Chapter 54
I’d fallen asleep reading messages from old friends in my yearbook. Images of the past burned through my dreams, mixing with flashes of my life now.
There were my old friends Donna and Frenchie, hanging out on the movie set with me, gawking at the movie stars…
And there was my Algebra teacher Miss Johnston helping me memorize my lines in my trailer…
There I stood, naked in the lunchroom, wearing only Theo’s black scarf, the entire football team staring at me and pointing, as my first music video played behind me on the wall…
Nothing made sense, and the images swirled around in a mixture of chaotic scenes. Some made me laugh in my sleep and others left me lost and confused.
I tossed and turned, the photos of my yearbook coming to life, animated voices and faces from the past once again real and alive in my dreams.
Avett’s face flashed in my head, his laughter seared into my memory. We wrestled together, his face on top of me as we rolled around on the boardwalk together, my eyes frantically darting around for a way to escape.
In my dream, the smell of his breath, twinged with the pungent scent of alcohol and weed, overwhelmed me.
“Come on, Everleigh, you know you want it,” his whisper ripped through my brain, bringing the past back into my dreams as clear as day. I fought against him, my nails digging into his flesh.
My head whipped to the side and I saw a movement in the shadows, a flash of blonde hair that appeared for only a quick instant, then was replaced by the thundering sound of approaching footsteps, Theo’s voice breaking through the nightmare.
I woke with a start, my head spinning, tears streaming down my face.
I sat up and the yearbook flopped open beside me, a pair of familiar eyes staring up at me, barely visible in the moonlight streaming through the window.
I turned on my bedside lamp, and grabbed the book, staring down at it intently, the pieces falling into place in my mind like they’d been there just waiting all this time.