Disconnected Read Free Page A

thumping grows so loud I can’t make out what he’s saying as he steps toward me. And when he reaches to grab hold of me, I wake up.

Chapter Three
    Amelia wakes me up in the middle of the night. This has been happening more frequently now.
    â€œWhat do you want this time?” I whisper under my breath. I glance at the glowing red on the digital clock: 5:45 a.m. It’s just an hour before I leave for school and I desperately need some sleep. She’s mumbling inside my head. Go to the window. Somehow she forces me out of bed and pulls my body toward the window. “Okay, you got me here, now what?” I ask softly.
    I stare for a while not noticing anything. Dawn is breaking through the clouds in an orangey-yellow hue on the east end of our house. The light early morning rays filter through the glass and touch my bedroom with warmth. In that moment I feel safe, like there isn’t anything wrong. Then suddenly, without warning, she urges me to stand closer and tells me to look down. Again I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. The high evergreens are crystallized in a light icing of snow and the maples try desperately to grow new buds on their black-veined branches. My eyes travel down to the softened earth. She compels me to open the window, so I do without question.
    It’s cold and quiet. Only the faint sound of chirping birds can be heard. There’s a stillness in the air as if the wind was waiting for its command from God himself to blow through the morning air.
    As I look toward the forest just across from the house, I see something standing behind the trunk of the large oak tree. I am taken aback. It’s something or someone, yet I can’t make out the face because it’s hidden behind the tree. Then I see the glistening bluish flecks of black hair reflecting the breaking light. My heart flutters at the sight of her. And there’s this subtle smell of magnolia in the air.
    She raises a hand, curling her finger for me to come, and for some reason I feel compelled to do so. My heart’s crawling on the edge of the windowsill just bursting to jump. I don’t realize I’m sticking halfway out until I feel a push from behind me. My arms suddenly slip from under me, yet luckily when I fall, it’s inward and back inside the room. God, that was close.
    I pull myself up from the floor and look again, but she’s gone. You want me dead, don’t you? You just can’t wait for this to be over. As I fight with Amelia in the deepest parts of my mind, she says nothing, does nothing. In a way, I feel alone when she isn’t there, like I want her to come back for some odd reason, as if being tormented is better than being completely alone.
    As I sit there under the open window, the cool breeze tickles my skin. The wind has finally come and is now whipping through the trees. It’s getting lighter outside and soon I will have to get ready for school. My mind wanders among past images. I don’t remember whether it was a dream or if it really happened. Ever since my parents’ death ten years ago, I don’t remember much of anything. It all seems to be in bits and pieces, and I sincerely don’t know what’s real and what isn’t anymore. Amelia’s blocked so much from my mind I’m not sure of anything. Just when I start to believe something to be true, Amelia tells me it is all just a bunch of lies. But what I do know and remember is that it wasn’t always like this. Amelia didn’t taunt me when we were little—when my mom and dad were alive. Back then, she was just my imaginary friend.
    We’d dance at the playground together, like two best friends. She loved to play hopscotch, while I liked the swings. I’d swing as high as I could, so high I thought I would touch the sky and be swooped up by angels. We’d taketurns doing all the fun things we enjoyed. She was always there for me and stood up for me too. Then