Chapter 9
"He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger, and finally drank away her memory. Life is short but this time it was bigger than the strength he had to get up off his knees. We found him with his face down in the pillow, with a note that said 'I'll love her till I die'. And when we buried him beneath the willow, the angels sang a whiskey lullaby." Brad Paisley's song Whiskey Lullaby woke me up. There was a phone beside me, and it was singing the song because whoever’s phone this was had gotten a text message. The contact was from, "Open Me, Tear Drop!"
I did as the phone told me to and read it. It said, "Like your new phone, Tear Drop? -Mom.”
As I read it, I dropped the phone and started to jump up and down on my bed, squealing. "Yes!!" I picked the phone back up and changed the contact from "open me, Tear Drop!" to "mom".
Then I texted back with a "YES I DO! Thank you sooooo much!"
I turned on the computer and logged onto Hotmail to tell Stranger about the good news.
Subject: Omegle Friend!!
To: ImAmazingInUrBed@Hotmail.com
From: Fuck_You@Hotmail.com
Date: May 1, 2008
Body:
I got a phone!!!! text me! 305-259-1466
I was literally jumping up and down in my seat. Minutes later, I got a text from a number that was '458-623-3188'. I opened it and read,
From: 458-623-3188
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2008
Hey, Marley. Its the guy you've been e-mailing for a while. Wassup?
I replied.
From: You
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2008
Nothing, Just woke up. You?
I went back to the contact page in my phone, after remembering his number, and made his contact name 'Stranger'.
We had been e-mail buddies for about 13 days now, but it felt like I had been talking to him for a year instead. I knew so much about him, and he knew so much about me because we talked almost every day. I was glad to finally have a friend that I trusted, who possibly trusted me back. But one thing I did know, was that he didn't trust me enough to tell me his name. I didn't know why. I really didn't care that much to ask for the second time.
He texted me back and I scanned it before texting back.
From: Stranger
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2008
Nothing, Just sitting here watching tv.
From: You
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2008
Nice.
I continued texting him throughout the day. I even texted him when my mom was putting brown streaks in my blonde hair. She gave me a completely new makeover, so that I could look prettier than I was for the past 16 years. When she was done, you could still tell that it was me, but I looked completely different.
I looked a lot prettier.
And it was good.
"Honey!" Mom called out to me.
"Yeah, Mom?" I called back. She didn't answer. "What?!" I yelled, this time louder. I groaned and got out of bed. I walked into the kitchen and saw her sitting at the table wth a smug smile on her face. "You did that just to get me out of bed, didn't you?" I asked, and she nodded.
"But I really did need to tell you something. I'm going to the store; we need some milk. Have you seen inside that frigeadaire? We are all out!"
"You mean the refrigerator?"
"Whatever." I laughed. "Will you be okay alone?" She asked me seriously. I nodded.
"Of course. I have a phone now, remember?"
She laughed. "Alright. I'll be leaving now. Call me if anything happens, I mean it."
"Sure, Mom, whatever. Leave. I love you."
"Love you too!"
After she left, I lay down on the couch in the small living room in the motel and turned on the TV. I was still texting Stranger, so I really wouldn’t be paying attention to the TV, but whatever. About ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I groaned. I was just about to fall asleep! I sat up and went to the door and opened it.
Standing in front of me was Lucas.
"Is your mom here?"
"No. She doesn't want to see you anyways."
"I'm glad she's not here. I wanted to speak to you. Alone."
He took a step forward. "No. I don't want you here."
"I just want to talk." He pushed himself inside the motel room.
"I want you to leave! I'll call the cops!"
"Shut up, Tear Drop!" I was silent after he started yelling. "I just wanted to say that what your mother got was coming to her. It would have happened sooner or later. But I feel bad, and I told your mother that I was sorry. But she got mad, so I called you a dirty rotten whore. I told her that you were hitting on me, and then I didn't want you so you slapped my kids."
I was shocked. But after a couple seconds, I stood up to where I was eye to eye with him, and punched him right in the chin. He fell to the ground, obviously shocked. I got on the ground and started punching him more. But I stopped when my mom's high voice started yelling, "Tear Drop! No! Stop it!"
"Why? He told me that he told you he called me rotten whore, and that I was hitting on him!"
"He was joking, Tear Drop!"
"That's a fucked up joke!! Why did he even come here?! He ruins everything!"
"..." She hesitated. "Tear, He came here to tell you that we were getting back together. But, since you did that, I think you need to go back to Oregon..."
"Mom! He beat you, and you'd still pick him over me? How fucked is that?"
"Tear Drop, I'll always lo-"
"Get out. Now. Get out!"
An hour later, I was done packing.
I would take the first flight there was to Oregon, which was tomorrow, at 6:30. I would have to get up at 4:00 am, so I wasn't even going to go to sleep. Hopefully Stranger would stay awake with me. At 10:30 pm, I texted him.
From: You
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2008
Will you pull an all-nighter with me?
From: Stranger
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2008
lol. It's 10:30 am, girl. no pulling an all-nighter for me. But ill talk to you when you’re pulling an all-nighter so you don’t go to sleep. Want me to call you?
From: You
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2008
Yes, please((: And you're 12 hours ahead of me. lol
I didn't get a text message for the next five minutes. After waiting, I got a call from Stranger.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Marley?"
"Stranger?"
"Ha. Yeah. Why do you call me that? I thought we agreed on Bob and Marley."
"Because Bob is a gay name. Unless the last name is Marley, that is."
He laughed. His voice was deep and wonderful. I could get lost in it. If it was this amazing on the phone, I wonder how it would sound in real life.
"Alright, you can call me Stranger, but it makes me feel like some child molester."
"Well... are you?"
"No!" He laughed.
"I wouldn't have to call you Stranger if you would tell me your name!"
He sighed. "I trust you, Marley, I do. I just... I don't know. I'll tell you sometime, I promise. Okay?"
"Okay..."
We were still talking when my phone alarm went off, telling me that it was 1:30 am.
Then I heard yelling from the other line. Stranger's laughing abruptly stopped, and he Started cussing. "Fuck. Fuck. I have to go Marley. Don't fall asleep! Ill call you back, I love you!"
"Who the fuck are you talking to Kid?!"
"No one!" And then the line disconnected.
I was worried about him... but I couldn't stop thinking about his last three words to me: I love you.
He probably forgot he was talking about me.
Right when I thought that, I felt hurt. How could he forget that he was talking to me?
And then right when I thought that, I knew that I had a crush on him.
I was eagerly waiting for him to call me back. What if he thought I was creepy, or he didn't like my voice, so he wanted to stop talking to me?
A suspenseful hour later, I called him instead.
"H-h-hello?" He said, stuttering.
"Stranger?"
"Marley. Why'd you... c-call?"
"What's wrong?" I demanded. And he burst into tears.
"N-no... b-b-body was home. My dad... he-he... he raped me. He... He made me suck... his.. his.." He started sobbing into the phone.
"It's okay. Honey, it’ll all be okay."
"No. It won't be! You don't understand! You probably just made up that you were raped and beaten, just to make fun of me!"
Then I snapped. "If you don't remember correctly, let me re-fresh your memory. I was the one who said that I was raped by my brother’s friends every fucking weekend, and beaten by my father everyday first! Why would I make that up?!" It hurt me that he didn't believe me.
There was silence on the other end. "I'm s-sorry. I'm just so upset. I... I want to hurt him so bad. I want to fucking kill the bastard. But I can't. My mom.... It would destroy her. She loves him. When I move out, I'm never coming back. And if he touches me again, I'll kill him. I will."
"I believe you."
"Oh, God. I'm crying in front of you." I heard him sniffle. "You probably think I'm the biggest pussy ever."
"No. I think you're brave. You go through that for your mom. If I were in your place, I'd kill him and call the police. I'm the pussy."
"No. If you were a pussy, you would have given up a long time ago, and you'd probably be dead right now. But instead you fight your dad, and your brother’s friends. You inspire me, Marley."
A couple hours later, I was at the airport, heading home to Oregon.