| Last Chance Chapter Nine |
| "He called - my cell phone!" Kendra and Natlie's eyes opened wide. "What?" "Jesse, on my cell phone. He called me!" They were both silent, staring at Amara, who sat in front of them breathless from runining up the stairs. After the short phone converstationi with Jesse, she turn around and went back to her apartment. Kendra and Natalie were watching TV when she burst in. "Well how do you know it was Jesse?" Amara sat down in the chair. "Because when I picked up I recognized his voice and he called me Blue." "Why?" Natalie asked. "Why what?" "Did he call you Blue?" Amara sighed. "Because of mye eyes Nat, but that's not the point What the hell am I going to do? He's supposed to be gone." "Talk to Lori," Kendra suggested, "find out from her where he went. If he left that is." "Yeah..." Amara was staring off into sace. "I really wish Daniel was here," she mumbled aloud, "I don't need this right now." Kendra reached over and touched her arm. "It will work out, don't worry. Go talk to Lori and find out." "Yeah..." she repeated. Somone knocked, startling them all. Amara went over and opened it up to Chris, who looked slightly surpriseed. "I thought only Kendra and Natalie were here?" "Well it is my apartment Chris. Don't look so surprised." She walked away back to the chair as Chris came in and shut the door. "Is Daniel here?" He asked. Amara's face didn't change, but everyone knew she was listening. "No, Chris, he's not," Natalie answred as he sat down beside her, "he left a while ago in his car." Chris nodded and the room fell silent. Kendra was looking at Amara who was staring at the floor. Natalie stared out the window while Chris looked at his hands. "I'm going to go talk to Lori." Amara stood up, grabbing her keys. "If you guys leave lock up, all right?" They all nodded and she left. Kendra turned to Chris. "So, Chris, how was your day?" * * * * Lori's small house was set about two or three miles back from the beach. Though you could still smell the water farther away. It sat back from the road, partially surrounded by trees on three sides. And though the weather today was cool, the windows were still cracked slightly. Lori loved fresh air. Amara parked the car in the driveway behind Lori's, got out and walked to the door. It was opened after three knocks. "Daniel?!" He stood in te doorway, no smile on his face, looking back at her. His face showed the exhaustion he felt and his eyes showed the obvious. "Where's Lori?" He let go of the handle and turned to go back to the couch. "In the kitchen." She paused before entering, a feeling of anxiety taking over. But she pushed it aside and walked in, closing the door behind her. She crossed in front of a silent Daniel, whose eyes never wavered or left the TV as she passed, and into the kitchen. Lori was punching a number into the phone. "Hey." Lori turned around and smiled tiredly at her. "Hey. How are you doing?" "I'm all right." "Daniel told me what happened. What did you say?" Amara plopped down into the closest chair at the table. "I screwed up. He thought there was something more than friendship between us and I said there wasn't." "Is there?" Amara smiled. "Kendra asked that same question. I don't know, it's all - " Sht stopped as Daniel walked in, over to the refrigerator. Amara's eyes followed him then fell back to the table. Lori reached over and patted her hand before getting up to call on the phone. She dialed and brought it to her ear. "So, what did you come over here for?" "Oh," Amara rubbed her eyes, "uh, Jesse called me this afternoon when I was out driving. On my cell." Lori's eyes widened as she turned around. Even Daniel, who had been pouring some water stopped and turned around, his face showing surprise though Amara could tell he was trying to mask it. "Uh, no I'll call you back." Lori said into the phone, then hung up. She walked over to Amara and sat down again. "What?" "I was out driving this morning, after..." she looked at Daniel who looked away, "my cell phone rang, I answered and it was him." "Are you sure?" "Yes. He called me Blue." "Blue?" Daniel asked, as he pushed himself away from the counter. She watched him walk over to the end of the table and sit. "Yeah. For my eyes." "Oh." She turned back to Lori. "So, what I wanted to ask you is if you know where he was. Did he leave or what?" Lori's face turned grim. Amara felt bad for asking but she needed to know. "I'm not sure actually. After he hurt you and got arrested, he left. No good-bye, I'm sorry, anything." Pause. "I'm surprised he called you. What did he say?" "At first he asked me what was going on...and then he said he'd get me again." Her eyes were filling so she looked down to stop them from seeing. "Third time's a charm." Daniel stood up adrubtly, the chair falling back behind him and left the kitchen. Down the hall a door slammed shut. Amara looked up. "Can I ask you something?" Lori nodded. "What is Daniel doing here?" "Oh, he came over after you guys argued. He figured Kendra and Natalie would be over at your place." She paused and smiled. "They are aren't they?" Amara smiled back at her and nodded. "Yeah." "Nothing happened you know." Amara nodded again and covered her face with her hands, "I know," then let them drop, "I know." * * * * "Are you sure you don't want to stay? I ordered a pizza." "No. I think I should go. Thanks for everything." From downstairs the girls's conversation drifted up to Daniel. He was lying on his side on the bed in the guestroom looking at the wall. Lori had let him take this room saying he could stay "as long as he needed". Below she had just let Amara out after much persuasion to stay. A minute later he heard footsteps coming up and a knock at the door. "Daniel? Can I come in?" He slowly got up and walked over, opening up the door to Lori, before returning to his position on the bed. She came in and closed the door behind her. "Hey. Amara just left." "So I heard." He sighed. "I ordered a pizza. It should be here in about twenty minutes." He nodded silently. Quietly she sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Daniel, talk to me. Yell, scream, vent, anything." Rolling onto his back he sighed, looking at the ceiling. "What do you want me to yell about?" "I don't know. You've never exactly said how you felt about this whole situation." He looked at her. "How I feel? You want to know how I feel?" His voice rose a litle as he got up off the bed and faced the for a moment, staring off into space before turning back around. This time he was quieter. "I feel like shit - I feel used, pissed, alone. Amara was the first person I opened to in a while - about Kathryn, how I felt, a lot of things." Pause. "She was lying you know." Lori's eyebrows raised. "How could you tell?" "Her eyes. The way she wouldn't look at me and the way she tried tos top me. I could tell." "So now what?" "I wait - and see if I'm right." * * * * "So call me for a free tarot reading now, and let Ms..." click "You lying 'beep'. How the 'beep' could you..." click "MTV News where you, hear it first." click There is nothing on, Amara thought to herself. She threw the remote onto the table and sighed. Her apartment was quiet except for the low humming of the refrigerator in the kitchen. She had come home from Lori's to find Chris, Natalie and Kendra getting ready to go out for something to eat. They asked her to come, but she refused. She regretted it a little now but pushed the feeling away. She wouldn't have been able to concentrate on eating anyway. Her thoughts were on Daniel; the surprise on his face and the angry way in which he stood up from Lori's table. She hoped to herself they would be able to work thins out. On the table she saw her journal with the pen beside it. Quickly she reach over and picked it up, opening it to the last page and began to write. "I messed up so badly today. I told Daniel that there was nothing more than friendship between us when there really is. I love him but why did I lie? Am I that afraid? He's so caring and gentle and just... Daniel! I don't understand why I just didn't tell him. I've got a voice in the back of my head warning me...I found him at Lori's house afterwards. She's single, he's single now...that's another thing I've noticed. All of the relationships around me have fallen apart; all except Natalie and Chris. I thoutght Daniel and I would last. How could I have screwed up this bad?" She closed her book and slowly let it fall in her lap. A breeze blew in from the open window, making the curtains move and the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Her eyes traveled outside where she stared for a time wondering how to get out of the mess she was in. * * * * A week later and nothing had changed. Daniel had taken up temporary residence at Lori's and Kendra at Amara's. Chris talked to her, but only when neccessary and very indifferently. Amara was ready to hurt someone. "Talk to him" Kendra prodded her Monday afternoon. She turned away from the window she had been looking out of and faced Kendra. For the past half an hour she had been trying to persuade Amara to go talk thins out with Daniel. As easy as it sounded, she just couldn't do it. She wasn't even sure she wanted to anymore. "Why not?" Kendra asked as she shook her head again. "He's there, waiting, I'm sure, for you to come and explain. If you really love him then tell him." "Kendra it's not that easy. I hurt him a lot. He didn't even look at me when I went to Lori's! How the hell are we supposed to talk to each other?" Dropping her hands in frustration, Kendra gave up and fell back in her chair. Amara returned to looking out the window. She had begun to live on the couch now. Eating there, watching TV, sitting and now even sleeping on it just about every night. Each morning when Kendra walked in from the guestroom to the kitchen she looked at Amara sadly before turning her head away quickly. Outside everything was quiet and still. Spring was here, but there was enough of a chill today that made children stay inside to play and parents wish for summer to hurry up and get here. She watched the mailman bringing the bag of mail inside to the boxes below then saw him leave and everything was quiet once more. A minute later, a small, black Escort sped up the street and stopped in front of the apartment. Amara recognized it as Lori's. The door opened and shut quickly and she saw Lori running in to the building. �What the hell�.?� Amara started. Footsteps, quick and heavy, sounded on the stairs and Amara jumped up to open the door. Lori�s brown head of hair appeared then she looked up. �Lori? What�s the rush, what�s wrong?� �It�s Daniel.� Amara�s eyes widened. �He�s gone. He left sometime early this morning. I thought you�d want to know.� Amara flashed back to the afternoon she came out and found Daniel gone. He said he�d been walking, the type of walking you do to clear your head she had assumed, but Chris had explained why while they were searching. �He�s probably out walking.� She answered trying to keep any emotion out of her voice. �All of his things are gone.� At that Amara turned around slowly and looked at Kendra. �I�ll come with you.� They both ran to their separate rooms, grabbing their jackets and Amara her keys. Lori was waiting in the car when they finally came out. Amara slid in and shut the door quickly after Kendra hopped in the back. �Just drive around for a little bit. I�m sure we�ll find him.� * * * * It was an eerie feeling of deja vu. The three of them didn�t find Daniel. For three hours, they drove around searching, looking down every street and stopping in at nearly every fast food stop. When they returned to Amara�s apartment she and Kendra said good-bye to Lori and went inside. Amara half expected to see him there, but no luck. Once inside she threw her things down on her bed and picked up the phone. She didn�t know whom to call, but she needed to call someone. After a second of debating with herself, she punched in a number. �Hello?� �Chris. It�s Amara.� Silence. �What?� �Daniel�s gone.� �What do you mean?� �What do you mean 'what do I mean'? He left Lori�s, he�s gone!� She sighed and pushed her hair out of her face. �Is he there with you?� �No. Why would he be?� She resisted the urge to go off and instead asked calmly, �Do you know where he might be?� �No. Why do you care anyway?� Her mouth dropped open as she stared at the wall. �What is your problem! I ask you a simple question and you act like an ass!� �Well if you had treated him better and like he was worth something to you then maybe he wouldn�t have left in the first place!� �I love him damn it!� �Then why did you lie?� She paused, breathing hard with anger. �Where the hell is he Chris?!� �I DON�T KNOW!� Amara slammed the phone down on the receiver and fell back on her bed, her eyes filling. Angrily she covered her face with her hands and cried into them. She couldn�t understand why Chris was so angry. Daniel was his friend and it had sounded like he didn�t care where he was. �Amara?� Someone knocked at the door. Quickly she wiped her face clear and opened it. Kendra looked at her face questioningly and said, �I called Natalie a while ago. She hasn�t seen Daniel but she�ll call if she does.� Amara nodded. �I know. I just talked to Chris.� �You all right?� Her heart jumped. �Yeah. I think I�m just going to take a nap. Do you mind?� �No, no. Do you want the door closed?� �Yeah, thanks.� As she walked out the tears filled Amara�s eyes once again. Sighing she quietly crawled into bed and lay down. In the living room she heard the TV come on and the sounds of laughter. �Why does everyone else get to be happy?� * * * * She was in a clearing it looked like. Trees surrounded her on all sides and the sun beat down on her brow. There was no sound, no movement. Just a slight breeze that made her skirt billow around her ankles and the leaves rustle in the trees quietly. �Kathryn?� She turned at the name, though she knew she had never heard it before. A young man no older than 22 stepped at from behind a tree. She felt her face break into a smile as she ran to him and he embraced her tightly. �Mathew! I had begun to think you would not come after all.� She smiled at him again as they broke apart. �No, I had to come. There is something I must tell you.� His face turned somber. The smile on her own disappeared. �What is it?� Letting go of her hands he took a deep breath and turned away. �I do not think we should be with each other any longer.� The shock on her face was apparent to him by her speechlessness. �Wh-what?� �We cannot be together any longer. I should have told you earlier,� he said as he turned around and took her face in his hands, �but I could not gather the courage. I am sorry.� �You cannot be serious Mathew! Please tell me�.I couldn�t�.� He let go of her. �Yes, I am, Katherine. There�s so much pain, so much mysterious pain that follows us when we are together. It is not normal and we cannot be with each other like that. We hardly know each other.� �But I love you! I knew it the first time we kissed!� She reached for him frantically, her eyes wide. �This is your last chance Mathew. Tell me what I want-what I need to hear.� He looked at her once more. �Your last chance�� she whispered her eyes glistening with tears. He turned and walked away. �Mathew!� Amara sat up quickly from the bed, confused about where she was. A moment later she recognized the surroundings of her room and calmed. Someone was banging on the door though. It was Kendra. Hearing the urgency in her voice, Amara jumped up from the bed and quickly opened the door. �Scott�s in the hospital.� |
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| Chapter Eight |
| Chapter Ten - Coming Soon |
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