Catching a Cold For You

~11/8/14~ The More I Knew

I kept thinking about how I just left Nora all by herself and woke her up so suddenly. I felt like she was going to be upset with me. I ended up confronting her about it and she said it wasn't a big deal. I wanted to know what was wrong with her house, so I called her while I was on my lunch break and asked if we could meet up and talk about it after work.

When I asked her, her skin went pale. I tried to talk to her but she just sat there staring into space, so I waited until she could think again.

That day was the first day I sat outside of the cafe. The empty tree branches and leaves tumbling across the pavement along with the peaceful breeze created an ambiance that made me feel as if I was living in a fantasy. Nora looked like she didn't even know where she was. She was staring at nothing, just sitting there...

Her pale face was glowing, and her eyes were glimmering. Everything seemed so peaceful but chaotic at the same time. She finally pulled herself back together and answered my question, but it threw me off guard.

"Someone used to live in that house, and they committed suicide in that bedroom." She hesitated.

I also asked her why she didn't close off that room, but she didn't tell me. She looked away from me and stared at the ground. It was a growing concern for me and I just wanted to know what happened. The way she reacted to my question made me think that she was related to the person or knew them, and that was the case. Later on in the day, she texted me and told me that a close friend of hers lived in that house before they committed suicide.

As I read the text, the pit of my stomach felt empty. I felt distraught like something else might've happened to her friend. If that was the case, why was Nora trying to hide it from me? To keep her past a secret? Did Reggie know about any of it? I had so many questions waiting to be answered, so I told her to meet up with me again at the dog park instead of the cafe.

We sat underneath a tree near the trail that led into the woods, and she brought Zoe with her to keep us some company. Before we talked, we just sat there and listened to the birds singing deep within the woods. It was so silent that I could hear my own breathing. The two of us were the only people at the dog park. Since Thanksgiving was right around the corner, fewer people were visiting.

"So... That night we went through the cornfield maze and went to your house, when you fell asleep, you started sleepwalking, and you walked into the kitchen. I didn't go in there until I heard something fall onto the ground and you were standing in front of the knife holder holding a knife. I took it from you and led you back to the living room. That room upstairs needs to be closed off." I asserted.

She stared at the ground for a moment and took a deep breath, "We haven't known each other long enough to talk about things like this... I don't even know your name. I do like you but I want to leave the past in the past and not talk about it. It gives me nightmares, that's why you saw me sleepwalking.", she looked away towards the gate of the dog park didn't speak to me for what seemed like forever.

After a while, she started moving close to me. It was making me nervous. "Nora... You are the first woman I have ever spoken to on an attractive matter. My parents raised me to be a good person and I am a good person, so I assure you that I will treat you with compassion and kindness", I felt like everything I said was a little too much, but I tried to feel confident.

"You still haven't told me what your name is." Nora looked up into the sky as a plane flew by.

"It's Elliot.", I sighed.

"Elliot what?" She looked at me with a smirk on her face.

"Jones:". We both made eye contact with each other and she kept moving closer to me.

She was staring at my lips like she had hunger in her eyes. I was asking myself if I was ready to have my first kiss. The dog park seemed like a sweet place, but having your first kiss at twenty-four years old is a little embarrassing and nerve-wracking.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do. Her face was getting closer and her eyes were closing and then suddenly... Her lips were pressed against mine. Soft and smooth like butter, and they also kind of tasted like raspberry. It was a great first kiss, to say the least. I was blushing like crazy and I covered my face and looked away in embarrassment. She laughed at me and I felt a little bit more nervous and she stopped laughing.

She apologized and we decided to leave. I offered her to visit my house before she headed home and she nodded.

*30 minutes later*

"Wow, your home is so beautiful." She dozed off at the growing vines on the arbor and gently caressed the dangling flowers that bloomed before winter began.

I chuckled, "My mom helped me pick this house before I started working at your dad's restaurant. I used to work at a hospital, I was their janitor and they fired me after I forgot to clean a patient's room."

"Well, it was only one time, right?" She asked curiously while walking up to the door.

I nodded, "Yeah, but they had strict rules and if you didn't follow them, you got fired".

"Well, at least you're here now. My dad really likes you and he wants to keep you around." She turned and smiled at me with a spark in her eyes.

I led her inside and she scanned the living room, staring at the paintings that were lying against the coffee table. She kneeled down and separated them, looking at each and every one.

"These are so pretty, where did you get them?" She held one up and stared deeply at it.

I scratched the back of my neck and hesitated. She then looked at me with pure amazement and her face lit up with joy. "You painted these?! Elliot, you are so talented. Have you sold any or gone to an art gallery to put them up for viewing?" She stood up and dusted off her legs.

"Yeah, I've sold a few, but I'd rather keep them for my family so that they have something from me to remember." I gathered the canvases and put them in the closet near my bedroom. "Would you like a drink?" I offered.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and skipped into the kitchen. "Do you have any wine?" She smirked at me.

I chuckled nervously with my head down facing the floor, "Yes, I do."

As I was grabbing glass cups out of the cupboard, Nora wandered off into the living room again and stood still when a picture on the tv stand caught her attention. "Who's this dog?"

I sighed as I poured the wine into the glasses, "That's Tucker. He was my dog but I had to put him down a month or two ago because he stopped eating. My mom bought him for me when I won my first football game."

She hummed as she studied the picture and then came back into the kitchen to get a sip of her drink. She sat her glass down and stared at me. The way her eyes were blinking lit up my soul like a firefly. She was observing me very closely, like a child watching as a herd of horses were trampling through a field, but it was adorable.

"What are you looking at?" I laughed.

"I'm just thinking. You seem like you have an interesting life." She rested her head on her palms, "Like, it's almost perfect but there are so many things that you're waiting for to happen and you're growing more impatient by the thought of getting everything you want." She tilted her head and squinted at me, then smiled.

I turned away and leaned back against the counter that stood in the middle of the room, "You're not wrong, " I took a sip of my drink, "It just sucks to be the oldest child. I moved out of my parent's house after I got accepted into a scholarship and since then I've just been on my own with nobody to talk to besides Reggie. I mean I know I get to talk to the employees at work too but it's just that my whole life I've never had a girlfriend, never had someone to wake up next to, and I'm still hoping that one day I will have that." I finished my drink and drug myself into the living room to sit on the couch.

"You realize that I'm standing right here in your house, right? I don't plan on going anywhere unless you want me to. You mesmerize me. You sparkle." She stood right in front of me and threw her arms into the air.

"Well, if you insist," I snickered.

After a while, she fell asleep in my arms on the sofa while I had music playing on the tv. I was just lying there until Nora suddenly stood up and started sleepwalking again. She wandered into the hallway that led to my bedroom, that's when I got up to see where she was going.

She was turning the doorknob to my room, and she looked behind her shoulder as if she had seen me, but there was no way possible that she could because she was sleepwalking. She turned back and stepped into the doorway and then stopped. She was staring straight at my bed. I quietly walked toward her and led her back into my living room and she laid herself back down.

I kept wondering why she was having those kinds of dreams. It was unusual and something I had never seen before until she told me why she kept sleepwalking at night. When sunrise came around, I made myself some coffee and turned on the news, and waited for Nora to wake up.

"This morning we will be expecting heavy showers of rain and snow later afternoon. There will be high temperatures of forty-six degrees and lows of twenty-four, so make sure you wear your coats and use an umbrella. We have Tom here who will be discussing today's reports of Seattle's news."

It was strange how Seattle's news broadcast was being discussed on Chicago's news channel. I thought that maybe there was a big event happening, but I didn't know until a video format was displayed on the screen. In big letters, the head caption wrote,

"Today in Seattle; Elizabeth Jones and her husband Rowan were found unconscious on the side of the road of South Beacon Avenue by Jefferson Park. The puplic is confused and terrified"

The amount of shock I went into was unbearable. My chest felt tight and I couldn't move- I was paralyzed. And I sat there until Nora woke up groaning. She rubbed her eyes and yawned while trying to focus on the tv. She read the caption and studied the expression on my face and noticed the fear in my eyes.

I was on the verge of crying, and I didn't want Nora to see me in such pain. I pulled myself together and stormed into my bedroom and slammed the door before she could stop me.

"Elliot, let me in so I can talk to you. You don't know if they're dead or not, so please don't panic." She stood outside the door, trying to calm me down.

I didn't listen to her. I was enraged and full of anger. I couldn't keep my composure, my heart began beating faster and I was losing my sanity as the minute passed by. I stood up and put different clothes on and slipped on some shoes. As I opened the door, Nora was sitting on the floor by the closet crying and I could hear her sobs from where I was standing.

I kneeled down beside her, "I need to leave, you're coming with me. Let's go." I pulled her up to her feet and handed her one of my scarfs as she wept her tears off her face.

As we headed toward our cars, her phone began ringing. "It's my dad, give me a minute." She walked toward the side of the curb and came back minutes later after I was waiting for my car to warm up. "Okay, let's go."

That was the only time I ever drove to Washington without taking a plane ride, and the entire drive there felt like I was getting closer and closer to reaching the death of my parents. Except they weren't dead, in my mind it felt like that's what had happened.