A Home Among the Stars (EDITING NEW VERSION TO BE POSTED)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I silently climbed out of my window and onto the fire escape. The cold night air formed goose bumps on my arms as I climbed up to the roof. Once there, I sat on my favorite spot, leaned up against part of a wall and curled my knees to my chest. Tears were streaking down my cheeks, making my face shine in the moonlight.

The last time I was up here, I was with Brian.

This was the first time I had done anything normal since he died.

As I sat there, I went through everything and began counting the things I had done since he died. It was like all those love sick girls. ‘This is my first shower since he kissed me’ or ‘this is my first bowl of cereal since he kissed me’. For me it was much worse.

This is the first time I have sat on a roof since he died.

It was painfully thinking about it like that. It meant I was moving on. MY life was continuing. He was never going to see another sunrise, or see another sunset, or look at the stars again. But for me, time kept marching on.

Soon it would be a week.

Then a month.

Then a year.

Then 10 years.

I didn’t want that to happen. For some reason, I wanted for time to stop. So I wouldn’t have to face anything Brian should be facing too. I didn’t want to move on. Though his last request was for me to move on and live my life, I didn’t want to.

Not without him by my side.

I looked up at the stars, desperately wishing I wasn’t so cold. Wishing Brain was here with his warm arms to wrap me up.

And of course, that made me remember.

I screamed as Erik pushed me. I knew what was below me.

Nothing.

I was on the edge of a cliff.

I fell through empty space, screaming. I knew I was going to hit one of the sharp rocks poking out of the lake’s icy depths. There was no way I was going to survive this.

I closed my eyes and felt the icy water pierce my nerves. Pain flared in my shoulder and I cried out into the water. My cry was met by water filling my mouth and then pouring into my lungs.

Soon, they burned with a need for air. I frantically flailed about, trying to reach the surface. Slowly, I lost the energy to try and I fell still, sinking into the blackness of unconsciousness. Before I closed my eyes for good, a strong arm began pulling me. I faintly felt my head break the surface of the water and I involuntarily gasped for air. I was dragged out of the water soon after. I tried to sit up and cough the water out of my lungs. I did so, but immediately collapsed back into the sand, shivering. I faintly recognized someone gasping next to me. The person’s arms wrapped around me and pulled me close, now breathing heavily in my ear.

“Don’t scare me like that again,” I thought I heard the person said. Weakly, I turned my head and saw Brain’s big blue eyes staring at me. I blinked trying to clear my head.

“Come on, we need to get dry or we’ll freeze.”

I was pretty warm right there in Brian’s arms though.

That day, I think I began to really like Brian. He saved my life and he didn’t even know me that well.

That day was also the beginning of everything. That was the first time Erik had resorted to violence. He almost killed me.