Prompt 11 - Memory :: "Remember When"
I am currently working through the 100 prompt challenge for two different sets of stories. One is 100 Naruto drabbles while the second is completely original stuff. :] The following story is the second category.
While the prompt is "Memory", I've titled the story "Remember When". This is actually the first part of what will probably end up being a three part (maybe more?) collection.
Anyway, please enjoy. :]
***
Remember When
Title: Remember When
Part: 1/3
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Genres: Romance, Angst, Tragedy, Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Time can seem so terribly long when the person you love the most in the world is gone.
***
It’s been more than two weeks. It’s been seventeen days, counting today, since Lena last heard his voice. Seventeen days since she last saw his face. Seventeen days since she last saw his smile. And it’s killing her.
"Lena?"
Lena Smith glanced up, eyes focusing on the shadowy figure in the doorway of her bedroom. "Zack?" Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper as she reached out blindly, heart shuddering with an undescribable amount of hope.
"No..." There was a deep regret in the man’s voice, the voice was was just a little too low, a little too soft-spoken to be Zack. And Lena’s hopes came crashing down once more.
This was Phillip, her boyfriend.
Phillip, who was at least a head taller than Zack. Phillip, whose hair was both longer and a lighter color than Zack’s. Phillip, who had stayed by her side for over two weeks as she grieved. Phillip was definitely not Zack, could never be Zack, and even now, Lena beraded herself for even hoping.
After all, Zack was dead.
***
"Lena?"
Lena glanced up at her boyfriend, a blank look on her face.
Phillip smiled cheerfully. "It’s such a nice day outside, Lena. I think we should go and enjoy it. We could bike out to the river and collect shells. I could pack a picnic or something."
Lena knew immediately that Phillip was trying to distract her, prevent her from becoming too set in grief... But it wouldn’t work. It would never work.
Even so, she smiled weakly at him. "That sounds nice, Phil."
As she did her best to put Phillip at ease, Lena silently continued to count the days.
Twenty days.
***
Lena felt so proud of herself. She had made it through a whole day without mentioning his name once, without confusing Phillip with the boy they had all lost. A whole day without tears.
But now, flopped on the couch next to her boyfriend as they both pretended to watch a nature program about the wolves in Yellowstone, Lena could feel the pain and agony of remembering slowly begin to sink back in. And it hurt. She did her best to wait it out, to try to ‘move on’, as her therapist liked to call it, but the pain quickly became too much to handle.
Quietly, Lena pulled away from Phillip’s loose embrace and mumbled tonelessly, "I’ll be right back." With Phillip gazing after her in an obvious question, she made her way out of the living room and down the hall to the bathroom.
Only when the door was both shut and locked did Lena crumple to the floor and begin to cry.
Standing just in the hallway just outside the room, Phillip closed his eyes against the sound of her tears and wordlessly turned away.
***
Lena stared forlornly at the pile of cds neatly stacked to the right of the stereo. They’d been sitting there long enough that the top cd had gathered a thin layer of dust. It wasn’t because they’d been forgotten, but because she’d been ignoring them.
Idly, Lena watched the stack of cds as an internal battle waged.
The choices were simple.
Listen to the cds and let the memories come as they wished... Or continue to ignore the cds and let the memories continue to plague her.
The answer was even simpler.
With a soft sigh, Lena shuffled over to the stereo and began to meticulously clean off the topmost disc. After a minute or so, she carefully placed the inside the sereo and hit play. The beginning notes of Tokio Hotel’s "By Your Side" began to drift throuh the air.
As Lena sat back down on the edge of her bed, the tears had already begun to fall. The only difference between this time and the others was she no longer bothered to wipe them away.
It had only been twenty-seven days, and her heart already hurt more than she could imagine.
***
Lena sighed softly, gaze drifting absently to various places in the room. After a few minutes, her gaze drifts to the bottle of pills on her bedside table. After Zack’s death, she’d been prescribed them as a sleeping aid, but lately they’d stopped working quite as well. she still had nearly a dozen left though, so maybe...
There is a soft knock at her bedroom door, a knock that efficiently interrupted her thoughts.
"Lena?" Cori, her older brother, stood in the doorway this time, a look of calm amusement on his face. "Phil’s here."
Lena nodded once in aknowledgment.
Cori arched a golden eyebrow and the hint of amusement disappeared from his face. "He says he wants to see you."
There is a short moment of hesitation before Lena carefully shook her head.
"You don’t want to see him?"
A nod.
If Cori was surprised, he certainly hid it well. He flashed Lena a small grin. "Can do, little sis." And then he left, softly shutting the door behind himself.
Some time later, as Lena had unplugged her alarm clock a few days ago, the front door to the house slammed shut and she could hear a car roar to life from the driveway. Only when all had been silent for five minutes or so did her phone buzz softly.
Lena reached over and flipped it open to read the text.
She wasn’t surprised to see that it was from Phillip.
Lena, it’s been more than a month. You’ve gotta stop doing this. You starving yourself is not going to bring Zack back.
Lena stared at the text a moment longer before closing her phone with an audible snap. When her phone buzzed a couple minutes later, she ignored it.
When the phone rang less than a minute afterwards, her gaze travelled back to the bottle and stayed there.
Thirty-four days and counting.
***
"Lena?"
It’s Phillip. He’s standing in the doorway, an expression of blooming hope etched on his face.
Lena smiled weakly at her boyfriend, dipping her head shallowly in greeting. He stares at her, dumbstruck, before forcing a grin onto his face. It looks painful, and Lena turns her head so that she’s looking at the picture frames on the wall next to her bed instead.
"Y’know, Cori said that you haven’t spoken in over a week." He waited a moment, half expecting Lena to grin widely like she always used to and deny the whole thing.
She didn’t.
"Well," he said with a small, nervous laugh, "I figured that you could use some cheering
up, so I decided to come down for a visit. That cool with you?"
Lena, eyes focused on the wall that held the beautiful memories of her friends, said nothing.
"Lena... It’s been thirty-seven days. You’re not eating, not sleeping, not speaking... It’s not healthy. Would Zack want you to do this to yourself?" Phillip’s grin faded just the tiniest bit when she didn’t react in the slightest, not even to the name. He shoved his right hand into his jacket pocket, thumb rubbing over the lumpy bag he’d brought from his home. Phillip inhaled slowly and steeled his resolve.
"Lena, what if... what if I told you I had a way for you to see Zack again?"
Lena glanced up at him sharply, green eyes furrowed in anger. Phillip could almost hear her now. How could you say something like that? He’s dead and I’m not.
"I’m not suggesting you kill yourself or anything! I just, well..." Phillip sighed softly and gently pulled the bag from his pocket. He rubbed his thumb along the velvet exterior of the bag and glanced at her before grinning wryly. "Look, don’t ask where I got it. It’s going to cost me an arm and a leg, but it’s worth it." Grey eyes sought green and held them. "You’re worth it."
Knowing that she wouldn’t open her mouth to ask the obvious, Phillip handed her the black velvet bag. "Inside this bag is a stone that will, in essence, give you the power to travel back through time. You’ll merge with your past self and, remembering all you know now, you will be able to casually observe anyone and anything from the view of your past self." Names remained unnamed.
There is a silent question in her eyes, a question brimming with undisguised hope, and Phillip rubs his arm nervously. "You have a month, Lena. After a month, the stone won’t be able to keep the past you and the future you merged for any longer. When the two of you come apart, it might tear apart the flow of time and space more so than it alreday has." He glanced at her again to make sure she was paying attention. "Do you understand?"
For a moment, Lena merely stared at him, then, firmly, she gave a resolute nod.
"Well then," Phillip shuffled anxiously from foot to foot and began to back up towards the door. "I guess I’ll see you in about a month, okay?"
Another nod.
He turned as he opened her door, grey eyes cast over his shoulder. "Lena? I love you."
A brief smile and a third nod
A final piece of advice: "It’s as simple as remembering when." And then the door shut behind him.
Lena waited until she could no longer hear Phillip outside the door before pulling the tiny velvet bag open. Inside was a lumpy black stone, surface marred by tiny white scratch marks that seemed to fade as the held the stone in her palms.
"It’s as simple as remembering when," she whispered hoarsely to the empty room as she clutched the stone to her chest. A moment later, Lena Smith was gone.
***
Author's Note: So... What did you think? I always enjoy feedback. :]