Pale 3

I woke up Saturday afternoon at about 1:30, recalling an odd dream I'd had that night.

In my dream, it vividly depicted my house and I was heartbroken because Benjamin hadn't called me to appoint a time. Also, I was running away from two men in my house, only to be reunited with them in a mystery vehicle.

Hm.

I got out of my bed and walked over to my dresser with the mirror on top of it, looking at myself in it. I had no idea my hair was down to my waist now, but I guess you don't realize a bunch of things when you walk through life like a ghost. I could deffinately see why not many people talked to me; I was pale as a white wall and my eyes resembled those of an alien. Further observation of myself was obscured by a ray of light coming in a window opposite of me -- the sun was out, for once. But almost as soon as it'd come out, it hid behind a cloud once again.

I decided I should grab a shower, just incase, in the rare possibility, Benjamin called and wanted to take me out. By the sounds of it, my mom wasn't awake or not home. Anyway, I walked down the spiral steps to the second floor, where my bathroom was. It was narrow and grey with a shower in the back. I shuddered when I got in the shower; the water in this old house took much longer to heat up than the water in my old Utah apartment complex. Regardless of my place in Utah, I was really liking Phlanel. I was singing to Bruce Springsteen's 'Summer Clothes' that was playing on the radio when I heard the bathroom door open and the steam from the shower came tumbling out. Although I figured it was just one of the dogs or the cat, I quickly finished my shower and continued to dry off.

I had my hair wrapped up in a towel and donned an old pink striped nighty my sister had given me a few years before. When I turned out of the bathroom, I felt cold air hit me like a smack in the face. The only door that was open on the second floor was the one I'd gone in in my dream. I walked over to it, my Abominable Snowman houseshoes clicking every time I took a step. I looked in the room and saw that the door that was open in my dream was actually open now. I wondered if everything in the dream had happened or if it was evena dream.

I rubbed my arms and stepped over boxes and around random paintings to the balcony's doors and pulled them shut and peered out onto the balcony. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for a fresh layer of thick snow, so I decided that every event from the night before was a dream. When I turned back around to exit the room, I saw my grandfather's old wardrobe and a top hat from his own grandfather. The hat probably stood about a foot tall, but looked so fragile I dared not touch it. So I left the room, pushing boxes and paintings aside as I went. Mom's pride and joy -- her cat -- came running beside me and nearly made me bite the floor when I was walking back up the stairs to my room. I turned on the TV and sat down on my bed and flipped through the channels until I could find something interesting on. The best I thought I could find was Spongebob, until I went down to the first channel and saw that my school had it's own local station.

I sat like a rock statue on my bed, horrified at a picture, a picture of me in Mr. Fant's class. I was drawing, I could see it, and I was in my normal awkward position on the stool. Maria, the girl that sat next to me, was obviously engulfed in the lecture, the boy sitting behind me was asleep, and then there was Benjamin. He was staring in my direction, but I couldn't tell if it was at me. During Mr. Fant's class, I thought I could feel eyes on the back of my head, and the photo confirmed my suspicions. I don't think I blinked through the entirety of observing the picture on the TV until the towel I had around my head fell and ripped my view away from me. I dabbed the end of my hair until they dried and then stretched across my bed to grab my hairbrush. More pictures slid across the screen and I recognized a few faces that I'd seen. If I hadn't known better, I wouldn't have noticed all of the pictures of myself on the slideshow. Phlanel evidently didn't get many new students.

The mane of hair I possessed was finally tamed after about ten minutes of pulling the brush through it. When I'd finally seen each picture on the channel more than twice, I slugged off my bed and grabbed the phone off the charger. When I opened the door to head down the stairs, I saw my backpack on the floor in front of my door, looking as if it were about to slinky down the stairs. It wasn't like my mom to be all that active just for me, but I wrote the backpack thing off as her having a new man. I chucked the backpack in my room and heard it thud when it hit the floor. My Abominable Snowman shoes tapped to the beat of my feet as I walked, the nighty sliding everywhere when I took a step. I hit the stair case going to the first floor and descended down the rail. I'd never done it before, and found myself on my back in the middle of the foyer's floor. The breath had been knocked out of me and I hit my head. Note to self: Don't do that anymore.

I hadn't felt the hole in my concious ache for many weeks now. I felt almost whole, even though I was very alone at the time. I looked in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and mom's bedroom but never saw her. Her car wasn't outside, so she probably had gone to town. The kitchen was the most unpacked room downstairs so far. Ramen noodles had always been a favorite of mine, and we were always stocked, so I chose to fix those for my first meal of the day. Not only that, but I didn't know where much of where anything was except for the things that were in the sink -- a pot, a spoon, and a bowl. The water was boiling, so I added the noodles to it. The window above the sink had a thick layer of frost on it, with only the center of each of the four window panes cleared. It was snowing awesomely, and then I saw someone that wasn't my own reflection staring at me.

It was Benjamin.

He smiled and waved, then pointed at the side door to the kitchen and mouthed "Can I come in?" I walked over to the door and turned the bolt and slid the slider to let him in. He tapped his feet off on the rug and shook out his hair before fully entering the kitchen.
"I tried to call you earlier, but your mother said you were asleep," he told me.
"Oh. Yeah. I'm a late sleeper.." I chuckled back.
"She's really nice, you know. It's you that I'm not so sure about," he said. I turned around to look at him, trying to give him an insulted face. However, my not-so-gracefulness came out and I slammed my hand down right onto the burner of the stove. I shreiked and grabbed my hand, staring it down like it was its own fault I burned it.
"Ow..." I muttered, turning back to put it under cold water.
"Are you all right?" Benjamin asked, towering over me.
"Mmhm," I managed. I actually wanted to cry, but I'd had repaired cappillaries for almost a year and was not about to let a burn ruin it.
"Let me see," he said, touching my left hand; the one that got burned. His hands were really cold, but he'd had on gloves just seconds before. I looked at him as he ran his forefinger over my scalded palm and ring finger. He looked up at me and saw me gauging my attention to him, and he smiled a very pretty smile at me, just like that day at school. Then, I saw him quide his attention to my feet. My Abominable Snowman shoes. Darn. "Wow. Do you really think we have a yeti?" he asked.
"They were my sister's before she moved," I replied. Oddly enough, I had no problem with looking dead at him.
"Well I don't think your --" he said, stairing at the nighty, "Your attire will fit this weather, do you?"
"Not really," I said back, laughing. It felt really weird to laugh at something and actually mean it, it'd been so long.
"I like your laugh. But go get dressed; you're meeting some...people. It will be cold, probably," he told me. I turned and headed toward the foyer stairs, pulling down the nighty to make sure nothing was exposed. My breath was gone when I got back up to my room, but not because of being out of shape. I was utterly shocked. I examined my face in the mirror and could see that genetic blush all over my cheeks. I giggled like a little girl and proceeded to put on a pair of leggings with the jeans I was going to wear. I put on a purple v-necked sweater and pulled on some rain boots over my jeans and grabbed my bomber jacket before I left my room.

When I got back downstairs, I saw Benjamin over looking the trinkets mom had hung on the walls and then I saw my ramen noodles, which weren't warm anymore. I guess Benjamin saw me looking at the noodles or heard my stomach growl, because he said:
"Don't worry, my dad will cook for you,"
"Seriously?" I asked back; I'd gotten in the habit of asking 'seriously?' because a lot of people don't like to keep their word.
"Yes." was his reply, "So are you ready?"
"Yep, but what about my mom?"
"My mom is taking her shopping in Puget Sound," he said back.
"Oh. Okay, then."

And, with that, we left my house and trudged through the thick cover of snow to his car, and headed to meet some 'people,' as he'd said.