"Alex! Don't you dare to walk away from us! We are your parents! You should listen to us!", her mom shouted and she stormed out the living room. Alex ran upstairs and grabbed her bag. 'Who do they even think they are?', she thought while she packed her bag, ready to leave. "Hey, Alex? Are you really leaving this time?", She looked at her door and saw her brother standing in the doorway. "Yes, I am. They have gone too far this time! Mom said I should come to church so they could straighten me out! That is insane, right?", she said as she pushed clothes aggressively into her bag. "I know. It is insane, but I will definitely miss you, sis.", her brother said sadly. But he knew she was right. She came home with her girlfriend yesterday and their parents are very strict. Liking girls was a sin in their eyes. Her brother knew that Alex would not be able to hold back against her parents. She had always been fighting with their parents. She was just different. And not religious at all. They did not like that. But this time it was serious. His sister was packing her bags and he knew he couldn't stop her. "I know… I will miss you too. We will call, okay?", she said to him and walked out of her room with her bag. She grabbed her car keys and opened the front door. "Alex! Get back here! We are not done talking, young lady!", her mom shouted as she walked out the door and shut it behind her. She got into her car and locked the doors. With the radio blasting she turned on the car. The noise of her parents shouting was fading away between the lyrics of the song. She pulled out of the drive way and just drove away.
"And that is how I ended up here.", Alex says and she finishes the third cup of coffee we had this evening. "That really fucking sucks…", I say, not knowing how to respond to all of this. "But luckily I still have you to fall back to. I wont stay forever, I promise. But could you give me a few days? I will look for a job and get my own apartment here." She looks at me and grabs my hand. "Please, Margo. I will do your dishes and laundry until then. I promise.", she says as she starts to pout. I sigh and say: "Alright, alright. You can stay here until you find something new." She smiles kindly and stands up. "Thank you so much, Margo. You wont even notice I am here!" She grabs our mugs and walks to the kitchen. "It is getting late and you have school tomorrow. I will clean this up. Get some rest, I bet this all took a lot of energy to take in.", she says while I hear her cleaning my dishes. "Thanks, Alex. I have an extra blanket and pillow in the closet next to the coat rack. Good night." I get off the couch and walk to my bedroom. I check my phone and notice a few missed messages from Aiden;
04:23PM
Aiden: Hey princess. How are you doing?
07:34PM
Aiden: What did you have for dinner?
10:56PM
Aiden: I hope Alex is behaving at your place xD
11:27PM
Aiden: Are you sleeping yet?
I look at the time and it is almost midnight. I decide to text back Aiden. I feel kind of bad that I suddenly had to take care of Alex. We were having lunch and she just crashed. Not that she did not have a reason to. I just feel bad for Aiden. He invited me to get something to drink.
11:57PM
Margo: Hey, sorry for replying so late. I was just about to go to bed. How are you?
It did not take him very long respond. I just changed into my pajama and got into bed. I look at my phone and smile. After all these years, Aiden has never forgotten me.
Aiden: I am alright. A bit sad we couldn't finish our drinks together today :(
Margo: I am sorry… wanna hang out tomorrow? At yours of course… Alex is staying here for a few nights.
Aiden: Sounds good. Lets do that!
Margo: Great. I am looking forward to it!
Aiden: I will see you tomorrow, princess Margo :)
Margo: Stop calling me princess, Aiden… that lady at the lunch room already thought we were dating
Aiden: Well… I wouldn't mind
Margo: Smh… I'll see you tomorrow
Aiden: See ya, princess
I set an alarm for tomorrow morning and put away my phone. Aiden never really confessed to me, but it is quite clear. I don't want him to confess. I don't want to think about what my answer would be. I am happy as it is now. I turn around and close my eyes. I hope Alex can sleep on the couch. I have a pretty hard couch and it is always cold in the living room, due to the big window next to the couch. I think she will be fine. I shouldn't worry and just go to sleep.
I open my eyes and look right into the sun. I cough a few times. Somehow it is very dusty here. I stand up and look around. I am not where I thought I'd be. I am standing in the middle of our town, greeted by fallen buildings and smoldering fires here and there. I slowly walk to the road. What the fuck happened here… I walk around for a few minutes, but I can't find anyone. There are no clues about what happened and every single building is destroyed or damaged in some way. I walk around some more and suddenly step into a hole in the road. I stumble and fall right on my face.
I jump up from my bed covered in sweat. I look around my room still catching my breath. It was just a dream… nothing more. I look at my phone and it is almost four o'clock. I sigh and get out of my bed to take a shower. I grab my phone and check if Aiden is awake somehow. I get into the bathroom and turn on the water. My eyes look tired and my hair is stuck to my face from the sweat. I get undressed and step into the shower. The water feels warm and nice. I sit down in the shower and take a deep breath. That was some weird shit. It felt so real. I know it wasn't. It was just a dream. Nothing more.
After a few minutes I got out of the shower and went back to bed only to wake up an hour later to get to school. I rolled out of my bed and immediately made some coffee. I grab my coffee and walk back to my bedroom since Alex is still sleeping on the couch. I still have a few minutes until I need to leave. I check my phone and see a text from Aiden.
Aiden: Hey, I saw you tried to reach me around 4am. Everything alright?
I will just tell him when I see him in a few minutes. He always waits for me at the same corner so we can walk together. I get my bag, put on my shoes and grab my coat. Once I am outside I take a deep breath. Fresh air always helps. I start walking down the stairway to the exit of my apartment-complex. As I open the door to go outside I see Aiden waiting in front of the building. He looks at me and waves. "Hey, princess. Are you alright? I saw you called at 4am.", He says and looks at me with a concerned look on his face. "Yeah, I just had a nightmare that completely threw me off. It was nothing important, really." I smile and start walking towards school. "Alright then. If you say so. What was the nightmare about, if you want to share that with me?" He starts walking besides me and puts his earbuds away. "I woke up in our town and everything was destroyed. There was no building left that was undamaged. I walked around for a bit, but there was no one to be found. Eventually I tripped over something and woke up in cold sweat.", I say and look at him with still a bit of confusion on my face. "That sounds awful. I am sorry that I was not awake for you. Next time just call me until I wake up, okay? I'd be more than happy to help you, Margo.", he says as he smiles sweetly at me. "I know. But you need some rest too, Aiden." I look to the sky and feel the sun burning on my face. "True, but I wouldn't mind helping you in the middle of the night. So, don't hesitate when you need me, okay?", he says and looks at me with the brightest smile I have ever seen. "Alright. I will keep that in mind. Thanks, Aiden." He still looks at me and I smile back at him.