Firefly

10: the boy who calls me Firefly

Chapter 10: the boy who calls me Firefly.

Elena

Raindrops threaten to seep in,
Wiper screeches on the windscreen.
Three times slow, two times fast. Three times slow, two times fast.
Random speed. Random rhythm. Random mechanism.
The pantograph mechanism.
Dark night. No light. Blurry sight. Hold on tight.
Tires screech and tires glide.
Tires skate and tires slide.
Tight grip, my nails in the belt.
Inside there's a scream, outside there's a welt.
Milestone breaks, green turns red. 
Water, rain, mud, and bloodshed.
Hush, little baby don't say a word.
Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird. 

Spencer slams my locker door shut. I shudder with a jerk, holding onto my chest. Only pieces of last night's dream spiral in my mind before Spencer's voice pulls me out of the memory. 

"What is so interesting about this locker that you've been staring at for the last three minutes?" She narrows her eyes, examining the length of the steel blue door. 

I vigor a smile as I shake my head. "No reason, I was mentally updating my checklist for today." I lie, slinging my featherweight bag on my shoulder. 

Those books really needed to be hauled inside my locker before they dislocated my shoulders. 

This Monday had somber weather with dark clouds wrapping around the entire town. There were colored leaves still disseminated on the sidewalks. As my bike sped across the lane today morning, I remember scattering a bunch of leaves away. October took over the city. 

"Checklists? I fear them." Spencer says as I lean against my locker and give her a knowing smile. "I get anxiety the moment I see that huge list and blank boxes waiting to be ticked."

I roll my eyes. "It's motivating." 

She gasps. "It's intimidating." I shake my head looking away from her. "Speaking of scary things, how was the first trial with the monster?" 

I don't have an appropriate answer to the mention of yesterday or him. There were so many sides of him that came into view, I almost felt connected and ambushed at the same time. The instances that stuck with me through the night were him speeding, the darkness of the night, and the tears that gushed out of my eyes. 

It was such a perfect evening until we got into that Maserati car. Blackness wasn't just painted over it; blackness seeped inside too. I touch the butterfly on my finger for calming down. Those were the instances that inspired the first dream that I briefly remember. Something that happened last night triggered those scenes. The frightening part was they didn't feel like dream scenes. They felt like memories. My memories. Like I was reliving them with a sense of Deja vu. 

I shake away the dream creeping onto my mind again. It's lunchtime and I'm still not over it. 

When Justin didn't turn up to school today, I was almost thrilled that today will be the best day of school. But the dream messed it up. All I did was replay it a thousand times because I could. I even wrote it down in the morning but I clearly remember it even now, so I didn't really need to. 

I sigh, "We survived. We went to Maplewood Forest. There's a Treehouse library--"

"What?" I looked at her confused when she cut me mid-sentence. "Justin took you to the South boundary?" 

"Yes," I confirmed. "Why?"

"The only person who I've seen accompany him to the South Boundary is Dylan. He doesn't take anyone to the South. Not even Caleb." Spencer was puzzled. And she was making me feel confused too.