When Andy woke up again, Carolyn was still gone. He sat up and looked around the empty room, wondering where she could be. He figured it had only been a few hours since she left and maybe she just thought he was still asleep. Should he go find her? No, he decided he should just stay put. He didn’t want her scolding him again for moving and her house was strange enough as it was.

Suddenly, the door was thrown open and a flustered Carolyn rushed in, slamming the door shut behind her. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail and fluffy strands of loose hair framed her face. Her thin frame was graced with a tight fitting leotard and a short, flowing skirt draped around her waist. She threw her bag on the floor and turned toward Andy sitting in the bed. She jumped back in fright.

“Jesus…” She placed a hand against her rapid beating heart. “I forgot you were here.” She admitted.

“Oh…” Andy slumped down again into the soft pillow behind him.

“I’m glad you’re awake at least.” She gave him a weak half smile. “You’ve been sleeping for at least a day.”

Andy’s eyes went wide. “A whole day? And no one woke me up?”

Carolyn shrugged. “I thought you were just tired…” She sat down on the end of the bed and unlaced her black Vans, slipping them off her feet and tossing them against the wall across the room. She tucked her legs underneath her and looked to Andy. “You look better than you did a few days ago, at least.” She was trying to make him feel better. She could tell that he missed his band and he wanted to go home.

Andy looked up at her. “What’s your school like?”

Now that was a random question. Carolyn figured he must just be looking for a way to distract himself from thinking about his band.

She sighed. “Same as every high school I guess. There are the jocks, the preps, the popular clique, the goth kids… And then there’s me. I’m the odd one out…” She looked down at her lap letting her bangs hang down in front of her face. “I don’t have any friends… It’s all because I’m the mortician’s daughter. They think I’m weird and, well… I guess I am kind of weird but that doesn’t mean I can’t be like the rest of them.”

“I’m your friend.” Andy said.

She looked up at him, flipping her bangs out of her face. “You are?”

Andy nodded. “Of course I am. You saved my life. It’s the least I could do.”

Carolyn nodded as well and looked down again. “I just wish I was normal…”

Andy scooted a little closer to her and placed his hand over hers. “You want to know what a friend of mine said once? He said ‘normal is a setting on a washing machine. And no one wants to be that.’”

That made Carolyn laugh, “I like that.” She smiled but then her smile began to fade.

Andy could see that she was thinking about something. A memory was coming back to her.

“What are you thinking?” He asked, trying to look at her face hidden behind her blonde hair.

“Just… the people at school… And how they call me names…” She held out her pale arms for him. “For every name, there’s a scar.”

He ran his fingers over her scars gently, tracing a few of them and then holding out his own arm for her to see. Their wrists matched. He looked from his wrist, to hers, to her blue eyes pale with pain.

“You’re not alone.” He said.

She nodded solemnly. “I know…” She whispered.

A harsh breeze came through the open window and she shuddered. Although it was now nearing March, it was still cold outside.

“Come here.” Andy gestured to her, moving over to make a spot next to him on the bed.

Carolyn obediently crawled into the empty space by his side and let him wrap his arms around her. She let the warmth of his body seep into her cool skin and warm her from the inside out.

They sat there almost all night with her resting in his arms, listening to the raging breeze calm itself down and slowly put them to sleep.