My Record Store Romance

The Phone Call and Frozen Yogurt

Hey guys! For Easter weekend, here’s an update! In many ways, this is one of my favorite chapters, or at least writing it was one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! This chapter is dedicated to Dem_o2lboys, for winning first place in the MRSR two year anniversary contest for her playlist, which can be found here- http://8tracks.com/sydbiscuit/mrsr

 But, without further ado:

 Chapter 32: The Phone Call and Frozen Yogurt

___

Nightmares, it seems, have their own way of becoming a reality.

Through your hollow bones and tired mind, it’s only a matter of time before the fears that line your veins learn to leak into the atmosphere; absorbing into thin-air, turning once illuminated stars dark and leaving behind a gray, and very empty, everlasting moon. 

And then, when all is said and done, they find you at your worst moments. 

Standing at the ready like an army, teetering on the edge of their toes, at the brim of your boundaries, full with the weapons of your own self destruction. Your memories are hidden bombs waiting to explode, your insecurities the edge of a knife, your regrets bullets you never see coming. All prepared to fire on your command, all prepared to take you down in an instant.

Leaving you weak, leaving you lonely, leaving you in the dark. 

But, as I stand in my living room, palms reaching forward to enclose my sister in my arms as she comes running towards me, stumbling clumsily over her own two feet- I realize that I am learning to leave my nightmares behind. That they are no longer a reality I want to live in.

So, surrounded by my family- first my mother, who is on the verge of tears, lips stilled in silence after a quiet, breathy, Drew escapes her lungs; and then my father, who continues to portray a hardy exterior but exhales a sigh of relief; and lastly Hailey, who makes my heart pound and my head spin, I choose light.

And I decide that I never want to look back.

Ally is the first one to speak after the front door is shut behind us, her voice too loud for the hushed ambience of the situation but familiar and comforting all the same. “You guys are back!” She yells as I kneel down all too quickly onto the cold wooden flooring, wrapping my arms around her small, delicate persona when she meets me, and continues to talk in my ear, “Mom and dad were so worried, and the rain was so so so loud, and at first I thought the roof was going to fall in but it didn’t and now your back and-”

Ally is cut off as my parents release a simultaneous chuckle, smiling at her excitement. I take a moment to glance in their direction, returning their expressions but noticing their exhausted states. My dad reaches to rub my mom’s shoulder soothingly, like a reassurance of see, I told you, he’s fine, they’re fine. But, she still looks shaken, her eyes tinged a too-sad pink.

If only there was a way I could tell her that, for once, I was better than fine. Because, in that moment, I was really feeling good again.

After I release Ally from my grasp, she hurries over to Hailey, her feet leaving behind an array of clicks and clacks, her hair bouncing along her shoulders. But before Hailey can even begin to react, registering the situation all too slowly, Ally is hugging her legs. Her arms are wrapped so tightly that Hailey wobbles a bit, nearly falling over, regaining her composure only after reaching to steady herself on a piece of furniture nearby. “I missed you guys a lot!” Ally says, to which Hailey replies, with a grin spreading across her lips as she reaches down to ruffle my sister’s hair, 

“We missed you too.”

And then, I move to stand upwards once again, taking in my surroundings. I notice how the house is full of the same- but feels all too different. The walls are foreign, unfamiliar- the lightbulbs overhead a fading fluorescence. But, it isn’t the house that changed- it’s me.