⌠You▓re grounded again!?!■ I heard Ramona yelling from the other end of the hall, my last day of school, I had just finished my last exam and was making my way to my Rebecca▓s locker. Our usual meeting spot, it had been since ninth grade, and now our junior year was coming to a close and I was graduating.
I turned a corner and spotted Caity looking around frantically, trying to find anyone to help calm Ramona down. ⌠Abbie!■ she called once she had spotted me, ⌠Hurry, Ramona▓s gonna kill Rebecca!■ I quickened my pace only slightly, so that I would be able to pull Ramona off of Becca if I had to.
To mine, and probably Rebecca▓s, relief Ramona had not yet pounced onto the girl, she was simply glaring at her. ⌠What▓s the problem?■ I asked, sounding much more tired than I really was, but after two years of Prozac mixed with therapy and about five other drugs I couldn▓t help it.
⌠Rebecca▓s grounded! She can▓t come to Jimmy Cone today!■ Ramona yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Becca, who shrugged and hung her head.
I sighed, it was just like Rebecca to pluck her mother▓s last nerve on the last week of school. ⌠Here,■ I handed her my cell phone, ⌠call your mother, I▓ll talk to her.■ She dialed the number and then handed me the phone.
After it rang three times her mother picked up, ⌠Hello?■ Came from the other end of the line and I put on my sweetest tone of voice.
⌠Hello, Mrs. Crapo?■ I said politely.
⌠Yes, who is this?■
⌠This is Rebecca▓s friend, Abbie Marcus. I was wondering if you would let Rebecca come to Jimmy Cone with us today?■
⌠No, I▓m sorry. She▓s grounded, or didn▓t she tell you?■
⌠I know, but, it▓s my last day. I just finished my last exam and I▓m graduating this year.■
⌠Oh, well congratulations, but she▓ll see you some time over the summer.■
⌠But, Mrs. Crapo, that▓s the problem. This weekend my mother, myself, and my brother and sister are going to Aruba. We▓re moving there.■
⌠Oh, I didn▓t know you would be moving so soon┘Well, if you can bring Rebecca home by five she can go with you.■
⌠Thank you, Mrs. Crapo, I really appreciate this.■
⌠You▓re very welcome. Good-bye. And good luck moving.■
⌠Thank you, I▓ll have Becca home on time.■ I closed the phone and stuffed it in my pocket, ⌠Well, aren▓t you all going to pile into my car?■ They grinned and I followed them out to the senior parking lot. My black jeep wrangler sat just outside school property, in its usual spot by the sidewalk. Ramona called shotgun and Rebecca groaned as she climbed into the back seat with Caity. I got into the driver▓s seat and turned on the car, then I shifted from park to drive and we were off.
⌠Are you really moving this weekend?■ Rebecca asked, leaning between me and Ramona.
⌠Next weekend, get your seatbelt on.■ I clarified, by this weekend I knew Rebecca would no longer be grounded and her mother will have forgotten our conversation. ⌠This weekend I▓m having a going away party, you all are coming, I▓m gonna pick up Lauren tomorrow and my little cousin Melia will be dropped off Saturday morning.■ I explained, they all nodded and then Ramona asks.
⌠Isn▓t Melia that cute little girl you got into Inuyasha?■ I smiled, stopping at the red light on main street.
⌠Yup, and now she▓s totally otaku, thanks to me. She▓s seen almost every episode of Inuyasha and Rurouni Kenshin, she owns all of the Fruits Basket DVD▓s, she▓s seen every episode of FLCL, and now she▓s reading Naruto.■ I grinned to myself, glad that at least one of my cousins was interested in the same things that I was. I had started her off with Inuyasha when she was seven, now she was ten and I was seventeen and whenever I babysat we would talk anime just to annoy her older sister.
The way to describe my friends and I when we▓re together would be, a group of obsessive, schizophrenic, depressed psychopaths, just to be blunt.
That weekend started on Friday night, we all barricaded ourselves in my bedroom, which had almost nothing in it because it was all either at Good Will or in boxes, getting loaded onto a plane and delivered to a house in Aruba. We spent Friday night watching anime that we knew Melia couldn▓t watch, and talking about things we wouldn▓t be allowed to in front of my ten-year-old cousin.
Caity had brought Love Hina and some other old favorites, and Ramona had brought every Yaoi she could unearth in her home. Lauren had managed to burn the 3rd Naruto Movie onto a DVD for the party, and Rebecca had her Wolf▓s Rain and every other wolf related item she was allowed to own.
When Melia arrived we watched Fruits Basket for the millionth time and debated on character pairings. Melia and I agreed unwaveringly on Tohru-Yuki all the way, while Caity tried to defend her stand that Hatori-Tohru would be the best pairing. My argument was that Hatori and the teacher were already together and I was perfectly fine with that, so she should be too. Then Lauren stepped in and said that Kyo and Yuki should be together, everyone looked at her for a moment and then yelled, ⌠No!■ Although it was a yaoi pairing it couldn▓t be allowed, because I felt that Kyo and Arisa belonged together, while Arisa▓s ⌠boyfriend■, who was also Akito▓s slave, should be with Akito so that neither of them would be lonely. Then Caity and I began arguing over the best pairings for the others, we agreed that Shigure and Mit-Chan belonged together, but when I suggested that Ayame be with Ritsu Caity glared at me.
Finally we agreed to disagree and we let Melia choose a movie, she put the Naruto Movie into the PS2 and we let it play. By the time it was over Caity and I had gotten into another debate about pairings, while we agreed on Naruto-Kakashi and decided to just let Sakura have Sasuke we couldn▓t let anything else go un-argued. I thought that original characters were the only way to go with most of the characters in that show, Gaara, for example, had no chance with anyone besides an original character. Caity, however, had a long and passionate rant about why original characters would never be right ready to counter my argument.
By the end of our debate both of us were steaming, and everyone else was finding other things to do to occupy their time. I apologized to each about eight times, as was my little habit, and we all went outside at around midnight to look at the moon. It was full and the deepest blue I had ever seen, a shiver ran down my spine as I watched it and the other girls played a game of tag. There were no flashlights, and I live too far out to have any working streetlamps nearby, but I still knew exactly what went on.
One of my very few talents was my ability to see in the dark, I had spent most of my life in the dark so my eyes had to adjust to it eventually. Now I watched the group running around and once in a while I looked up at the moon, it was certainly rare to see a moon this shade of blue. I had learned from experience that weird things happened under the blue moon, anyone who dreamed on the night of a blue moon was blessed with happiness for the rest of their life. I smiled as I watched the moon and I wished for dreams to come my way on that night, I couldn▓t remember a time when I was ever truly happy, I wanted a blue moon dream more than anything.
⌠If I could be happy for just one day┘really┘truly┘genuinely happy┘I know everyone else would be satisfied.■ I whispered to the moon, ⌠And if you could send dreams to my friends tonight, as well┘I know they▓d appreciate it.■ I smiled at the moon momentarily and then went back to watching Caity almost trip over Melia and then hug her in apology, a habit that tended to get on my nerves but I had to admit, it was pretty cute to watch.
We went to bed at about one in the morning, laying down to sleep I watched everyone else fade off before me. I was always the last one to fall asleep, if I slept at all, and so I knew everyone▓s funny sleeping habits. Rebecca snored, only slightly but it was loud enough to hear from across the room, I smiled at how she▓d react in the morning to being told she had snored. Ramona and Caity, on the other hand, talked in their sleep, saying the stupidest and most random things I▓ve ever heard. Melia and Lauren both move around in their sleep, never in one position for long they sometimes end up sleeping with their feet on their pillow and their head under the blankets. My sleeping habit, though, was possibly the weirdest of them all, I sleep with my eyes open, so it▓s better that I fall asleep last and wake up first so as not freak anybody out.
As soon as I fade off, though, I▓m lost to the world until light pours through the window and the children start moving around downstairs. I wave away a large butterfly as I walk through a meadow of blue grass, the sky is a lavender purple while the clouds look like cotton candy. My friends wave to me from the lake and motion for me to join them, I shake my head and sit down with my white puppy-dog, stroking him about the head to which he responds by laying his head on my lap. ⌠I recognize you,■ I say to the puppy, ⌠Akamaru┘■ I look up to see Kiba looking down at me with a grin.
⌠Hey, Akamaru! You▓ve got a girlfriend? She▓s cute!■ I look around to see Rebecca, she had turned into a black puppy and was sitting beside Akamaru. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out, Kiba picked up Akamaru and Rebecca and walked away, me desperately trying to call after them. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked around to see Itachi looking down at me with a smirk.
⌠Hey, Kurumi, we should get going.■ I smiled and suddenly I was by the lake, watching Lauren walk away with Itachi by her side, both smiling broadly. Once more I tried to call after my friend, but nothing came out, I stood and looked toward the lake, there was no one there any longer. I walked slowly to the water▓s edge, and then I heard voices behind me, idle chatter that I couldn▓t make out completely. I turned to find Ramona sitting with Caity and playing a game with Melia, standing behind the girls were two men that I recognized but couldn▓t place.
One man said something and both girls stood, each taking one man▓s hand and Melia grabbing hold of Ramona▓s arm. I watched as Ramona lead Melia and Sasuke away by the hand, followed by Caity and Shino, arm-in-arm and watching each other like a pair of love-sick idiots. I stepped back and touched my cheek, my hand came away wet, and as I looked at it I saw something red. I turned back to the lake and looked into it to see my reflection, distorted by the water▓s surface, my eyes cried with tears red as blood. I wiped them away without a second thought and then looked at the sky, it was red now with clouds of pitch black. I went to wash my face, but as I dipped my hands into the water I noticed a red tint to it, I drew my hands out of it and watched the blood run down my fingers and back into the lake.
Standing suddenly I looked around to see that the lake had disappeared, I was in the middle of what looked like a desert, the wind blowing the sand around me. I began walking but soon found myself stuck to the ground, when I looked at my feet I saw two large dogs biting into my legs and holding me still. Then an army of strange bugs began crawling up my body, stopping at my neck and shoulders where they bit into my flesh and began sucking my blood. Then two pairs of red eyes appeared before me, one closer to the ground than the other, I struggled against the dogs at me feet and tried to pull the bloodsuckers off of me but I couldn▓t even move my body. I tried to scream but nothing came out, I fell to my knees consumed by a sudden cold and I hugged myself. Everything had disappeared and I was alone in a cold desert, under the light of a blood-red moon, that was when the eyes returned. They watched me for a minute and then disappeared again, only to be replaced by a complete and frighteningly still silence.
I was weeping, my red tears leaving marks in the white sand, my entire body was in pain and I couldn▓t find the strength to move. I fell forward and held myself up with my hands, suddenly I coughed and out of my dry throat came blood, spilling onto the sand where my tears had fallen. I gasped for air, unable to catch my breath, my arms became as weak as my legs and I fell onto my face. Unable to breathe, unable to move, unable to even call for help, I let myself cough up another helping of fresh blood as my red tears lulled me to sleep like a soft, comforting lullaby my mother used to sing to me. I took one last look at the violet sky and the blue moon before my vision blurred and all will to live left my body.
Unable to breathe. Unable to move. Unable to even call for help. Cold as ice from my heart to the very tips of my fingers. Slowly dieing and I am totally, completely, utterly alone.
