2 0 0 9
Effy stood at the edge of the cliff. The river below was vicious and wild. Waves crashed against the jagged bed of rocks. She bit her lip as she lifting her small foot and hovered it over the edge. The wind picked and she rocked. But never did she put her foot back. Her eyes were drawn in at the violent waves below. She wondered what it'd feel like to jump. From this height, would the fall alone kill her? Or merely leave her paralyzed from the neck down? That'd sure make it easy to drown in the water. Just the thought of such a scene left her heart racing.
Dean slowly moved closer as gently and quietly as possible. He had his hands held out, palms open facing Effy's back. Sneaking in behind her.
Suddenly he shoved her forward.
Effy screamed.
"Saved your life!" he laughed as he grabbed her arms before she could fall over the edge and yanked her back. She stumbled and fell on her butt with an 'oof.' Accidentally biting down on her tongue from the impact.
Effy pouted as she watched Dean grip his stomach and bend over, laughing hysterically.
"That's not funny Dean!" she grumbled and pushed up off the floor. She brushed dirt off her bum with tightly knitted eyebrows. Dean only giggled at her. Now that she was stood and close enough, she instantly noticed the black and blue cut on his bottom lip.
"What happened to your lip?" She pointed a chubby finger.
Dean's laughter came to a dry halt. He pressed his lips together as he shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and shrugged his shoulders. "D'you bring it?" he changed the subject.
Effy wanted to ask again, but knowing she'd most likely get no answer she decided to let it go. "Yeah." Effy nodded as she slipped her backpack off her slim shoulder and plopped it on the ground by her feet. She unzipped it and pulled out one of the state books her dad had gotten for her before he left. Dean took the book and sat on the toppled over tree trunk. His feet dangling in the air.
"Why d'you want an Idaho state book?" Effy asked as she sat beside him.
"Last night I overheard my mom talking to my aunt Lisa, stupid bitch."
Effy bit on her lip as she turned to Dean with a hesitant look. "You shouldn't say stuff like that," she muttered nervously.
"Its what my dad calls her," Dean said simply. Seeing no problem with it. He shrugged and went back to flipping pages. "Anyways, I heard them talking about living in Idaho, what it's like there."
"You moving?"
Dean shrugged as he nibbled on his lip. "I dunno know. Maybe. Depends."
Effy's eyebrows frowned. "Depends on what?"
Dean said nothing after that and the two sat in silence as he skimmed through the book. After a while, Effy had to take off for supper. She let Dean keep the book and the two parted ways (unaware that, that would be the last time the two would see each other for a very long time.)
On her walk home, Effy was lost in her deep mind consuming thoughts. She was making her way down the sidewalk with her cold hands in her pockets, thinking about the sad possibility of losing one of her closest friends—her only friend when she heard a loud screeching sound and a crash.
Instantly she turned.
There was a black truck parked in the middle of the road in front of a toppled over, bent up bike. The horn was stuck on a long note. A few ways away, there was a man lying in the middle of the road.
Effy stared for a moment. Waiting for an adult to run out of one of the houses and do something—but nobody came.
With the horn still going, Effy hesitantly took a step forward. She could feel her heart race in her chest as she got closer and closer to the unconscious man. The moment she began seeing blood, her breathing quickened. Her chest rose and fell and her eyes widen. The man's skull was split and his shin bone poked out.
With every rushed breath she took from the scaring imagine before her, she began feeling more and more lightheaded. The sensation to faint at any moment growing until suddenly a woman rushed over and covered Effy's eyes as she pulled her away.
Effy shook the unwanted memory from her head. She rubbed her tired eyes after the words in the history book began to blur. Long sentences turning into fuzzy lines. She glanced at the library clock and found it was a quarter past seven. She rubbed her eyes once more. Pulled her phone out. And texted Dean asking him to pick her up.
With her lips puckered, Astrid blew out circled clouds of smoke. One after the other with a sound asleep Dean snoring away by her feet.
She laid in only her underwear and Deans oversized shirt hanging upside down over the edge of the foot of the bed. Smoking a joint she had rolled after Dean fucked her and passed out.
She heard a low vibrate come from Deans abandoned jeans. At first, she shrugged it away and blew another cloud of smoke. But when she heard it once again her curiosity peaked and got the best of her. She slid off the mattress to the floor, the joint held between her lips, as she pulled Deans phone out. Careful not to wake him.
When Effy's name appeared on the screen, Astrid smiled.
She wanted to message back something pathetically silly. (Something only she'd find actually humorous.) But she knew how Dean felt about people touching his things.
Deciding against it, she walked the phone over to a sleeping Dean and kicked the mattress. (He had no bed frame, only the mattress.) He groaned in his sleep but made no other movement. She waited a moment before kicking the mattress again.
"Hey," Astrid called out after another moment of silence. "Hey, Dean. Get up. Come on, you gotta get up. Effy needs you to pick her up."
Dean grumbled something tiredly.
Astrid shook his shoulder. The tip of her fingers barely brushing against his skin when suddenly he shot his hand out and shoved her away viciously with a heated glare. "I said fuck off!"
Astrid pressed her lips together. It was clear he was in one of his moods. She rolled her eyes and tossed his phone at him as she muttered under her breath, "whatever." She yanked his shirt off like it was drenched in acid. Quickly changing into her own clothes, she grabbed her bag and stormed off. Nearly hitting a drunk Jonah with the screen door on her way out.
After phoning Dean for the second time with no answer, Effy sighed in defeat. She shoved her books into her bag and swung it over her shoulder.
It was getting late. The library was going to close soon so she couldn't very much wait around for him.
Effy zipped her jacked up and shoved her hands in her pockets. The dark clouds rolling in outside left her nervous. With no other way home, her only option was to walk. It wasn't like it was a long way. She had certainly walked further distance in much worse weather. Perhaps if she walked fast enough she'd be able to beat the storm.
Deciding it was her best option she quickly rushed outside.
She made it a good seven feet with her head down before she crashed into a man coming out of the coffee shop next door.
"Oh, my God! I'm so sorry!" She rushed out in embarrassment as she stepped back. Her eyes wide with alert.
The man chuckled as he wiped the spilled coffee from his blazer. "It's fine. Really. I should have been looking where I was going. It's my fault—oh, Elizabeth."
Effy mentally sighed.
"Hi, Mr. Kennedy." She muttered with a small voice. She glanced down and spotted the dark coffee stain on his white button down shirt. "Are you okay?"
Mr. Kennedy frowned his eyebrows in confusion for a moment but laughed when he realized what she was talking about. "Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. It's ice coffee. Thank God! Am I right?" It was odd hearing him laugh. Effy had been so used to his serious demeanor in class.
She let out a small nervous chuckle.
With a napkin, he wiped at the stain. "What're you doing out this late?"
"I was just studying, now I'm heading home." Effy gestured past him.
Mr. Kennedy frowned his eyebrows as he pushed his glasses up. "You're walking?"
"Yeah."
"Alone?" his eyebrows raised.
"Yeah," she chuckled nervously. "I don't got enough for the bus and I don't have a car. . . or a license. So. . ."
"You know, I could give you a ride." He offered as he pointed at his parked car across the street. "I'm heading home anyways so it won't be any bother."
"Oh, n-no. I'm fine. Really."
"You sure?"
Before Effy could answer, there was a loud cracking rumble and soon heavy rain began showering the town.
Mr. Kennedy pushed his glasses up as he shook his head with a lopsided grin. "Elizabeth, I am not about to let one of my brightest students walk home alone this late at night in a rainstorm. I just wouldn't be able to live with myself. I am not taking no for an answer."
Effy mentally sighed. She wanted to scream out "It's Effy! My names Effy!" But she knew it would do no good. She was tired and cranky. It wasn't like he was trying to annoy her or anything. He was merely calling her by her birth name. The name on all of her paperwork. The name her mother refuses to change.
Without waiting for her answer, he quickly made his way to his car. Effy stood for a moment, soaked in rain, before soon following after.
By the time Astrid made it home, she was both mentally and physically exhausted. She didn't mind walking home in the rain. In fact, she actually loved it. She always loved rain. Especially the way the air smelled afterward. So crisp and clean.
She unlocked the front door and stepped in only to find her lousy drunk of a father plopped in his usual spot on the couch. Drinking a beer as always and watching baseball. Astrid held back the burning urge to roll her eyes and convulse at the sight of him. The door swung shut behind her and instantly Frank glanced her way as he took a swing from his beer. Frustration clear on his face.
"Where's mom?" she muttered.
"She asleep."
Passed out drunk. Astrid mentally corrected.
She unraveled her scarf and hung it on the wooden hanger with the coats and hats. She would have slipped off her shoes as well, but something in her decided against it.
Frank chuckled dryly. "It's funny. You know in this light you kinda remind me of your mom. You know she was around your age when we met. Just, young and pretty." Astrid stared at her father with cautious eyes. He took a swing of his bear. Down what little was left. "Come, sit," he patted the beaten curious next to him.
Astrid made no move. She found her feet pinned to the floor.
Franks expression went sour.
Just before he tossed his beer at her head, Astrid quickly ran to her room. Her heart racing when she felt Frank closing in on her. She made it to her room just in time. Slamming the door on his hand twice before he finally pulled his hand away in pain. She locked the door and jumped back when he began pounding the wood. The doorknob rattled.
Astrid stood for a moment. Glancing around her room, she quickly ran to her dresser and stuffed her backpack with clothes. She made sure to grab her bag of money she had stuffed between her mattresses. She quickly climbed out her window as the door thrashed. Frank yelling on the other side. Her own mother too drunk to notice anything in her deep slumber. (And even if she did hear she most likely wouldn't even do anything, again.)