Remembering Yesterday

Mr. Parker knocked on his daughter’s room. No answered. He let out a soft sigh and decided to walk in. He saw her, his daughter laying on the floor her hair covering her face. He felt his heart stop beating as he ran towards her. “Zoey!” He put his arm under her head and patted her cheek. “Zoey, wake up.” He felt his heart breaking when his daughter’s head fell to one side as if it were a rag doll. He picked his daughter up still calling her name. He saw that bottle than, a bottle of sleeping pills he had in the bathroom cabinet from when he had been stressed out about work months ago. He shook his head and looked at his daughter as he ran down the hall, “I never thought you’d do this. Not you.” He screamed his wife’s name as he ran down the stairs. Mrs. Parker walked out of the kitchen annoyed, “What is it Dave!?” She gasped as she saw her daughter’s limp body. “I’ll drive.”

Zoey opened her eyes annoyed. That stupid beeping nose was going to make her go crazy. She looked at a mop of black hair and patted James’ head. James’ head popped up like a jack in the box and he looked at his best friend. “Thank God you’re alive.” She looked at him confused and touched his puffy eyes. “Why were you crying?” James stared at her. “Did you know that taking a lot of pills at once can give you heart attack?” She looked at him blankly and he stood up furiously. “You got intoxicated from all that damn medicine! You could have had a heart attack. You’re lucky you’re dad found you when he did. Do you know how worried I was!? What would I do without you?” Zoey stared at the wall. “That’s the same question I asked myself when I took the pills. What would I do without you? I can’t think of a life without you. That’s why I did what I did!” James cupped her head in his hands. “I won’t ever leave you. You know that.” “Maybe you won’t but I will. I’ll be leaving you in two months!” James frowned as he sat beside her. “I’ll go visit you. Every chance I get I’ll be there.” “That’s won’t be the same. Who’s going to do crazy things with me, remind me my locker combination, help me make decisions, be my best friend?” James let out a soft sigh and grabbed her hand intertwining their fingers. “I’ll always be your best friend. I won’t ever let you go. But you have to learn how to be independent. Think about it, this is a great opportunity. You can live by yourself, meet guys from Europe! I hear England is a great place to live.” “I don’t care about that!”

Mrs. Parker walked into Zoey’s hospital room and stared at James. “You! What the hell are you doing here; I thought I told you to stay away from my daughter!” “Why would you do that?” Mrs. Parker looked at her daughter and scowled. “It’s his fault. Everything is his fault! If it weren’t for him you wouldn’t be in this hospital bed.” “What are you talking about, James has nothing to do with this!” Mrs. Parker laughed, “Doesn’t he? Who helped you sneak out last summer to that party, who spoils you like a child and does everything you want to, who took you to that damn concert? Him! He’s the bad influence in your life and the reason why your life is like this!” “No he’s not mom!” Mrs. Parker pushed James out of Zoey’s room. Zoey screamed at her mom. “Let go of him! Mom, please. Don’t take him away! You can’t keep doing this!!” Mrs. Parker looked at her daughter, “I will do anything so that you don’t have to be tainted by this, this demon!” “He’s not a demon! If you would stop listening to all your church friends and actually got to know him-” “I’ve heard enough. I don’t want him near you. These are clearly his words and not yours.” Zoey felt hot angry tears fall down her face as James was hauled out by two security guards. “I don’t want him five meters near my daughter, do you understand?” The guards as they walked away with James. “Mom, you can’t control my life forever. You can’t. You’ve already done it with-” Mrs. Parker froze and stared at her daughter. “With who?” Zoey looked at her mom confused; her mom had actually never done that with anyone, so why had she said that?

Mrs. Parker stared at her daughter, “It seems I’m going to have to take drastic measures in this.” “It seems I won’t have to wait until the end of the school year. You’re leaving for England as soon as possible.” Zoey froze as those words sunk in. “No!” She stared at her mom choking on her tears. “Mom, no! Please, mom you can’t do this to me!!” Mrs. Parker walked out of the room ignoring her daughter’s shouts.
Mr. Parker looked at his wife from across the kitchen table. “We have to talk about this….You know that right?” Mrs. Parker stared at her husband. “There is nothing to talk about Dave. I thought we already talked about this.” “Tammy…” “Don’t you Tammy me Dave. Isn’t this what we agreed on? That we wouldn’t let our daughter be tainted by evil, just like theywere tainting her?” “You got what you wanted years ago, Zoey is yours. I thought after this we would have a normal life.” “I thought so too, but this James, I don’t like him at all. He reminds me a lot of him, that boy whose life was going nowhere. Especially with those parents he had. I can’t believe my Zoey was near him.” “I thought you had forgotten about him too. We don’t even know anything about him.” “I know, but I feel he’s near. I can still see his face every night in my dreams. I know he’ll come back, that he’ll find my Zoey.” Mr. Parker looked as his wife confused. “Why would you think that?” “Because evil never dies, it always rises back up to get what it wants. And I know that boy wants my Zoey.” She laughed humorlessly and took a sip of her coffee. “At least I’m sure they won’t come back for my Zoey. We made sure of that didn’t we?” Mr. Parker looked away from his wife’s gaze. She had that same evil grin she had when they lived in Wisconsin years ago; the day Zoey’s life had changed forever. “But I’m going to find him. Before he finds my Zoey and taints her like he was doing years ago.” Mr. Parker looked at his wife frowning. “What makes you think he’s going to find her? She’s nothing like she was years ago.” “Have you not heard anything I’ve told you Dave? If he doesn’t find her she will.” Mr. Parker laughed, “There’s no way that could happen. She remembers nothing.”

Mrs. Parker shook her head, “I wouldn’t be so sure of that. I went up to the attic a few days ago. The wig was on the floor.” Mr. Parker’s eyes widened, “You mean-” Mrs. Parker shook her head, “No, I’m sure she hasn’t found the truth out...yet. That’s why I want her to leave as soon as possible. But that James is being a real bother. Maybe I will let Zoey stay until the end of the school year. But we’ll have to do something about him.” “What do you plan on doing?” Mrs. Parker grinned, “I think we should visit out old friend, George. I want him to help us get rid of that boy. Zoey can’t know the truth, not now, not ever. James is a smart boy, too smart, and it’s precisely that intelligence that’s going to end his life. I’ve tried several times to take him away from Zoey, but neither of them understand, especially him. This is the only other way I can think of to keep him from finding out the truth about us.”

Notes