Instant

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vice in your next letter. I

. Vincen

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bo

mt of

the seconds after you open your eyes. He was there, right be

his face disappeared from my memory. I lifted my face off the arm of the couch

fa

that I had of him - his eyes - but they we

eam. An odd anger pulsed in my chest as I ca

bo

ad been

television was on, showing an old, rerun episode of Doc

up empty, I just clicked the button on the TV as I walked past it, out of the living room. There was the satisfying, tumbling click o

he cold linoleum as I headed into the kit

ock on the oven, I grumbl

me for hours, " I s

e fridge, bumping my hip into the sharp corner of a cabinet drawer I

d to the fridge. My mind began to wand

It started a long-lasting tradition of watching the episodes every week together, somet

job he'd gotten mostly because of his shear brilliance - and my father had been hooked ever since. He was interested in genetics and the way the body fu

ad become obsessed with the science fiction side of thi

my new TARDIS. I remembered screaming in delight and rushing over to it, frantically. I think I y

d at the intense smell of cleaning products that never actually took away the smell of urine, becaus

child, but I had my fath

. It always hurt a little to think of my fat

<

the doorbell. For a moment I was too caught up in the flowing piece that I mistook the noise for a

down over the keys. I side-stepped out from behind the bench and bounded down the stairs. The house

till had my unfinished homework strewn across it. Pushing some shoes away from the door

it was flung back at me, the wind

ide of the door. The weather in Brewer, Michigan was none too pleasant,

he door o

rame and into the house, whipping

were not met with another set o

g me?" I said a

he forest across the street. I peered through the thick trunks a

s no one

itting on the doorstep. The envelopes were blowing in t

t, then where was the

driven awa

pes, the wind decided to rush in, in all it's f

inst tree trunks. Groaning out loud in frustration, I tossed the mail I

get the letters before they entered that jungle, I'd never fi

heavy wind whip my hair around behind me. My lips were becoming cha

as roughly ten feet away, stuck on the trunk of a tree. I ran to grab it, yanking it up and managing

asic counting was reliable. One on the road, o

awn. The last letter w

, " I

etrieve one of them, buckets of w

y hair was immediately soaked, along with my jeans and t-shirt. I practically screamed in frus

dering blankly around, I found myself picking up a limp, soggy letter off the muddy earth. However, I was unable to find

es blew from the tops of trees, littering the road with yellow an

car would be, praying that the final envelope was

t could, escaping the wetness of the rain for a few small moments. Wiggling my fingers and stretching as far as I could, I finally managed to grab t

ar and rushed back to the

the chair with the others, I grabbed some rags from the closet down the hall. Dropping down on my hands and knees like some sort of soaked Cinderella, I

if on cue, the phone rang, emitting a shriek that sounded foreign in the quiet house. It mixed in wit

kind of phone that had the incredulously long, twisty cord that most people didn't

the other end of the phone. This was

voice sounded fr

rly not

the person had just gotten done screaming. "Adira. I need y

all?" I asked wari

I wondered if the person had hung up

and more like a man after each spoken word. "Well don't you fret

questions, but I mostly felt like someone was just pranking

being overtaken by exhaustion, and the thought of my unfinished

rly, I decided,

canopy bed in the middle. A princess room - perfect for when I was six. I

side as the bed, with a mirror above it and a vase full of flowers on top. My feet sunk into the plush, white rug as

ut my toothbrush away and looked into the mirror. My hair had started to curl uncontrollably as it dried from m

tion, as if that would make

n only

wled into bed. I clapped and waited apprehensively for the lights to t

into dream land was about what had been in

<

indow. My eyes fluttered for a moment, giving my brain time to process that it was mor

23

ol had started an hour ago and

the bathroom. My mom had no doubt left for work, and I had less than fifteen minutes before second hour st

can't pick u

did you get

32]: whe

class is ab

ing me or something? we

]: fine. g

get over yourself. our f

s, sending back

orry, I oversle

ing "send, " I look

op it, and the phone slipped through my fi

a wad of chewing gum, was a sogg