Free Spirit Legacy by E. E. Holmes Page A

everything.”
    “Well, it wasn’t easy, but I got used to it. I always felt like she was running from something, you know? Not just with the moving, but with the drinking, too. There were things she just didn’t want to deal with, but she never could get far enough away from them, whatever they were.”
    “How did she … I mean, was she sick, or …”
    “It was an accident. She was drunk and she fell.” Tia didn’t need the details. I was sure she’d come to the same conclusion as Karen, and I didn’t want her to, not when I knew it wasn’t true.
    “Is that why … well, your nightmares, is that why you have them?”
    Damn. Apparently I hadn’t done as effective a job as I’d thought in hiding that particular detail of my existence. She’d be bound to notice occasionally, sleeping six feet away from me, but I hadn’t thought I’d been that obvious.
    “Yes. They’re getting better though,” I lied. “I’m not keeping you up with my thrashing, am I?”
    “No. I just noticed you were … restless,” Tia said. Then she mercifully changed the subject.
    I was hoping that the distraction of school would help get rid of the nightmares, but they’d only gotten worse. Though none could match that first one in their capacity to terrify me, all were vaguely disturbing. Sometimes, I could hear frantic voices calling my name out of the darkness. Other times, I would find myself lost in a strange cloudy landscape, struggling to navigate my way out. Still other dreams revealed me walking down a long, subterranean tunnel, drawn toward a light that both fascinated and frightened me. Without fail, I would wake up feeling jittery, sick, and unable to go back to sleep. If it kept up, I would have to start taking coffee intravenously just to get through my classes.
    §
    In the two weeks following Halloween, I saw my book store crush twice more. The first time was, naturally, in the last place on campus I would have wanted to see him.
    I dragged myself out of bed the morning after Halloween, squashing an impulse not to hurl my alarm clock across the room, settling instead for smothering it with a pillow. A quick glance in the mirror confirmed I did not need to bother with make-up—I’d fallen asleep with it on, after a late night of horror movies and junk food with Tia and Sam, and it still looked surprisingly intact.
    I smiled as I remembered Tia, wrapped in two blankets like a burrito, only her forehead and eyes visible, shrieking and cursing me for talking her into this movie night. I had chosen a couple of obscure Japanese films for the occasion, low in the blood-and-guts department, but chock-full of psychological scares. By the time we finished the second one, she hurled the entire bowl of popcorn at me, then spent the next half hour cleaning it up with a dustbuster.
    I braided my hair quickly, the purple streaks playing peek-a-boo in the plaits, and brushed my teeth as I slipped on my black Converse sneakers. I was careful not to wake Tia, who despite the promise of permanent trauma, had slept pretty soundly. My footsteps crunched on some rogue popcorn kernels as I snuck out the door. I left a note on our whiteboard for her: “Forgive me, roomie?” with a sad face. I taped a bag of Skittles, her favorite candy, beneath it as a peace offering.
    I arrived just on time for my shift, and checked the message board for my assignments. Left buffet line, cereals and condiments. Could have been worse, I noted as I pulled on my gloves and greeted Paige, who also worked this shift. At least I wasn’t scraping dishes this morning.
    “What was with all the screaming from your room last night?” Paige asked. “I almost called res-life on you guys.”
    “Ah yes, the Japanese horror movie-fest. Tia was a little underprepared for the content.”
    Paige laughed as she poured a massive box of maple syrup into a stainless steel vat. “So I assume you won’t be hosting another one?”
    “You assume correctly. I don’t think