Storm 》Clifford A.U

010;

     GROWING UP, I HAD ALWAYS hated being it while playing tag. I didn't like the idea of people running away from me or intentionally avoiding me, regardless of whether or not it was for a game, it still made me feel bad.

      That feeling had yet to abandon me since now, leaning against the wall of Michael's dorm room, I was feeling personally victimized by the girl who had chosen to run away from me.

       "That's really sketchy, man." Michael says, transferring money from the pockets of his jeans to his wallet.

       "Yeah, I know. She was watching me like she knew me." I say softly, recalling the look on her face. "Could she have known me?" I ask after a while, still finding the situation bizarre.

      "Maybe Darya showed her a picture of you or she just thought you looked familiar, I don't know." He shrugs, stepping over his roommate's laptop, still on the floor, and sprawling out along his bed. "Are you gonna read the next one?"

      I nod, drawing Darya's journal from my jacket and opening up to where we had left off.

      "Dear diary, he tells me I have a way with words. He has a way of making my every thought about him. I smile when I wake because I know I will see him again and when we finally do meet, I can't get enough. Honestly, the secrecy is killing me. I want to publicly be his and have him be mine but we can't. I understand, I just don't agree with it. What I would give to have our relationship progress farther than stolen glances and dark hallways. Closets and dorm rooms. One day, I hope." I finish, pressing my lips together."I take it now that they met, the rest of the entries are going to be about him, too."

     "Do you...do you want me to read the rest of them?" Michael says, a little too eagerly. Narrowing my eyes, I shake my head in denial, and open up to the next one.

      "Dear diary, I am glad that my family is doing well. Going home was so lovely, I have missed them more than I thought I would. Mama and I make honey cakes while Alina and Papa prepared the sleds outside. Usually cooking is Alina's thing, but, Papa seemed to want her help more than mine, so, it was my turn in the kitchen today. 'Safety first always' (sleds and tracks must be thoroughly checked to avoid injuries) Mama tells me, smiling with powder in her hair and red splashed along her cheeks. I want to remember her like that, spooning flower into a bowl and cracking eggs and smiling because her family is happy and whole. I know it hurts her to see me go, but I must. I try to visit often, but I always get so caught up in him and my studies, I lose track of the time. For now, I will enjoy seeing the smiling faces of my family. I love to see them happy.

      "We prepare the cream filling, load our layered honey cake into the oven, and join Papa and Alina outside. We spend hours outside sledding, Alina and I teaming together to build snowball upon snowball to attack our parents. I laugh until I cry and my nose becomes red and Alina pushes me to the ground, snorting as she slips on ice. Mama worries like always but we promise that we are okay, that we are only having fun. She breathes a sigh of relief and screeches in delight as we chase after her. Papa smiles, we all smile, we are all happy. In the night he calls me just like we promised he would and I fall asleep to the sound of his voice and my heart upon my sleeve."

     "Do you remember that day?" Michael questions, arching a brow as he runs a hand through his bright red hair. Shutting the journal, I nod, standing up from the ground.

      "Yeah, I do. We were all really happy to see her because it had been a while." I breathe, shaking my head. "I really wish she would have told me who this person is."

      "Well, what would the difference be? Do you really think he's responsible for her disappearance?"

       "He has to be. I just don't understand why they had to be so secretive and why no one seems to know who he is. I feel like the answer is just staring me in the face and I just...I just can't figure it out."