The Yellow House

Chapter Two: Adjusting to Each Other

Anna’s P.O.V.

My eyes fly wide open, and I’m breathing heavily, my heart racing. “Only a nightmare.” I whisper to the dark room. But even the words aren’t enough to comfort me now. I don’t know what time it is, but I know it’s late, due to the darkness of the room. I get out of bed, and shiver. It’s cold in here. I don’t know which bedroom I ended up in, but I’m pretty sure that this one doesn’t have a fireplace. It’s so cold in here, I wrap the blanket around me, and reach over to the lamp on the bedside table. My watch says it is 3:45 in the morning. I look around, and see my own tired reflection in the mirror on the wall above the vanity table. I pad across the floor, and sit down in front of the mirror. There are circles under my hazel eyes, which are rimmed with red, and my lips are dry and cracked. I have a few freckles across my nose, and my earrings sparkle in the lamplight. My long, brown hair is messy, and hanging limply, as though it, like me, has given up. I’m wearing a tank top, and light blue pajama pants that I found in one of the drawers in here. My ring, which I always wear, is still on the table by the bed. For a second, I wish I had a photograph, something, anything, to remind me of the people I left behind. My friends, my family, everyone. I sit at the table, staring in the mirror, wondering if maybe this is a dream. Then a flashback blindsides me, so fast I can’t even think.

Late May, 2013, Ontario

I look around the schoolyard.. My friends are sitting, but instead of like normal, my friend Kaitlyn is being unusually quiet. I walk over, just as she’s ambushed by our other two friends, Elizabeth and Jessica. Jessica isn’t loud, like Liz is, but she can be wickedly funny.

“So… What happened in New York?” asks Liz, grinning. She pushes her blonde hair out of her face, before shooting Kaitlyn a wicked grin. Ah, I think. She’s bringing up the band trip again. Ever since Kaitlyn returned from the band trip she took, she won’t tell the three of us anything. So we’ve had to get a bit desperate. All we know, is it involved some guy named Dan… But other than that, we’ve been kept in the dark. Time to get desperate.

“Hey Ryan?” calls Liz across the field, and I stifle a groan. Things have been pretty frosty between us since he called me shallow a few months back. But he was on the band trip and is in possession of valuable knowledge.

“Yeah?” He asks, walking over to where we’re sitting.

“What happened in New York?” She asks innocently, but before he can open his mouth, Kaitlyn cuts in.

“Ryan, don’t say a word.”

He gives us his own brand of a wicked smile and says. “I just want to lay this on the table: Kaitlyn is pregnant.”

I start laughing at the look of shock on Liz’s face. Kaitlyn plays along, although she’s clearly not amused.

“WHAT?!” Liz shrieks. I can’t help but giggle.

“Hey Kaitlyn!” yells someone. It’s one of the other guys in our gym class. “Want to play football?”

“Oh you shouldn’t.” I say. “Not in your condition!” I laugh, and then gasp in pain as she smacks me. That’s when I know that NYC is a sore spot for her. I walk behind her as she goes to join the game, and mutter. “I wish you would tell me.”

She sighs, and turns and looks at me. For a second, I swear I can see sadness in her eyes, but then it’s as though a mental shield goes up, and the weakness is gone. “I can’t.” She says, then runs off to join the game, leaving me in the hot May sunshine, wondering who Dan is, and what could have happened.

It was months after that she told me what really happened, and how Daniel Sawyer related to it. How he burned her in New York, and they’ve known each other for a long time. It’s been two years since then, and I still can’t look at him without wondering how Kaitlyn got through it. She’d laugh about the situation I’m in now. I don’t trust him. That I have to admit. I walk back over to the bed, and crawl in between the warm sheets, willing myself to fall back asleep. I’m no stranger to nightmares, not after all I’ve seen. I think I hear a noise down the hall, and I get up to investigate. I walk out into the hallway, which is pitch black. I think I hear… what is that? I realize it’s Dan snoring, and I have to stifle a laugh. I walk back into my room, and I can still hear him. It’s strangely comforting, to know that there’s someone else here. Even if I’m supposed to hate him, even if I don’t trust him, he’s all I’ve got. With his face imprinted in my mind, I fall asleep. It’s late, after all, and there’s no one to tell me to get up before ten in the morning. I suddenly remember that it’s late enough in November for it to almost be Christmas, and just like that, my mind is alert. So I lie there for a few hours, and wonder if I’ll still be here. My eyes finally close, and I drift off.