Invisible

SILENT

I WAKE UP on Anna’s sofa, head throbbing as stare at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. I hear Anna’s voice, something about a text message… someone’s coming over. I sit up slowly, and someone helps me.

“Easy,” Aiden says as he helps me up. “Shouldn’t really sit up too quickly. You could—”

“Don’t listen to him,” Ethan says as he walks into the living room, kneels in front of me. “He has no idea what he’s doing.”

“Just because I’m not in medical school doesn’t mean I have no idea what I’m doing…”

“Uh huh.”

He places the back of his hand against my forehead. I have no idea if I’m sweating or not, nervous or exasperated because I was dragged into this house when I was supposed to be dead by now.

“…and just because you’re in medical school doesn’t mean you’re not a jackass.”

“Nah… a smart ass maybe, right Anna?”

“Sorry,” she calls from the kitchen, “not getting involved.”

Ethan laughs as he stands up straight. “Do you normally faint like this? Because I don’t remember that at all.”

“No,” I say, “I guess it was just too hot.”

“Well, did you eat anything today?”

I stare at him. He frowns at me. “I’ll take that as a no. Well that’s probably why you fainted—”

Aiden sits next to me on the sofa. “Yeah, you’re so brilliant. How many years of medical school did it take for you to learn how to do that?”

They start arguing again as the memories start to resurface. Ethan is Aiden’s older brother by four years. It’s not like you could tell he’s older, though. They look pretty much alike aside from their eyes. Ethan’s eyes are chocolate brown, resembling Anna’s pretty well.

“Dude,” Ethan says, “I know you’re jealous, and it’s cool. Just stop being a dick and get off of mine.”

“Really now… I’m jealous of what? How ridiculous you are?”

“You guys fight too much,” I cut in, both of them looking toward me. They laugh.

“Nah, I don’t fight,” Aiden says, “I just listen and respond, whereas he starts shit all the time.”

“Uh huh, that makes sense.”

Anna walks into the living room. “Could you guys do us all a favor and shut up? I made food.”

Aiden and Ethan quickly disappear into the kitchen, Anna’s face twisted in disgust.

“God, they’re stupid,” she says as she sits next to me, “You alright?”

“Headache,” I say, “Bad one, but I’ll be fine.”

“You better be.”

The boys walk back into the living room, sit in the chairs across from us. We watch them as they eat huge sandwiches filled with God knows what.

“Ew, you guys are disgusting!” Anna yells.

“Your fault for starving us,” Ethan says as he takes a big bite out of it. I laugh.

Speaking of that, I’m still smiling, more than I usually do. We did things like this when we were younger, boys raiding our houses and eating whatever they could get their hands on. Mostly, Aiden came over to my house. Mark would get annoyed with him, how much money he was costing him.

Not like Aiden cared, though.

The doorbell rings, Anna smiling as she stands up.

“That must be Jeremy,” she says as she walks toward the front door.

My eyes widen. Of course, just when things get better, something has to go completely wrong.

Anna opens the door, green eyes entering the room, the monster's expression totally unrecognizable. I can't really tell if he's pissed at me for being here.

Shouldn’t really hope for the best, though. From the front door, he can't see Aiden. The moment he takes one look at him, his expression completely changes.

My skin tightens again.

"Gang's all here!" Anna yells, displaying a goofy smile as she plops down on the sofa next to me. Jeremy sits next to her

"Ha ha, lame ass," Ethan says.

"Ha ha, fuck you."

"Nah, I'm going to be a married man in a few months, so no-can-do."

"Good. Saved my life."

"Wait," I cut in, "Ethan, you're getting married?"

"Yep. Proposed to Ashlee two weeks ago. Came all this way to tell you..." he hesitates, "I didn't tell Anna to drag you over here, though."

 I smile when I hear Ashlee's name, one person I can seriously never forget. If you ask me, she reminds me a lot of myself.

Well... not myself... She reminds me of what Jeremy created out of me, and it scares me now that I think about it.

I look toward Jeremy, his eyes gone dark. No one's really including him in the conversation, and I guess he's blaming me for it.

“So, Jeremy,” I say quickly, trying to avoid yet another hour spent with him… He already does it enough. I don’t need any more time. “What are you doing here?”

“Mark saw you walking down the street,” he responds as he starts staring at Anna again, “He wanted me to come get you. He wants you home.”

Now, why would I do that?

I nod, stare at the floor. Something’s forcing its way out of my gut, so I stand up, turn toward Anna.

“Bathroom.”

“Chick, you know where it is. You practically live here.”

I laugh. “It wasn’t a question. I’m just not rude.” I smirk as I walk up the stairs, my smile slowly fading as I turn the corner. Now that I’m away from everyone, the feeling in my stomach’s gone away.

But the memories still remain.