The Dawn of Autumn

Dazed and Confused

Chapter 20:

Dazed and Confused

Alison stared at Emily with a wide-eyed expression on her face. All traces of her warm happy buzz were gone. The room felt like it was spinning. The last thing she remembered was Emily picking her up outside the bar. The rest was a blur. She didn't remember coming home. She didn't remember anything.

"What the hell is this?" Emily held up the cell phone.

Alison was trying to read the look on her face. It wasn't accusatory. She looked confused. And hurt.

"Um...a phone." It came out bitchier than she intended for it to.

"Why do you have it?"

It felt like a fever dream. All she could do was look at Emily with a slack-jawed dumbfounded expression. She had no idea what was going on. She had no idea why Emily was so upset. It wasn't registering. Her brain had totally shut down.

"That's..." Alison rubbed her face, trying to wipe away the invisible pins and needles she felt in her cheeks. Something was wrong. She felt sick. "I don't...I don't remember putting that there."

"I'm a fucking idiot." Emily shook her head with a sardonic laugh.

Had it been Alison the whole time? Was it some ploy to manipulate her? Alison knew how protective Emily could be. Had she created a situation to her advantage...a situation in which she knew that Emily would protect her and stay close to her?

Alison had always been possessive. What lengths would the blonde go to in order to keep her close?

Emily didn't want to believe it. It didn't make any sense. Because the texts had started before the two of them had gotten together. Then again, a lot of the texts had been obscure and vague. And the very first threatening text she'd received had a photo of her house attached. Alison would have had the perfect vantage point to take that picture.

Then there was the incident with the fortune cookie. Had it been a coincidence that during her first week of school Alison had made a show of getting her and all of their friends fortune cookies after Emily had received that threatening fortune outside the gym?

Had it been a coincidence that they'd had a fight about boxing and then she was bullied into not doing it after having her drink spiked at the school gym?

Had Alison been controlling her this whole time?

Was she like Courtney?

Was Alison capable of that?

Surely not.

She looked at the blonde. Her bright blue eyes were glassy. She seemed to be looking through Emily. Emily couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she knew there had to be more to the story. She knew what she felt when she was with Alison. A passion like that couldn't be faked.

"Just...tell me there's more to this than what it looks like," Emily said calmly.

"I don't know..." I don't know what's happening... She tried to say it, but she felt a wave of nausea curdling in her stomach.

She had no idea why they were standing in her living room. Her feet felt like anchors weighing her down.

"Tell me it's not yours." Please.

Alison stumbled over to her. She yanked the phone out of Emily's hands. She plopped down on the piano bench and glanced at the phone. Then she started laughing hysterically, almost manically.

"This is dumb," Alison stared at the screen, her eyes lingering a little too long.

She thought she was hallucinating. She still felt foggy because of the alcohol. She regretted every single drop of booze she'd ingested. She felt like she was going to puke. She suddenly felt very hot.