go on with this senseless idea, but I'll do it anyways. I'm that kind of person: the benevolent that does what she's forced to do. Jessie and Periwinkle will ask me to do something, I'll say no, then they'll tell me that they set me up with something that I don't want to be involved with. But of course, I'll keep going along with it, because I'm easy going. Because my thoughts don't matter to anyone else. Because I want to do this. Well, I don't, but somewhere inside me, deep down, that I do want to do this, though I don't want to admit it. Not to anyone, not even to me.

            "Yes." Taking another sip, I pull the small, wooden coffee table closer to me so I can put my feet up.

            "I'll see you later, okay?"