Chapter 3- Tara
New Friends (I think.)
“I’m scared.” I whisper, admitting to myself, having no one else to admit it to.” I don’t know what to do.” My father is gone, maybe even dead. Somehow I got put into this strange world, made to trust someone who turned out to be unworthy of the trust that I put in him. I may as well just kill myself now. I think, as that boy, J shows up in the doorway. I turn away and look for another exit. He just stands there for a minute, as if he’s not sure what to do. After I give up my search for an exit and sit back in my chair, he takes a step forward.
“Look, I-“
“I don’t want to hear it.” I say coldly,I turning away and staring at the wall. I don’t care what he’s going to, he hurt me. Both physically, and mentally. I don’t know kind of person would just drag another person they just insulted into a café. I can’t do anything, with or without him. So why do anything with him? You’re being to sensitive, My Brain monkey, the little voice in my head that’s always telling me what I’m doing wrong.
“Tara.” He puts his hand on my shoulder, his voice intense. “I saved your life. That… um, sky? It might have taken you. And you don’t want to know what would happen to you if it did.” I don’t say anything, so he just says, “I can help you. If you want it, let me know.” Then he just walks out, through the front room, onto street. As he goes out the door, I jump up.
“J!” I yell, but he doesn’t hear me. That was dumb. I don’t even know what just happened, but that was an apology, and an offer for help. And you just sat there like an idiot. For once, I don’t say anything to my Brain Monkey, because it’s right. I am an idiot. This person who you don’t know, who you just told you wanted nothing to do with them, ever, just told you if you wanted to, he could help. Then he walked away. He didn’t push you one way or another, just let you be. I jump up and run out the door. I run down the sidewalk to where he stands. He just looks at me, not saying anything. I look deep into his eyes and see that they are purple. But not a girly purple, it’s purple closer to red. They seen to move and shift like a portal, like the sky that he saved me from.
Um, Tara? You were in the middle of accepting his apology. The voice comes back.
Fine. I tell my Brain Monkey.
“I forgive you.” I say. He just looks at me, staring intensely and confusedly. “And I trust you.” He nods.
“Thank you.” When he says it he gets a look on his face I’ve seen on my own many times before. The look that says; ‘I actually did something’ I could make a difference for once. And it makes me happy. He loves that he did something for me. And so do I.
“I should probably tell you… you know what I need help with.”
“Your father is missing.” He says, blushing a little. I frown.
“How do you know that?” I ask harshly. J blushes even more.
“You um, mumble real loud.” Now it’s my turn to blush.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” We stand there for a moment, letting my troubles seep back into me. How am I, along with a boy I barely know, supposed to save my father? Maybe I could get James to help me… But how can I get back?
“Even know I know the problem, it would be nice if you could, um, tell me how you got here and why you can’t get back.” I nod.
“Yeah. I can do that.” I feel tears coming. “I was in South Dakota, and…” I stop short when I see his bewildered look. He notices me noticing him and blushes.
“Sorry. Continue.” He says.
“Sure…” I take a deep breath. “I was um, there, and my dad had been gone all day. So I called him and left a message. Right after I hung up, I felt a weird sensation.” Tears fall down my cheeks, flooding my dry, worried, skin. “Then I was falling, and it was so dark.” Reliving the moment in my head burns like fire. “I fell for a long time, and then landed on the ground, knocked out. When I woke up, I was in this, um, field of ashes.” J takes a sharp breath in through the mouth, almost gasping. “Then I walked and walked and walked until I bumped into you.” J nods, looking worried. I don’t say anything, because I don’t know what I could say. So I just sit there. After a long time, he just says,
“Okay.” I frown.
“Okay?” He nods.
“Yeah.” He looks confused, like I’m crazy. I jump up.
“My father could be dead, and the only person I have to help me is you. And all you can is ‘Okay’?” J nods.
“I was just saying a general ‘okay’, as in, okay I understand this.”
Tara. Stop being so… prone to freak out.
Fine.
I nod my head and give a little smile.
“Okay.” I say. J grins.
“Okay?” He’s got one eyebrow raised, and he looks so amused and silly I can’t help but laugh. We both laugh for a while. He stops laughing first, and I follow soon after.
“Look, Tara.” J smiles a little at me. “I know you’re having a hard time, and you’re trusting someone you barely know. I’m glad you can laugh. Your laugh is beautiful.” How did this guy suddenly get so poetic?
You know nothing about him. Stop it.
I know, but I don’t have a choice but to trust him. What else can I do?
Nothing, I guess. but don’t judge him. Maybe he’s always very poetic.
I guess you're right, but I feel like I know him better than I normally do for someone I just met.
Are you saying this is fate?
Shut up.
“Thank you, J.” I sit down next to him. “So… plan?” J sits up and turns towards me. Oh my, Tara. My Brain Monkey says. The two of you, alone, sitting on a park bench. Alone. Be quiet, Brain Monkey. I say to myself.
“So you had just called your father… right?” J ventures. I nod. “After he had been gone all day?” I nod again, not sure what to say.
“So I called him on my phone… and left a message. After I left it, I started to hang up.” J massages his temples as if that will help him think. Right as I hung up… Right as…
“Right as I hung up!” I yell, my heart beating fast. J looks at me weird.
“What do you mean?”
“The phone!” I yell, jumping up and down. J’s face slowly breaks into a grin, and he too jumps up. He picks me up and spins me around yelling.
“It was the phone! It was the phone!” He puts my down and I reach into my pocket and grab my phone. I flip it open and press the redial button. My dad’s number shows up on the screen and a portal the same color as J’s eyes appears beneath my feet. I grab J’s hand, and together we fall into the darkness. Nothingness. All I feel is nothingness. But this time I’m not alone.
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