Okay well I decided to rewrite this story because I was kind of getting a little bit of writer's block. I had some ideas, but they would only work if the story had been written differently. A little while back, I was reading some of the previous chapters and then I realized that there was so much that I wanted to change. So, let me know what you think of the chapter and of the idea in general. :) Thanks guys, love you all! xoxo
Clara :)
March 10, 2001-Wooo! It's spring break!! Thank God because if I honestly had to sit through another one of Prof. Kabasko's lectures this week I think I'd die! He is the most boring man alive, doesn't matter if he's teaching or not. Holly fully agrees with me…
I remember the day that she was drawing cartoon pictures of him while he was ranting on and on about something, she really can draw amazingly though, and then after class she accidentally left them in the room and he found them…we laughed SO hard!
Anyways, Holly seems to think that she needs a friend to go with her to Daytona…why me? She gets so crazy, well, she's Holly. There's not really a way to describe her, but I love her anyways. So she's dragging me along with her. She says that I need it…do I?
"Oh come on Melinda, it's gonna be eight days of hot guys, beer, beach, and more beer." This was her statement trying to convince me to come.
"I think I could do without the 'hot guys' part of that lovely offer." I replied.
"Melinda, you can't keep wallowing about Kyle forever. You guys broke up at the end of last September, that's like six months, you need to move on. Kyle was an idiot and he always will be."
She was right and I knew it. "I know Hol; it's just that I just miss him so much."
"Melinda, this is just what you need. Please come with me…it'll be fun I promise. You need a spring break fling. Nothing serious, but something flingy." She said.
"Alright, I'll go but just on the condition that you don't try to make 'flingy' and actual word." I gave into her pleas.
"Yay! It'll be amazing, I promise." She said.
So we're leaving in like an hour…sigh, sometimes, there's no winning in Holly's case.
March 13, 2001-Wow…Daytona is CRAZYYYYYY!!! Sooooo much fun though! I'm so glad I came. No 'fling' yet but that's okay. The 'beer and beach' part is good enough for me….God I love Daytona! It's really late, Hol went off with some guy…bet she's having fun tonight. Anyhoo, I really don't wanna even think about the hangover that I'm gonna have tomorrow…it was worth it. I've never really gone away for spring break before so it's really different than what I'm used to. Holly on the other hand…well, let's just say she's an expert in this category.
Last night we went for drinks with a couple cute guys…nothing special, but it was fun.
March 15, 2001-Had a definite hangover yesterday…coffee and aspirin, my two favourite things after a night involving the over consumption of beer. Holly came back yesterday morning…also with a hangover. She was soooo drunk, nothing new…she doesn't really know her alcohol limits. I do…at times, but that's the fun of it…right?
Some guys came to hangout with me and Hol last night at the beach, they wanted to teach us to surf and stuff but I got too scared to do it. Holly on the other hand went along with it. I don't even remember their names, not like I'm ever going to see them again.
March 17, 2001-Ahh, we're leaving in 2 days…I really don't want to. I never got to have my 'fling' but Holly really cheered me up. I'm still not fully over Kyle, but I think that it'll take time to get to that point where I'm fine with it. I still wake up some mornings, thinking that he's going to call me, and then he doesn't. Holly had about five flings so far and she's on her sixth one right now…
March 19, 2001-Back from the trip, lots of fun, hard to get back to school. I have Prof. Kabasko's class first thing tomorrow, joy…oh well. I can see it now.
"Melinda, when I was your age, we didn't have spring break. We sat at home and studied…" That is totally what he's gonna say to me tomorrow, he's going to try to make all of us feel guilty that we weren't studying over spring break...as if! Ugh, he's just so old; it should be illegal for him to teach…I should start a campaign for that.
Sigh, the trip was fun but I'm still kind of down. I mean, I know that it's been six months but Kyle was such a big part of my life. I was with him for more than a year…I thought that I could really trust him…that he was 'the one', but as soon as I trusted him with the one thing that I didn't want anyone to know, he left me. He never called after that. That was it, I give him my secret, and he just threw me away. He never called me again, never talked to me whatsoever. I called him so many times and left so many messages, but he never returned my calls.
May 2, 2001-Officially done school for the next four months! Yay! God I love summer, nothing to do, I'll probably work a bit more for Dr. Deangelo-I know being a receptionist for a doctor isn't the most glamorous job in the world, but it pays really well. Plus, I think I'm going to pick up some more waitressing jobs at the Hi-Fi. I don't work there as often during the school year, but I love it there. Hol got me the job there-she knows someone, who knows someone, who is best friends with the owner. It's pretty laid back there, not like at the doctor's office. There I'm always rushing around-it's crazy!
July 15, 2001-Gotta love the lazy summer days. Having nothing to do is my new favorite hobby. Went to the beach with Holly after work yesterday-she was hoping to pick up a hot new date for her cousin's wedding, but no such luck. She really gets around, but I love her. Got a sunburn, not too bad though. Waayy too many people there though. It took us an hour longer than it normally does because of all the traffic.
Hol's always telling me that I'm going to find summer love…first it was a fling, that didn't happen. I don't count on finding anyone any time soon. I mean, I've gone on a few dates here and there, but no one I really liked. All courtesy of Holly obviously, but I really think that I'm not going to let her keep setting me up with the guys that she meets at low-key bars. Especially after the last guy. She said that he was a friend of a friend, so I went along with it…one word-EWW! She had never met the guy herself and he was REALLY creepy. When I first got there, his first comment to me was "Wow, that dress you're wearing looks great. Is it easy to get out of?" Right then and there, I told him that I'd forgotten my purse in my car, so I walked out of the restaurant and escaped home. Man, he was a real creep.
August 21, 2001-Nothing new really going on with me. Working more, sleeping more…and that's basically what my days consist of. My nights on the other hand, they sometimes consist of being the third wheel on Holly's dates, or just hanging out with her. Stayed over at her house last night and we didn't sleep until seven in the morning. We watched cheesy chick flicks, ate ice cream and popcorn-I'm surprised I didn't get sick-, and then we just talked.
I asked her if she thought that she was ever going to find one guy to be with. "I really don't know, I mean, sure I want to, but I'm really independent, ya know? I'm not really one to be tied down with a relationship." She said, lying back onto her bed.
"Yeah, that's true." I agreed.
"What about you? Anyone catching your interest?" she asked.
"No, no one at the moment. But I really do want to find that one guy…the one that'll make me feel so special and loved…the perfect guy." I said.
"If only those actually existed." She laughed.
"Yeah, so true. I just don't want to be in a relationship where I have to be someone that I'm not. I want to be able to trust that person."
"You mean, you want them to be able to believe in you enough that you can tell them about your secret." She smiled knowingly.
I need to find some new friends, she knows me too well. "Yeah." I sighed. "I don't think that that'll ever happen for me. I mean, sure you believe me, but what kind of guy wants to have a girlfriend that when they talk to their friends about her, they say 'Yeah, I'm dating the crazy ghost chick.'"
"Oh hon, I bet there's someone out there, you just have to keep looking." She said comfortingly.
"You'd better be right because you just got my hopes up there." I joked.
October 20, 2001-Damn, the end of summer came and went so quickly! I've been back to school for almost two months now, oh well, it's passed by at a relatively good pace. I went to my mom's house last night…staying the weekend-joy. I'm in my old room, trying to hide out while she makes dinner. We really don't get along all that well, but she's my mom. She's been nagging me to come home for the longest time-that's nothing new. She claims that I never come to visit her anymore. That part is kind of true, but honestly, it is so awkward when we're together.
I got there late last night-intentionally of course-so that she would already be asleep. But, of course, my luck, she was awake. She said that she'd been waiting for me to come for hours…great way to start off the visit. Then I faked that I was tired so then I went up to my old room and called Holly. We talked for a while but then I had to hang up when my mom came upstairs.
This morning she had work early in the morning so that left some time for me to actually figure out what to do. She's almost home, woohoo…major sarcasm intended there.
October 21, 2001-Well yesterday went as I expected. After dinner last night, my mom sat me down and asked me her usual question-what was I going to do with my life…
I know it sounds like I'm making her out to be this evil person but the fact that she knows that I can see ghosts and she can't has always driven a block between us. She always seems so ashamed that I can see them, like it makes me a monster or something.
"So Melinda, what are you going to do once you're done school?" she asked me…it was like I was having a meeting with a high school guidance councilor.
"I have no idea really; I'm still trying to figure that out." I said, knowing and dreading what was to come.
"Well Melinda, you should have some idea…It's your future we're talking about here. Now, come on. There's got to be something that you want to do."
There was something but I wasn't about to tell her. "Mom, can we just move off this subject, at least for now?" I asked.
"Fine. So do you have a boyfriend yet?" she asked…great, the next question that I dreaded.
"No mom, I don't."
"Well, you better hurry up and find one soon."
"I will mom; I'm just waiting for the right guy."
"Oh Melinda, you really have to stop all of this 'waiting for the perfect man' business. Melinda, you know perfectly well that once you have a boyfriend that you won't be able to tell him about what you can do." She said.
"Mom, I want to find someone that I can trust enough to tell them that."
"Melinda, I learned from my own mistakes, you can't trust men, at least not with things like that." She said.
Ugh, the conversation carried on for a while…I just sat there while she lectured me on my life…she really knows how to get on my nerves. I'm leaving pretty soon so I better get going.
October 24, 2001-Summer went by way too fast. My April exams came and went, same with summer. No 'summer love' for me either, not that I'm trying to steer myself into the guy department just yet. It's been more than a year since my last relationship but I haven't found anyone else.
Hol actually agrees with me and thinks that I'm not ready for a serious relationship, it's too much to handle. I don't think that any guy is actually going to believe me if I was to be in a relationship with them and I told them about what I can do. I can't trust anyone the way I used to trust Kyle. I don't trust easily anyways, and I often find myself thinking that I won't ever find anyone. I want someone who I can put my trust into, who will love me for who I am…if only perfection like that actually existed.
November 10, 2001-Oh my God…tonight was scary. I was just in my bedroom, flipping through a magazine out of boredom. I had just gotten off the phone with Holly and now I had nothing to do. Suddenly, I thought that I began to smell smoke. I looked out my bedroom window and saw that the building right next door was on fire. I literally froze from shock. I had no idea what to do. I heard the sirens from the fire trucks outside and the ones from the ambulances as well. Minutes later, as I had gotten up off of my bed, there was a knock at my door.
I went to go and answer it and then there was a fireman standing there. "Excuse me; we have to evacuate everyone from the building due to the fire next door quickly spreading throughout. And we need everyone out of both facilities to be in safe conditions as a precaution." He said in a very fireman-type voice.
Not really replying, I merely nodded, closed the door to my apartment, and followed him down the hallway towards the stairs. As he was walking me down the stairs he explained that there was no fire in this building and to not panic…I really wasn't paying much attention to him. He was walking me to the other side of the street where all of the other people from both buildings were waiting.
I dropped my slipper as we got down the front steps of the building. He picked it up before I had a chance to and then walked me to the other side. As if I couldn't walk by myself! "I can walk on my own just fine thank you." I told him.
He just nodded and threw my slipper at me…yes THREW!! He could've been a bit nicer! And then he said "You're welcome."…As if I was thanking him!
Then an older lady, Mrs. O'Connell, who lived in the building that was on fire and who I knew really well; came up to me and said that her husband was still in the building. Immediately I knew that she was dead, I could feel the presence of her spirit. That is just so sad though, she was just the sweetest person!
I went up to the first fireman that I saw, which of course to my pleasure, happened to be the one that had just walked me across the street. I told him that there was a man trapped inside. At first, he tried to push me back behind the barrier tape but then I told him that there was a man trapped inside.
At first, he didn't believe me-big surprise there. "No, there isn't. We got everybody out." He told me.
"Please believe me." I said very seriously.
He gave me a strange look, but said nothing. Instead, he got another firefighter, whose name I guess was Noah because that's what the other guy called him, and they went inside.
Soon they came outside with Mr. O'Connell and Mrs. O'Connell's dead body. It was just so sad. There was an explosion from the inside of the building and then it caused some of the windows to shatter from my building.
After about another half hour, they let us go back inside. I never caught sight of that firefighter again…probably a good thing. It's not like he's going to be any part of my life of anything. Just meaningless.
Well, my apartment is full of soot from the fire and I need to go out and get more food because all of the stuff that was left out on the counters got covered in soot-gross.
Oh great, it's raining now, with wind…this night just keeps getting better and better. Maybe something good will happen…I doubt it. Ugh, I'm calling Holly in the morning.