Memory

Chapter Nineteen- Trystan

I wake up to the gentle snore of Dimitri’s slow breathing as he sleeps. We are a few inches closer than last night, that’s for sure. I’m close enough that I can see each individual eyelash of Dimitri’s closed eyes. And our hands are still clasped together, but loosely. Still warm.

The sunlight from outside starts to peek through the curtains, pouring some light into this dim room. I see no reason to stay in bed, so I carefully get up and walk to the sink to brush my teeth.

One look in the mirror, and I know that something has changed.

I look older, that’s for sure. I look like an adult for seventeen years old. My skin is lighter than usual, but still tan; weathered with worry and subtle fear. My hair that graced the sides of my face that extends way past my neck, the rest of my hair falling down in loose waves down to my middle back. The rosy shade of my lips are fading by the year. My eyes seem more intense than before; a deeper blue around the irises and lighter around the first shade.

My mother’s eyes.

A soft breath escapes my lips as my head hangs low on my shoulders. I gaze into the white marble of the sink, suddenly thinking that this whole memory deletion thing is a load of crap. I mean, who wouldn’t? The minds of humans these days. What have we come to? The good thing is that this law is only happening in California. But the bad thing is that it’s spreading throughout the entire state.

This can’t go on. By the time the Government is through with their pathetic plan, the entire state will be like the Walking Dead.

Except with clean zombies; not flesh-eating ones.

But I am determined to not let that happen. Not to me or to anyone. Especially Dimitri. I care about him too much that he will not get hurt.

“Good morning,” Dimitri murmurs. It seems as if he has forgotten what had happened yesterday, and I relax at the notion. I watch through the mirror as he stretches to his full height after he stands up. I relish this moment to see the muscles along his torso and body ripple underneath his skin. But as he walks over to me, my skin flushes warm and I quickly look back into the sink.

He leans lazily against my shoulder when he reaches me. “I don’t want to go anywhere today,” he says with a groggy voice. His body heat makes me even more warmer than I actually am, and it sends shivers all throughout my body.

I still have to get used to his closeness, since it seems as if my body has a mind of its own and allowing him to be like this near me. But it’s different from the Jake situation. I didn’t want him around me. I wanted Dimitri.

I had all along, and I never realized it.

“Then you don’t have to,” I reply, turning on the water and wetting my toothbrush. “We’re not doing anything today.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” he says. He takes his toothbrush, wetting it, then puts toothpaste on it. Before sticking it into his mouth, “We have a mission today. In Sacramento.”

I almost drop my toothbrush. “And when was he going to tell us?” Didn’t see that one coming.

He makes a show of ‘I’m still brushing my teeth’, and I reluctantly begin brushing my own. I look into the sink, watching the water trickle into the drain; I can’t exactly look Dimitri in the eye these days. When was the Lieutenant going to alert us? He could’ve at least given us a heads-up. And it’s not fair that he told Dimitri and no one else.

About a minute later, I finish brushing my teeth, drying my mouth, then make my way over to the dresser. What should I wear today? I mean, it’s not like they won’t get dirty out on the mission.