Thanks for the reviews to those who have given them. Sorry it took so long. I've been busy and non motivated as of late.

After Anthony dried off and clothed himself, he sat in front of his laptop. He logged into his instant messenger in invisible mode. Sure enough, Carmen was awaiting his virtual arrival.

He drug the cursor over her online handle. The information read that she had been on for thirty minutes prior to him getting on. He sat in the chair a minute debating whether or not he wanted to explain the dream to her. His mind was made up rather quickly. Anthony logged out and closed his laptop. He grabbed the phone and called his friend Dylan.

It rang and rang.

"Hello." Dylan's mom answered.
"Is, Dyl there by chance?"
"Yeah," she paused. "You wanna talk to him?"
"Nah… I'm just gonna come over if that's ok?"
"Yeah sure is." She answered.
"Alright, I'll be there in a few."

Anthony hung up the phone. He turned around and his dad was standing there. "You're going to Dylan's?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, I'll drop you off. I have to go to town later."

Anthony didn't care. He wanted to get out of the house. He nodded. Shortly after their conversation he arrived at Dylan's house.

"See ya later." Anthony said as he closed the car door.

He passed all the cars in the driveway. Anthony recognized every last one of them. He knocked on the door and walked in as he normally did.

"Where's da actions?" Anthony said mocking Jeanne's boyfriend.

Jeanne was in the kitchen smoking a cigarette.
"Hey, how's it going?"
"Oh… it's going Miss Jeanne… it's going." He paused. "Where' Dyl?"
"Oh, he's in the bathroom, but we're all in the living room."

Anthony walked over to where Jeanne pointed him to. The first person he saw was Heather. She greeted him with that same greeting she had been using for years past. He liked it, but he also hated it. Heather was perched in the Lay-Z-boy on the far end of the room.

"Hey you…" Anthony felt someone grab his hand.

He looked down to find Danielle who had tugged on his hand.

"You smell good." She added.

"Thanks… I just got out of the shower not too long ago." Anthony answered. "Where's the Fi?"
"Oh, Heath ran to the store to get a blunt. He'll be back in a few."
Anthony looked at Nelson, Jeanne's boyfriend, and pointed, "Actions!"

With his thirty-two ounce beer in tow he looked at Anthony, "Ahh, actions!"

Anthony laughed, "Where's mah beer, man?"
"It's at the store, ehh. Go get you one." Nelson answered in his El Salvadorian accent.
"Bah… that's no good… no good at all, man."

Anthony sat next to Danielle. "How've you been?"
"Gooood." She answered.
Anthony laughed to himself, "Lord, how many vicodin did you take?"
"Just three… you know my back hurts a lot."

Dylan walked out from the back. He stopped. "Hey, sup man?"
"School… it's killing me." Anthony answered. "Just stay away from it."
"I didn't plan on going to college."
"I need a fucking break. I've been hallucinating lately."
"No shit?" Dylan said as he pulled from his cigarette.
"No shit…" he paused. "Shit, last night I had a nose bleed from hell."

"Hey, got the blunt, Eddie Pau…"
"Hey, Heath." Anthony said as he picked his hand up over the partition into a peace sign.
"Anthony, what's the deal?"
"Hanging out… just hangin' out, man." Anthony answered.

Heath walked over to the counter and split the cherry flavored blunt in half in ever so meticulous manner. He did with a the precision of a surgeon working on a clogged artery. Anthony took his Yankees cap off and laid his hat back on the couch pillow. His hair was still damp. He zoned out for a few minutes.

"Hey, take this." Danielle said as she handed him the blunt.
Anthony handed it to Heath. "Nah, that's alright."
"You don't want?" Heath asked as he from the blunt.

He shook his head no.

"Good man, good man." Heath replied.

Dylan was the next to take a hit from the joint, then Heather. Jeanne was next.

"Aw, come on Anthony. I never get to see you high." Jeanne said. "Come on take a hit. You never get high around me."
"It's been over a year or so since a joint has touched my lips." He laughed.

Jeanne passed it to Nelson, "Really?"

Anthony nodded.

He sat silently as he watched everyone else pass the joint around. It made its way back toward Danielle. She hit the joint a few times then passed it in front of Anthony. The smoke trail found its way into his nostrils. Heath grabbed it. Anthony got up and walked toward the kitchen cupboard and grabbed a clear plastic cup out.

"I was wondering when you'd get some water." Dylan said.
Anthony laughed a bit and placed the cup under the faucet. Water poured into the cup. Anthony went back to the couch and sat down. He took a sip of water.

"Did you miss me?" he heard a whisper.

Anthony turned toward Danielle and half smiled at her.

'She's promiscuous as always.'

The joint burnt out and everyone congregated at the table in the dining room. Danielle and Heather were the last to get up from the couch. Anthony stretched out with his feet dangling over.

"What's wrong with you?" Heather said as she sat next to him.
"Nothing really. I'm fine actually…"

A knock came from the front door. Heather got up to answer it.

"It's for you…"

Anthony got up from the couch and walked over to the door.

'Wonder who it is?'

"Hey, son."

It was his dad, "What brings ya here?"
"I talked to Miss Francis a little while ago."
"How is she?"
"She's fine..." his dad paused for a second. "Do you remember Stephanie?"
"No. I don't remember her…" Anthony answered with a slight pause. "What kind of fucking question is that? Of course, I remember her." He laughed a bit.
His father hesitated a bit, "Well, she died about two months ago."
"What?"
"Yeah, her and her boyfriend went out drinking one night and collided into a tree. They were fine then, but ended up staying the majority of the night in the drink tank. When they sobered up, they decided to leave instead of calling someone to get them and started walking home. Anyway, some ways down the road they were both hit by a car. Stephanie died instantly, but her boyfriend went into a coma."

Anthony stood there unable to say anything. He was able to fake what he felt on the inside. Anthony leaned up against the side of the house.

"Well, that's pretty, uhm… terrible."
His father nodded.

"Well, thanks for telling me. I'm going to go back inside."
"Alright, I'll see you later then."

His dad climbed back into the Jeep and drove off. Anthony went back into the house. His mood changed immediately the second he stepped in the house. Danielle was sitting on the couch looking at him. Everyone was sitting at the dining table chatting amongst themselves.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing, I'm fine, my dad just had to tell me something."
"Bull… no, really… something is wrong. You look extremely depressed, as if someone you know died." She replied as he sat next to her.

Anthony stayed quiet. He proceeded to lay down.

"Oh… I'm sorry." Danielle said.
"For what?"
"For your loss… your pain." She answered as she scooted over putting his head in her lap. She began to run her fingers through his hair.

Heather and Dylan walked in and took a seat. Heather sat on the side of Danielle. Dylan took his seat in the Lay-z-boy.

"What's wrong?" Dylan asked.

Anthony gritted his teeth. He had always hated that particular question.

"A friend of his died." Danielle answered the question for Anthony.
"Who?" Dylan's mom overheard.
"Do I know them?" Dylan asked.

'Jésus'

"No you don't know her." Anthony answered in frustration.
"What's her name?" Jeanne asked.
"Her name is Stephanie Reynolds. Trust me… you didn't know her."

Heather and Jeanne began bombarding him with questions while Dylan silently flipped through the television channels. Danielle was still running her fingers through Anthony's hair as a means of comfort. It helped, but not by much. Anthony got up and grabbed a cigarette from Dylan's pack and lit it. He then walked out of the door.

Anthony walked down the road. His thoughts were filled with moment of the past. He took another drag off of the cigarette.

'Why…'

He exhaled.

'Why what?...'

It was slightly cold out. He took another drag from the cigarette. Anthony began thinking of the dreams he had of the little girl the previous nights. He lost his balance. He knew who the little girl was in the dreams.

'Stephanie…'

He didn't know why she was visiting him. A car passed by. The wind blew the cigarette out of his hand into the road. Another car passed by running over it. Anthony began to curse to himself.