I woke up screaming. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The first thing I thought about was to feel my body to make sure he hadn’t done anything to me. I looked down and there was nothing. No bruises, no pain, and no blood. Then why did it hurt so much when he was hitting me?
I turned to face the door as soon as I heard dad and Rachel banging on the door. “Meghan…Meghan!” dad yelled. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, just a nightmare,” I replied knowing that it was a lie. This nightmare seemed to real. I didn’t want to go back to sleep. Fearing that I’d go back to the nightmare and find myself in that situation again. I felt everything.
“You sure?”
“Uh yeah,” I said.
“Okay, goodnight,” dad left and all I heard was fading footsteps.
I couldn’t go back to sleep. I sat up and clutched my legs to my chest. I had the urge to rock back and forth. That man was about to… I couldn’t even think about what he was going to do to me. I took the place of that woman.
I felt like calling someone, talking to someone. But who? My mom was in her own world. Dad wouldn’t understand and I didn’t even have Jen’s cell number. I was alone. More alone than I’ve ever felt before. Why was I like this? I felt like a little child begging for attention.
I turned on the lamp beside my bed and looked at my watch. It was only 1 in the morning. What was I going to do for seven hours?
I got out of the bed, then grabbed my scattered clothes off the floor and stuffed them in my bag. My only escape was Jen. She was expecting me anyways. I was just going to be eight hours early.
I took out fresh clothes from my bag and went into the bathroom. I took a long shower. Once I go out of the tub, I combed my hair, washed my face, then slipped on my cap. I didn’t care what I looked like. I work blue jeans and a plain hot pink shirt with my black Converse high-tops.
As I was leaving the house, I made extra sure that neither Dad nor Rachel heard me. I went downstairs without hassle. I got into my car then drove off. Good thing Dad put gas in it.
I arrived at the club around 2:30 am. It was still booming with music. I show the bodyguard my ID and money then went in. I looked for Jen but she was nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere include the bathroom. Couple of times while trying to remain hidden Cheese. Who apparently was on to his next victim.
“Hey Wink,” I heard a familiar voice. It was Gates, he looked amazing, even under the blinding strobe lights. He was wearing a leather vest with a tight fitted, grey, long sleeve shirt underneath. Also he was wearing black skinny jeans with black boots. His hair looked awesome with its big swoop around the front. His eyes were mesmerizing as he looked at me.
“Hey,” I was finally able to say.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”
“No!” I said. “I’m eighteen; I don’t have a bedtime. I’m not a child. I’m and adult according to the law.”
“Oh!” he put his hand on his chest. “I’m sorry. I forgot that you were legal. Please forgive me. How ‘bout I buy you something to eat?”
“Sure,” I accepted. “You seen Jen? I thought she was working tonight…today.”
“Naw, I let her off early,” Gates replied. “She should be getting into her car right about now.”
“Crap!” I shouted. “Gotta go.” I left Gates then ran out the front door. I didn’t know what kind of car Jen drove so I just search the parking lot. Then I saw a pair of head lights. It had to be her.
She was driving a black Ford Explorer. I don’t know what I was thinking but I kind of stood in front of the vehicle, preventing her from leaving. I needed to talk to her.
“Wink, is that you?” Jen peeked her head out the car window.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I didn’t know how to tell her that I need to talk.
“Well okay, get in,” she pouched open the passenger door and motioned me in.
Inside it was pretty comfortable and cushiony. Then I knew that I was starting to feel sleepy and I just could do that. I couldn’t go back to that nightmare.
“So you gonna tell me why you’re here?” Jen drove out the parking lot.
“I really just needed to talk, but now that I think about it, it seems stupid,” I caught a few tears escaping my eyes. It’s silly. I just had a really bad nightmare.
“Well then it can’t be stupid because it was in your mind. You have to talk about it. We have to talk about it.”
“I don’t know,” knowing darn well I wanted to.
“You want me to drive you home?” Jen asked.
“I’m staying at dad’s house,” I said. “And no I don’t want to go back.”
“Well then, off to my place,” Jen said happily.
I couldn’t help but be hesitant since I’ve never been to Jen’s house. Really, I still didn’t know Jen well enough. I didn’t know if she was a closet psychopath and was planning on murdering me. No one knew were I was at and I had no cell phone. Who was I kidding, I was the perfect target.
While I thought about murder, Jen pulled into the parking lot of an apartment complex. Though it was only around 2 o’clock, there was some light. The apartments looked pretty nice from the outside. But inside I kind of pictured Jen as a clothes junky. So clothes were everywhere.
“Okay this is me,” Jen said as she turned truck off.
“Okay,” I said before we both got out.
“I’m 2B,” Jen said. “Right up those stairs.”
There weren’t to many stairs but I felt winded one I got up them. At least I knew I would get some exercise out of it. We got to her door and then she opened it. It was pitch dark before she turned on the lights. My mouth dropped
Her place was amazing and so…so neat. It was like going into Paris Hilton’s home. Everything looked decorative. From black leather couches to embroidered curtains. She had to be rich. Johnny seemed rich so why didn’t think she was?
“Sis, is that you?” Johnny came from out of a room without a shirt on. He was ripped. OMG! He was in front of me wearing only pajama pants. Was I dreaming? I pinched my arm.
“Hi, I said,” feel embarrassed.
“Meghan?” he looked confused. “What are you doing here?”
“She’s staying tonight,” Jen said.
“It’s morning,” Johnny correct her.
Wow, I didn’t know he lived with his sister. With the way they acted together I would think they would want to be as far away from each other as they could.
“You live here? I pointed around the apartment.
“Uh, yea…sort of. I live with my parents and on campus also. But most of the time I’m either at school, with friends, or here. Three homes are better than one.”
I could tell by the look on Jen’s face that she didn’t mean for him to be awake.
“Whatever, go back to bed,” Jen ordered.
“Maybe I want to talk to Meghan,” Johnny replied.
I didn’t want to get into their sibling rivalry. I sat on one of the couches then blew out a deep breath. Now I felt better because I didn’t think Jen would want to kill me now but I also didn’t know how I was going to tell her about my nightmare.
“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Jen shouted.
“You ever thought that maybe she’d only talking to you because she’s trying to be nice,” Johnny countered.
They continued to bicker until they had and agreement. They would both talk to me. I didn’t know what to do because it was hard for me to tell Jen let alone Johnny…a guy about my nightmare.
“So tell us about you nightmare,” Jen sat next to me and rubbed my back while Johnny sat on the other couch across from us. It was a nice gesture but it wasn’t relieving me.
“Yeah, what’s the nightmare about?” Johnny asked.
I sucked in a deep breath then I spit it out. “I had a dream about getting raped.”
“Whoa,” Johnny replied.
“Tell us everything,” Jen said.
“Okay. Well I’ve been having dreams about this girl for months. Every time she seems to get older. Then in the last dream she was sad and sitting at a table, not eating. She kept looking out a window then she saw someone. Then she opened it and a guy came through. She was happy to see him but nervous for him. She gave him a coffee pot then told him to leave,” I continued.
“Wait a coffee pot?” Johnny interrupted.
“Uh, yea. I think there was a note or something in there. Anyway, as soon as the guy left another man came in the room and started hitting her. Then all of a sudden I was in her place getting all the beatings and bruises. I mean, I really felt it. It was so painful. So then the guy drags me in a bedroom and throws me on the bed. He tells me to lift up my dress but I hesitated. The last thing I remembered was him pulling down my underwear before I blacked out.”
“Wow,” Jen replied. “Crazy dream. Do you know who the guy was?”
“No, I didn’t see his face,” I admitted. “It’s just that it seemed so real and I felt the pain. He was hitting me really hard. I thought he was going to break something.”
“Well then, let dissect you dream,” Johnny said.
“Did you have a good look at the guy that came through the window?” Jen asked.
“Well he kind of looked like an older version of Tey,” I said.
“Wow,” Jen breathed deeply. “I think I know what the dream is about now. Maybe you’re the girl/woman. And you married an abusive man. Then Tey tried to be there for you but the man is preventing you from it. I think the man/abusive husband may just be a metaphor or something keeping you two apart.”
“That was really insightful,” I said thinking about what she said. “ I think your right. It makes perfect since.”
“Wait!” Johnny cut in. “It could just mean that if she doesn’t learn get away from him then bad things will happen to her,” Johnny replied. I notice that he had a scowling kind of look on his face. I was like he didn’t like he really didn’t like Jen’s idea.
“My idea was a lot better!“ Jen yelled at Jonny. He crossed his arms and turned his head.
We all continue to talk until about 3:30 then we were all getting kind of tired. This time I wasn’t completely afraid to go to sleep. Somewhere in our conversation, I dosed off.
The next morning I woke up in a bed. I didn’t know how I got here. I got out of the bed then checked my watch. It was 7:45 in the morning. I came out of the room and went to the kitchen. Both Jen and Johnny were sitting in the living room watching the news.
They both looked up ince they saw me. Then I thought about how I might have looked. I felt my hair and noticed that my cap was gone. I must have left it in the bed. I must look horrible.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Johnny said, still shirtless.
“Good morning,” I said. “Hey Johnny, did you take me to that bedroom?”
“Yeah, you were knocked out,” he smiled.
“Hey,” Jen said. “You hungry? There’s food in the microwave for you. Also you have to hurry. Remember when I told you about the thing at nine? You have about fifteen minutes to eat and fix yourself up a bit. We have to be on the rode by eight because it’s a forty-five minute drive.”
“Okay,” I went to the microwave, took the plate of food to the kitchen table.
“Oh yeah, Wink, the bathroom is straight down the hall,” Jen said before getting up and going in her room.
Johnny followed behind and went to his. I was alone in the kitchen with only ten minutes to eat. I quickly eat the sausage, eggs, and bacon that was on the plate. It was really tasty. Too bad I couldn’t ask for seconds.
I got up from the table then ran to the bathroom. I used the bathroom then combed and brushed my hair. Then I spotted Jen’c curling iron and I couldn’t resist. Once I finshed curling my hair, I made sure my clothes were neat.
I came out the bathroom and ran into Johnny.
“Looking good,” he whistled at me.
“Uh, thank,” I blushed.
Johnny was a pretty good guy maybe something more will become of our friendship. He’s completely opposite of Tey. He kind…strong. Did I mention hot? Model hot.
“When you two are done being all lovey dovey, we can go to the car,” Jen remarked.
“Where are we going anyways.” I asked.
“We were not lovey dovey,” Johnny stuck his tongue out at her. “I was just complimenting her. Unlike you were you look like a corpse bride.”
“Thank you,” Jen said. “I do try. And as for where we going, it’s a surprise.”
I laughed. All they did was bicker but I could see the connection. They were the ideal siblings. It got me thinking about being the only child. I’ve gotten whatever I wanted. I never got to fight over something or get blamed for something. It made me wonder why mom and dad never had a child together. Maybe they new things I didn’t.
“I’m going to be in the truck,” I walked away. “When your done bickering you can come out.”
About two minutes later they came out. Both looking cool and collected. I didn’t believe it would last for a minute. And I was right. Not ten minutes into the drive, they start yelling about the music. Jen was to listen to heavy metal and Johnny wanted to listen to Hip-hop. Eventually they did come to a compromise and turned the radio off.
By the time Jen got to wherever we were going, we were all ready to get out. Johnny was nice and sweet but the smell of his farts in a rolled up car is just horrible. I was tempted to ask him what he ate for dinner.
We got out the truck and in front of us was a huge art building. So that’s what she was up to. Well I haven’t done a lot of artistic things but today is a new day. It’s time for me to experience new things.
“So why exactly did we have to get up so early,” I asked as we all walked into the building.
“Because, these classes get packed like crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t get a spot or easel,” Jen said. “Hurry!”
We walking in and I never seen so many people in a small room. But fortunately for us there were still enough easels for us. All three of us pick one and placed them as close to each other as we could.
After ten minutes of watching Jen draw abstract pictures of Johnny’s teeth, I decided to do a little art. I wanted to paint a sun like Vincent van Gogh. I knew that whatever I painted would look like mush since I’ve never did anything except finger painting.
So as I began my masterpiece with red and yellow paint, I thought of what kind of sun to draw. Will it be like Jen’s abstract teeth. Or will it just be a plain ole sun? Nothing special about it. I mean, I was deep in thought before I go the courage to actually start painting.
“Hi,” someone said.
“Hi,” I replied back before looking to see who it was. “What are you doing here Tey?” I asked nonchalantly.
“Well to tell you the truth, I was tailing you,” he confess. “Since you left your house, your dad’s house, then to Jen’s.”
“You know that’s considered stalking, right?”
“Well gotta do whatcha gotta do.”
“Can you please not sit next to me,” I asked.
“Nope,” he simply said then took the easel right next to me.
“Ugh,” I replied.
“Wow, I didn’t picture you for the artistic type,” Tey teased as he looked at my canvas. I didn’t answer him. I picked up my paint brush then continued to paint. However, the more he talked, the more my painting looked horrible.
“Maybe you should think about taking lessons?” Tey said. “They really couldn’t hurt. Your painting looks like someone shit red poop on your canvas.”
Maybe you should think about taking lessons?” Tey said. “They really couldn’t hurt. Your painting looks like someone shit red poop on your canvas.”
“Maybe you should think about taking lessons?” Tey said. “They really couldn’t hurt. Your painting looks like someone shit red poop on your canvas.”
“Leave me alone Tey,” I needed him to leave me alone.
“Can’t do that,” he said. “Not until you hear me out.”
“No thank you.”
Why the hell did he think I would want to talk to him now? I didn’t want to talk to him at my house. He knows what he did. He’s only going to make things worst by bothering me. Right now this is a period where I need to be alone, free of him.
“So Meghan, about those lessons,” he laughed.
I turned to him and did something no one would have ever expected me to do. I dumped all of the paint I had in my hands on his head. Believe me, I had a lot of paint in my hands.
“Now you look like red shit,” I whispered in his ear.
Everyone in the room turned back to look at us. Tey was covered in red and yellow paint. Johnny looked over and started laughing. Jen got up and dragged me out of the room. People didn’t stop staring.
"What the hell was that Meghan?” Jen asked.
“I don’t know,” I confessed. “He was teasing me and I just wanted him to leave me alone. So…”
“Well, I can’t condone this but that a hell of a way to tell someone to take a hike,” Jen smiled.
“Ha ha, that was amazing,” Johnny came behind us laughing.
We all left the building and headed to Jen’s truck. Johnny was still laughing behind us which mad me laugh a little. Then we were all laughing.
We drove off and I didn’t look back. If Tey had anything to say to me it could be said at school tomorrow.