Mr.Sandman

(5) “Come hither” Gleam

The morning went by fast, breakfast having been scrambled eggs in a cheese and ham sandwich and any spare time used on brushing teeth and hair.
My dad almost took Natalie and I in his underwear, complaining that we began too early in the morning to reek havoc. I bit on my tongue and looked out the passenger window with the aftertaste of egg in my mouth and a swish-swashy feeling in my belly.
“I’m going to call to see where we’ll meet up. She might already be there and at the food court.” Natalie huffed with sleepiness and dialed the number on her small cell phone. She began to talk, the conversation an exchange of merely a few syllables and clicked the phone, leaning her head back on the head rest and closing her eyes.
“Where is she?” I pried.
“She’s at The Falls.”
I gaped with disbelief. “At The Falls? What the hell is she doing at The Falls?”
Natalie shrugged and I grimaced. “She says she’ll meet us after a couple of hours.”
“Whatever.” I muttered and pressed my forehead unto the window.
“Dolphin Mall, right?” my dad called from the front with panic of getting in a traffic jam for no reason, a heated row ready at the back of his tongue.
“Yeah, dad, Dolphin mall.” With an inquisitive look at us from the rearview mirror he continued to chew on his thumb and moved along with the traffic.
I closed my eyes ever so willingly.
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We got off and with nothing better to do and extra change in our pockets, we aimed to the theater’s arcade section, a Dance, dance revolution machine empty. We danced till both our legs were difficult to stir and wiping ourselves with our shirts we went to F.Y.E. and Hot Topic then the Disney store. I fawned over shirts with favorite characters and hugged the plushies.
Eating shit, and not in the literal sense, was fun. Almost, distracting.
Natalie glanced at her watch. “You wanna eat after or before the movie?”
“After, when I’m hungry.” She nodded with understanding and said we needed to get going to buy the tickets. Flipping open her cell phone, she sent Cindy a text message.
We went back to the theater and bought our tickets for the movie that would start soon.
We waited at the crowded concession stands, looking for Cindy’s blue hair and Stevens red hair. I was impatient and about to call Cindy with threats.
The people were rowdy, pushing and squeezing in. I was nudged in the shoulder harshly and I whipped around to give the person a piece of my mind. The jungle had thickened and the person could have been anyone, I looked around for someone smirking or laughing at my expense. When I heard the laughter, I practically jumped in the direction in which it came with claws sharpened.
It had come from a group of guys who were up to no good, several people away.
It couldn’t have been them; I thought bitterly, glaring at them and hoping one would see me and quiet the rest of them with sudden inspired fear.
Cracking jokes, their laughter continued, their voices louder with their excitement at who said what next. The crowd began to move and they remained behind. I looked over at them with distaste, Punks with too many piercing and not enough balls. My mood was overflowing in my harshness.
Natalie grabbed my arm and pulled lightly. I followed her till I heard a voice over all others.
I stilled with shock.
No way.
I heard it again and it was interrupted by laughter.
I spun around, searching amongst the group, unsure if I would find anything at all.
Natalie’s hand on my forearm tightened. “I see Cindy! Let’s go, Tracy.”
I pulled away trying to get a better look at the group. “Tracy!” Natalie called after me indignantly.
How could it possibly be?
One of the dudes with a green afro Mohawk bent over with laughter and I caught the glimpse I had been seeking.
His face was split in a grin and his eyes were dull and dark.
My heart made for a faint and my throat constricted.
It was him!! It was Him!!
I took a step forward and he laughed again at some joke being told, the guy with the Mohawk stepping in the way again.
Natalie dug her fingers in my arm and pulled urgently.
“Wait.” I managed to gasp as she pulled me away.
“The movie already began!” she moved behind me and pushed my back with both hands into the designated room.
What would I say to him?
‘Hi, I’ve dreamt of you for 2 months and we’ve become intimate. Here’s my number?’
When I was pushed into a theater chair, I blinked and looked around. The lights had been lowered and the company logos were running throughout the beginning of the movie.
It didn’t matter what I would say, I screamed in my head happily. I’d find out at the last minute if I’d have to!
I ran out, Natalie hissing after me.
I thrust the door open and looked down the hall to where the concession stand was and my face fell.
They were gone.
He was gone.
My tear ducts stung and my finger nails bit into my palms. “Shit.”
Stomping for a while in the empty hallway, I pressed the back of my hand to my forehead and wished the cold could make me numb.
That I would go unconscience.
That thoughts wouldn’t exist.
After 5 minutes of self pity, I went back into the screening.
It was not a film I wanted to see at the moment.
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“I thought the movie would be better, he’s usually a good actor.” Sang Cindy, clinging to Steven’s black leather coated arm.
“Where’s your cousin?” Natalie asked after a few minutes of silence.
Cindy blinked confused and then smiled stupidly. “Oh, she said it wasn’t her thing, so I left her at The Falls.”
I wanted to clip her merry wings but I had been on the lookout for him and his friends. If I found his friends, I’d find him. So Cindy was second place, therefore ignored.
“Bitch.” Muttered Natalie by my side.
“What are you chickadee’s gonna do now?” Steven smiled seductively and Natalie smiled believingly, I secretly gagged.
“We’re gonna eat. You gonna join us?” Natalie looked at me speculatively.
I nodded solemnly and Cindy bubbled in happiness. “Awesome, sure!”
We got a ride with Steven to IHOP. I was ungrateful but uncaring which was much more unusual.
When the waitress asked me the third time what I wanted to eat, I tasted the egg in my mouth and handed her the menu. “I’m not hungry, thanks.”
Gratefully, the movie had given them a topic to talk about while I was distracted with my thoughts.
He was real. He breathed and lived.
My hands trembled as I stirred the ice in my glass of water.
I tried to recall every little thing about him I could. He worked at McDonalds; I remembered the uniform, but what about the sea? I had so many dreams with him and the sea.
I kneaded my temple. How could I find him? There were a million McDonalds and I didn’t even know his name.
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That night, I tossed around in bed with hopelessness, sleep away.
At last, unaware, the film began with a slow, sickening pace.
The smell was immediately welcoming.
A library crisscrossed with packed and tall bookshelves aching to be released of the pressure between each book cover.
I was anxious, looking forward to the dream that was finally here. I passed alongside large stained glass windows and empty oak tables with meticulously placed chairs until at the end, against the wall, a table was littered with stacks of paper, parchment and open books.
He leaned over them, his face hovering over texts right under a little lamp that seemed to be more for adorning than lighting.
“There you are.” I breathed happily.
He looked up, surprised and breaking into his confidant smile.
It felt so normal, so…right to have him alone and smiling at me.
“I missed you today.”
I giggled and made my way around the table to his extended arms. They were hot and strong with real muscle and blood streams. It felt as though he were really there.
“You feel cold, where have you been?” he nuzzled his face into my neck and breathed in deeply.
“I was at the movies,” I bit back a smile.
He had a sudden spasm in his shoulder that relaxed just as quickly. He pulled away, brushing his hairs with his fingers. “So how are you?”
“Happy.” I smiled sincerely and he gave me a lopsided grin with only one dimple.
“I was wondering, do you want to eat McDonalds?”
His smile froze into place.
He shook his head, “I’m sorry, what?”
“If in a little while, you wanted to go to McDonalds?” My intake wasn’t as secure.
His smile faded and his eyes lowered. The film came to an abrupt halt.
The old blackness seeped in.
“I need you.” His voice echoed in the darkness and I searched for him.
“I need you too!” I yelled at the darkness and a waterfall of sunlight broke over me and I reappeared at a school I’d never seen before.
The classroom was empty chairs and a badly cleaned blackboard.
“I’m glad you waited.” I turned to the doorway as he came in with a business suit and began loosening his tie.
I looked down at myself and saw a typical school girl plaid uniform.
Oh dear.
He lunged at me, closing the door with his foot and taking my bottom lip in-between his teeth.
With resolution, his pants were dropped and I was made to stand on all fours in front of him on the teacher’s desk.
With each one of my cries the film flickered.
The blackboard had messy scrawls of young hands and the wooden plaque at the bottom where the chalk dust mounted in unhealthy piles caught my attention before I was blackened with the feeling of nothing.
It read ‘To the best teacher in the world, Mr.Nyles.”