Prophecy

I watched as Monique struggled into the room with a huge carton box in her arms.

“Need any help?” I offered.

“Yes, please.” I got up from around my desk and stalked over to where she was. I placed both hands under one side while she held the one. I could have easily carried the box by myself, but it would’ve looked too weird for me to be carrying the box without any signs of strain. It was strange that Monique could even move it off the ground.

“How far have you been carrying this thing from anyways?” I asked, trying not to sound too suspicious. We rested it on one of the sinks at the back of the lab.

“Thanks,” she leaned tiredly against the sink. “A lower sixth former helped me to carry it from the parking lot, but he said that he was late for his class so I told him that I could manage from the door.”

Her explanation seemed to be the truth. “What’s in this anyway?” I asked knocking on the side of the box curiously.

“Stuff that people ordered for the Valentine’s Day celebrations going on tomorrow.” she replied casually.

“They came early this year, last year was a mess,” I recalled that several orders had arrived after school and the day after. This started a big hurrah as people were requesting their money back.

“We remembered that and asked for them to bring it in this afternoon.” We walked over to our seats.

“Are you going to carry it home with you?”

“Carry home what?” asked Melissa who joined us at the table.

“Oh hi Mel, we were just talking about Valentine’s day stuff.” I pointed to the parcel at the back of the class.

“Oh, what club is that for?” she asked.

“Interact; I’m not carrying it home with me. I asked Kate if I could leave it in the heads’ room after class.” she started taking out her books from her bag.

“So Summer, do you think you have anything in there since you have your new boyfriend and all?” asked Melissa who was wearing a small grin.

“I, I, I don’t know,” I answered abashedly. “This Valentine’s day thing is kinda new to me. All the previous years, it just flew by me just like a regular day. At my old school, there wasn’t much emphasis placed on the day, it’s only since I’ve been here that there’s all this excitement and hype around the day.”

“Well you kinda went to an all girl’s school before Summer and you’re avoiding the question. Do you think he got you anything?” asked Monique.

“I’m not avoiding the question. I think he got me something, I don’t know. Besides Saturday is the real Valentine’s Day, so he could give me his gift then.” It was still weird for me to be talking about all this girly stuff. Usually, I would brush off such conversations as being meaningless or irrelevant.

“Look at her getting all flustered and stuff.” Monique guffawed. “If Beth was here she would have a good laugh out of this.” she paused. “By the way, have any of you seen Beth around, she hasn’t been here for weeks. I wonder if she is sick.”

My mind wandered off.

“Summer,”

“Hmm hmmm.” I snapped out of my reverie.

“Do you know what happened to Beth?” Both of them looked at me.

Yes, I do know. My boyfriend, his brother, and I killed her after she’d attacked me three times. Her ashes are still probably lying somewhere around the Riverton City dump. “No, I don’t know. She’s probably sick like you said.” I replied simply.

“Well I hope she gets well soon,” replied Melissa.

“Me too,” added Monique.

I smiled faintly. I didn’t share their sentiments. I also knew that she wasn’t coming back. She could never come back.

“Summer, sit you don’t seem yourself. In fact, you haven’t been yourself for quite a while.” Thorn said as he led me over to the most distant concrete bench on the old badminton court.

I folded my arms and looked straight ahead into the parking lot. “Today in bio class Monique asked me if I’d seen Beth lately.”

He pulled up closer. “Well it is natural for people to ask questions, I thought you would expect that? What did you tell her?” he whispered.

I dropped my head and stared at my grey skirt. “I told her that she was probably sick. I knew that they would ask, but I was still not prepared for it.” I smiled and then dropped it right after. “What got to me was when she said that she hoped that she would get better soon . . . it was all so ridiculous, I was the only one there who knew that she would never come back.” I paused.

He took my hand and held it in his. I knew that he would have probably hugged me but the schoolyard was already crowded and we still had to keep a suitable distance between ourselves as the school rule specified. Although at times we totally ignored the rule, we both knew that there was a time and place for everything.

“Do you remember that dream I was having a few days back?” I started.

“Yes, you said that you would tell me about it.” I nodded.

“Yeah well in it, I dreamt that she was back and that she’d killed you. I was so fricking scared. Every night I have the same dream over and over. And every time it gets to me and I can't sleep for the rest of the night. That’s why I’ve been so loopy both in and out of class. I, I . . .” I sighed deeply.

“Beth is gone, she isn’t coming back. The both of us saw her being thrown into the incinerator,” he whispered earnestly.

“But . . .”

“But nothing,” he tilted my head up for me to face him. His grey eyes were hard and pleading. “She will never hurt you again. I will never make anything like that ever happen to you ever again.” he squeezed my hand gently.

“I know,” I smiled weakly. “But that’s exactly what worries me.”

He looked at me confused. “What do you mean?”

“In my dream, you were killed while trying to protect me. I don’t want you to die that way. Not only would I have to deal with the blow of losing you, but I would have to live knowing that I was the reason for it.”

He looked at me contemplatively. “Look Summer, you are my life, literally, if you go I go too. I would never place myself in danger unless I think it will give you a chance to live. It wouldn’t be as long as usual but I would have peace in knowing that you exist, even without me.”

“But if you aren’t here what would life hold for me? It would be better if I was dead also, so I would be wherever you are.”

“So you’re going to be a stalker chick in the afterlife.” he grinned.

I threw back my head and laughed softly. “You best believe it. I’ll always be right behind you, even in the afterlife.”

“Well that’s good to know.” he became more solemn. “Seriously though Summer, you need to stop worrying so much about me. It’s just a dream. I am here, you are here and the both of us are okay.” He tapped me gently on the nose. “Besides, I can’t have my fiancée being so unhappy on the eve of the first Valentine’s Day we will spend together.” he smiled.

“Tomorrow isn’t the real V day, so I think I should have one more day to sulk.” I jested.

“Well, the celebrations start tomorrow, for those at this school anyways, so both of us are going to get into the spirit of things.”

“Hallelujah to that. I think I have started to catch the spirit.” I said lamely. He rolled his eyes and laughed. “I could so kiss you right now.” I said touching his face lightly.

“There will be time enough for that on the weekend.” he chuckled. “Come on, I’ll carry you home,” he said helping me up.

“Thanks,” I said softly.

“Anytime love,” he said tapping me gently on my nose.

That night, for the first time in a long while, I slept soundly. Thorn said that everything was going to be fine. He said it, so it must be true. His words were good enough for me.

As I dragged on my jeans, my head buzzed around the details of the coming day. My first day-before-Valentine’s-day-but-was-being-celebrated-as-the-real-Valentine’s-day day. I smiled. Everybody at school would be dressed in red and white since it was also school spirit day.

I put on a closely fitted white cami, which I then overlaid with a red shirt I’d borrowed from Caleb. I rolled up the sleeves and tied the ends of the open shirt together. I put on two red football socks and rolled up one of my pants legs up to my knees so that it would show. I pushed my feet into my white sneakers and hung a red tie, which I’d also borrowed from Caleb around my neck.

I parted my hair in two and braided two long plaits which I bound with two rubber bands to prevent them from unravelling. I tipped on a red cap, which I pushed to one side. I hooked in two huge red hoop earrings to complete the ghetto fabulous look I was trying to create. I pinned my school, house, and prefect buttons on my shirt and then grabbed my school bag from the bed.

When I got downstairs everybody else was already sitting around the kitchen counter.

“Good morning,” I said throwing my bag into the sofa and then walked into the kitchen. I was surprised to see Uncle Frank up this early. He was the night-time supervisor at the wharves, and so spent his days sleeping.

“Hey, morning Summer. See that you’re all dressed up for school spirit day,” he said looking up from the newspaper.

“Yeah, yeah I am.” I grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and took my usual seat at the lower end of the counter. I poured the milk in first and the cereal after. That way, the cereal floated on top. I didn’t like my cereal to get soft too quickly. Caleb would usually mock my backwardness, but he didn’t seem to notice today as he was preoccupied with the crossword puzzle from the morning’s paper.

I listened quietly as Uncle Frank told Aunt Liz about his night. As I got up to put my dish in the sink, he started talking about the banana suckers he’d planted out back. Apparently, they were nearing the time for them to bear fruit.

I ran upstairs to my room for my toothbrush and then over to the bathroom where I re-brushed my teeth. You can’t have too clean a mouth, especially on Valentine’s Day.

When I got back downstairs, Caleb hadn’t moved from his position at the counter. “Caleb, ready,” I took up my bag and flung it over my shoulder.

“Oh,” he got up from around the table and grabbed his keys. He kissed Aunt Liz on the cheek and patted his father on the shoulder.

“Aunt Liz, Uncle Frank later.” I said before heading out.

“Later Summer,” they said in unison.

“What’s up with you this morning?” I asked Caleb as we entered the car.

“Nothing, why’d you ask?” he turned on the ignition and started backing out the driveway.

“It’s just that you seemed a bit quiet this morning. What did Susan dump you last night?” I nudged.

“No . . . but she might if I don’t figure out what to get her for Valentine’s Day tomorrow.” he replied sourly.

“Sorry, but I can’t help you there. I’m kinda new to all this being in love stuff, so I wouldn’t even know where to start looking. Besides, I don’t think Susan’s that shallow. She wouldn’t dump you tomorrow, probably the day after, but definitely not tomorrow.” I rested my head on the back of the seat and grinned.

“Thanks, that made me feel a whole lot better,” he said sarcastically as he drove down the hill.

“Glad I could help,” I said, continuing to smile brashly. The car had become quiet as he still seemed to be raking his brain for a gift idea for Susan. The silence was a bit eerie so I turned the radio on, switching it to my favourite station.

“That Saturday, what did you do at Thorn’s house?” he said reducing the volume.

I turned to him surprised that he’d asked. “You really want to know?” I asked half-believing.

“Yeah,”

“Well, okay. This is awkward. First, we played around for a while, before we slept . . .”

“Summer you . . .” he turned to me with his mouth dropping open. I knew what he was thinking.

“No, no not that kinda, playing around. Get your mind out of the gutter.” he chuckled. “Geez, I’m not telling you anything else,” I said with chagrin. I folded my arms and looked straight ahead.

“Sorry, but you have to be careful how you use certain words, that have a double meaning.” he continued his teasing.

“Oh shut it, Caleb.” I grumbled. “Do you want to know what we did or not?”

“Sure continue,” he said still wearing a mocking smile.

I ignored it and continued. “I slept most of the day because I was tired from all the worrying about things that were happening in my life at the time. When I woke up, we ordered pizza and watched a movie. Then I came home.”

“That sounded fun,” he said sarcastically.

“It was . . . especially the parts I left out.” I smiled as I saw him shudder a bit.

“Spare me the details.”

“Trust me, I was gonna.” I laughed as he shuddered again.

“So girls like that stuff,” he said contemplatively after a while.

“Yeah some of us do. We like getting a lot of attention . . . but without the person being too clingy or overprotective. We don’t really need a third parent.” I paused as he seemed to be taking everything I said in. “So are you going to ask Susan over tomorrow?”

“I don’t know yet, maybe,” he said indecisively.

“Well if you do, get a scary movie.”

“What? Why?” he pulled to a stop in the parking lot.

“You will see,” I said grabbing my bag and hopping out of the car.

The sixth form building was already buzzing with activity. Red, white and pink hearts and streamers decorated the walls. There were costumes ranging from cowgirls and angels to jesters and superheroes, but most were dressed in simple jeans with their red or white shirts. Of course, there were the boring few who came in their uniforms.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” shouted Monique as I reached the top of the stairs.

“Happy Valentine’s Day to you too. Hey, you look great.” I said admiring her angel costume.

“Thanks, I spent hours up last night making this. I’m surprised that it turned out so well. Mom is going to kill me of course after she finds out what I did with her sheets though.” She smiled.

I felt two arms wrap around my waist. I turned around to see him standing behind me. I smiled shyly when I saw Monique wink at me.

“I’ll see you later, Summer. Thorn,” she said smiling widely and left us.

“Goodbye Monique.” he smiled.

I dropped my bag and turned to face him. I rested my arms around his waist. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” I whispered.

“Same to you love. So what do you think about my costume? Am I gangsta enough to hang with a fine shorty like you?” he said with a fake street accent that had me cracking up.

I pulled away from him and rolled my eyes as he made a ridiculous pose. I eyed his baggy black jeans, which he’d pulled down to his hip. He rocked a red undershirt, which was overlaid by a white shirt. He had on a white felt hat, which he tipped to one side.

“You aight, you aight homes.” I said in the same phoney New York street accent. “But you ain’t got the swagger,” I said walking around in a circle and dipping on each step.

“Aight, aight you got me there shawty.” he grinned.

“Hey, what do we have here, the gangsta twins?” asked the sixth form supervisor who had come up behind us.

“Oh, good morning Ms McLeod.” I smiled. She returned the smile and perched her glasses in her hair before moving over to the notice board, where she tacked on two brightly coloured sheets of paper and then went back downstairs.

Her appearance had caused a marked hush in the building. Most of the students were afraid to approach her, which I found to be silly, because she only had a problem with those that got themselves into trouble.

“What is it?” I asked as I saw Thorn staring at me.

“It’s just that you sound like your old self again. That is, you aren’t falling asleep at the end of each sentence.” he smiled.

“I didn’t do that, maybe at the end of each paragraph, but each sentence is exaggerating a bit.” I laughed.

“I take it that you slept well last night?” he said following me over to the other side of the corridor.

“Yes, I did. I thought about what we talked about yesterday and I think I am finally ready to get over it. Beth is finally behind me.” I sighed.

“I am happy to hear that.” He placed his hand against my face and smiled softly.