Friday October 19, 2007

“Sometimes, things just don’t make sense,” said Jared.

Well that’s the understatement of the year, thought Marissa bitterly. Truthfully, Marissa had every right to be bitter. She had, after all, just been dumped by Jared, her boyfriend of sixteen months, and the love of her life. It wasn’t only the sudden dumping that had Marissa angry; it was also Jared’s reason for throwing her heart in the trash.

You’re just too different, Jared had said. In Marissa’s humble opinion, who was he to judge different? He was, after all, the biggest loner at Picnic Point High School. Naturally, Marissa had become defensive. She knew she was different, she always had. However, she hoped that maybe, just maybe, the boy of her dreams could look past her unexplainable convulsions, her head-splitting headaches that caused her to miss school and sometimes dates, and the way that Marissa was always where the trouble was…but was never the cause.

“How can you do this Jared?” Her magnificent, amber eyes welled up with tears. “Why are you breaking my heart?”

The last line accomplished what Marissa intended. Jared knew that his girlfriend loved him, but she had never told him how much. Marissa was afraid, and had irrationally thought that not admitting how smitten she was would somehow protect her from the pain she felt now. And he loved her too but he couldn’t be with her, at least not until her ‘condition’ went away.

“You’re making this harder than it needs to be Missa. You know that you’ve been less than honest with me and I can’t stand the weirdness. You have no idea how hard it is, not knowing what’s going on with you.” Now Jared was fighting back tears.

Marissa gave up on holding her tears. She’d heard those lines before so many times. Ever since the headaches started (migraines really) people had kept away. Marissa's three best friends, Karly, Brad and Jared, had been the only non-family to associate with her for longer than a few weeks since grade six.

“Jared, please, you don’t understand!”

“And whose fault is that?” asked Jared with cruel sarcasm that Marissa had never before heard from him.

“I’m trying,” she cried.

Unfortunately, at that moment, Marissa felt a tingle at the back of her head. “Oh God, not now,” she pleaded.

Jared, knowing all too well what was happening, positioned himself behind his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. He gently placed his arms around her as Missa began to shake uncontrollably. She groaned and screamed in pain, raising her hands to hold her head, as if trying to keep her brains from spilling out. Jared had been through this routine many times. It was part, actually it was most of the reason that he needed to get out of Marissa’s life.

“Legs giving out in four…three…two…one,” he mumbled. And, right on cue, Marissa lost control of her legs.

If Jared hadn’t been there, she would have dropped to the ground, and most likely ended up with a new scar to add to the collection she’d already gathered. Even though the seizure-things were what made Jared want to forget Marissa, he had to make sure she was okay. He picked her up, resting her head carefully on his shoulder and cradling her against his chest. Thankfully the park was empty, or someone would likely have called an ambulance. Upon hearing about a petite, brunette girl collapsing from a seizure they would have immediately called Missa’s house. Marissa had gone to the hospital in an ambulance so many times, the drivers had her number on speed-dial and all her information memorized.

“Where should I put you?” asked Jared, rhetorically. “The bench, the table, the grass, or the sand pit?”

Jared decided on a patch of particularly soft-looking grass. Once he lay down his unconscious soon-to-be ex-girlfriend, he took off his fleece sweater and made a pillow.

It was only a matter of time before Marissa completed the ritual that followed the tingle. She would wake up, mutter gibberish for a few minutes then grab her things and leave without explanation. That was how it always was. A quick goodbye and gone in a flash. The next time Jared saw her, she would be fresh out of jail, receiving congratulations for saving someone’s life, sneaking away from the scene of a disaster or miracle, or acting weird with a new groupie hanging around thanking her every five seconds.

Jared was positive he knew the truth about Marissa. She had to be psychic. There was no other way to describe what happened. However, every time Jared asked about it, Missa would deny it, and make up some bogus disease that couldn’t be found on any website or in any medical book. Sometimes she would simply kiss him enough to take his mind off the mystery.

It seemed, even though he constantly reminded her, Marissa always forgot, or ignored, the fact that relationships had to be based on a firm foundation of trust. After sixteen months, Missa still hadn’t come clean. The way he saw it, she had run out of chances long ago.

“No. Bad, red…cloak, cover you face, swim turtle! Run, go, be strong, stop laughing,” mumbled Marissa frantically, her adorable face contorted in pain.

As usual, Jared was completely confused by her seemingly random words, even though, in the end, it would normally make a little bit of sense. For instance, during one episode, she had said, “Piney fresh, ouch, pins and needles,” repeatedly before coming back to the land of the living. She then rushed off and found a girl being kidnapped in the forest.

The mumbling stopped and Marissa let out her customary groan, followed by a dazed expression as she massaged her temples. Seconds later, she was standing, apologizing, and shedding tears that had nothing to do with the pain in her head, but rather the pain in her chest on account of her being dumped for reasons beyond her control.

Missa took what little pride she had left, grabbing her bag from where it had fallen when Jared told her he was ending it. She ran out of the park and around the corner, making sure that she was out of sight before she dropped to her knees, sobbing and gasping for air. The heartbreak she felt burned more than any pain she’d ever felt from her stupid visions.

“I’m coming sweetie,” she said to the unknown girl from her vision.

Silently she added, just stay strong, though it was more for her own benefit than that of the girl in desperate need of help.