Do You Remember?

Chapter 3

1 Day and 11 Hours Before

One week and two days had passed since my twenty-fifth birthday. Friday was here, the last day of the work week and the beginning of the weekend. The week had crawled at a snail's pace, with my boring and mundane home-school routine. Mixed in with this boredom was a ton of stress brought on by my day job—teaching, and naught did it have anything to do with the children I taught, but more with a fly-off-the-handle maniacal principal, Mrs. Denise Tracket.

Dying, I was, for the only thing that eased severe stress: going dancing. Since becoming the main breadwinner of my household, I sought such leisure out of my village, amongst strangers, rather than with familiar faces, for it was where being myself was the easiest. Of course, I'd felt such ease in my community a few times before, but that ease had quickly expired due to the outrage that a quiet young lady could be something other than what she appeared to be. And so I was reduced to feeling caged in the mold that this community had envisioned for me, and I longed to be free, especially with the stressors of my job.

What better way than dancing it off in some far-off nightclub, two hours of traveling distance away, with my long-distance companion, Richard Miller?

At a time when cell phones were non-existent, Richard and I had no way of contacting each other, save me showing up at places he frequented: the Revolving Lights nightclub, or the smoking section of the mall where the club was located.

A little over an hour after my arrival home, my best friend Sue Daniels showed up. I was in the middle of over-analyzing and playing the self-critical overthinking game over the direction my life was heading. I contemplated many regrets: Failed crushes over guys I never mustered the courage to talk to; a failed relationship that ended upon learning I was seeing someone who was engaged to another; and a good friendship that met its end when the guy confessed his unreciprocated love for me. And the most recent centered around my stupidity in believing I had something special with Richard.

That summed up the extent of my troubles. Luckily, I possessed a secret therapeutic remedy that helped me overcome them all, and that was denial. As long as I didn't dwell on them, I was okay.

After many attempts, Sue finally enticed me to play video games with her at the newly established local amusement arcade. How do you say no to a determined and lively friend like her?

A noisy car crept along the deserted pothole-covered road, its exhaust coughing up smoke in the humid atmosphere. Not a soul was around outside or inside the arcade, not even the owner, which was customary, often leaving a customer with no choice but to summon him.

Sue's eyes sparkled excitedly. "Mr. Claytus. Mr. Claytus!" She cupped her hands over her mouth and called.

A deep voice from within mumbled, and seconds later a middle-aged man of African descent emerged and stood behind the counter. He trailed his gaze from Sue to me. "Ah see she drag you out de house!" he said.

He wasn't wrong! This small village held no likable, nor exciting thing for me, and so I rarely ventured beyond the village's main road, except to happen by other parlors or the beach with family. "I was bored anyway!" I said.

His eyes twinkled as the corners of his lips curled at the edges, making him look slightly older than his forty-something years.

"We'd like to buy some coins for the arcade game," I said, wondering if my pretense was noticeable, for video games were the last thing I ever thought to play. The few times I'd played them before, I lacked the fancy required for addiction. I dug into my three-quarter jeans pocket for a ten-dollar bill and held it out to him.