Her Normal

Chapter 2

I woke up to feel the weight on my chest and the sadness already settled into my outlook. Today was January 13, the anniversary of the death of my best friend, Kayleigh. I was 24 now, so it had been 10 years.

Flashback

"Come on girls!" Kayleigh's mom yelled. We were at the mall for her birthday, getting ready to leave.

We climbed into the car and went on our way home. Kayleigh and I belted out lyrics to I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic! At The Disco.

Her and I were mid-song and having the time of our lives when there was a deafening screech of tires and screams from her mom in the front seat. I felt the car flip before everything went black.

I woke up in a hospital, sore, but fine otherwise. A nurse came in.

"Where's Kayleigh and her mom?" I asked. Then Kayleigh's mom walked in, red eyed with an arm sling. She have me a broken smile and took my hand. "There's no way.." I thought.

"Where's Kayleigh?"

"She didn't make it sweetheart. I'm so sorry. I should've been watching where I was going." She sobbed.

End of flashback

Every January 13 was my day off. I stayed home, or did what I pleased, because that would make Kayleigh happy. Sometimes I even went to see her mom.

I looked at the clock, and it read 9:07. I decided to get up and shower, then go see Kayleigh's mom and stop at the cemetery.

I knocked on their door, and Karen answered in a few seconds.

"Oh, hi honey. Come in, sit. Can I get you anything?" She asked.

"No, thank you anyway." I gave her a smile.

We caught up, talking about school and work, sharing our stories from the past year, laughing some. I looked at my watch and it was 2:00.

"I think I'll hit the road. It was nice talking to you, Karen." I said.

"It's always good to see you honey, feel free to stop by anytime," She gave me a smile, and I pulled her into a hug. I felt tears brimming my eyes and let out an involuntary sob. "I miss her too, Maddie. I know."

I pulled back and nodded, wiping my tears and smiling. "I love you. Give Bill a hug for me." She agreed and sent me on my way.

I stopped at a flower shop to pick up yellow roses, Kayleigh's favorite flower. I pulled up to the cemetery and walked to her headstone.

"Hey Kay. How are you? It's been 10 years, I miss you so much," I talked like it was some voicemail to the phone of heaven. I sounded crazy, but it didn't matter. "You wouldn't believe how much better your mom is doing. She misses you too."

I laid the flowers down and sat in the grass, leaning on her stone.

"I'm almost finished with college, can you believe it? I'm so ready to get into my career. Hopefully if anyone like you comes in, I can save them so their friends and family aren't like this."

I broke into tears, wondering why, after all these years, I can't handle this. I gathered myself and decided I'd said enough to make her scoff at me and tell me to pull it together. I hugged her stone and said a prayer, then went on my way home. It was 5 and I was starving, so I picked up some takeout and went home.

I got into the building and went to the elevator.

"Excuse me, can you hold that real quick?" A male voice hollered. I put my hand in the doorway and waited. I looked around and saw that one quirky guy from the group of people in the coffee shop, carrying a box.

"Thank you so much," he was panting and his hair was in his eyes. I hesitated, but brushed it from his view for him.

"You might want to see if you're carrying that box. Do you want some help?" I asked.

"Thank you," he chuckled. "I only have a few more boxes to bring up, so it's okay. Thanks for the offer though." He smiled.

"Eh, let me drop this off at my apartment and I'll help you out." I said. He agreed and we went to my flat. I put the pizza on the counter and came back out into the hall.

"Okay let's go." I said

We went up another floor to his apartment. This was my upstairs neighbor? Well.. Okay. He handed me the key and I opened the door. He set his box down and turned to me.

"Excuse the mess. I haven't had much time to clean."

I dismissed it with the wave of my hand and we went back down to get the rest of his things.

"One less trip than I expected. Awesome. Thank you so much." He said.

"No problem. That's what apartment complex neighbors are for." I smiled. I turned to leave when he started talking again.

"I never got your name. I see you all the time at the coffee shop. You work there, right?" He asked.

"Uh yeah, my names Madison Collins. I go by just about anything though. As long as it's appropriate anyway."

"I'm Spencer Reid. Can I call you Maddie?"

"Works for me Spencer. Hey, I have pizza downstairs if you want to come eat dinner with me. We can talk a little more." I offered.

"That sounds great."

We went to my apartment and sat down at the little island where the pizza was.

"So why weren't you working this morning? I also remember last year on January 13, you didn't work. Why?" He inquired.

"How do you remember from last year?" I was hesitant to share my story with him, even though he seemed like a trustworthy guy.

"Eidetic memory. I don't forget much."

"It's a long story. Not one worth sharing over dinner." I evaded his question.

"I can respect that. Do you have some water?"

"No, I live off of wine alone." I joked, referring to the wine rack I had sitting a few feet away. I got him a bottle of water and sat back down. He nodded in thanks and took a drink.

"So Spencer, what do you do for a living?"

"My friends and I that are in the coffee shop every morning work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. There's two other members but they just go straight to the office."

"Wow, seems like a neat job. I'm in school for trauma, I'm going to be a surgeon. I graduate in May."

"Congrats! That'll be exciting." I nodded and continued eating. About 10 minutes later we were both full and it was time for him to go.

"Thank you for helping me and feeding me, I definitely owe you one. It was nice to get to know you." He gave me a grin.

"No problem. Back at you." I smiled and held my hand out for a handshake.

But he just stood there, staring at it.

"Do you know how unsanitary a handshake is? It's actually healthier to just kiss someone." He stated. I stood there, baffled for a second and quickly retracted my hand.

"Uh- yeah. Right. Okay. Well then, I bid you farewell, Spencer."

"Goodnight Maddie." He chuckled and left.

He was a pretty cool guy.