Morgan sat up and stared out her window at the city below.  She stared down and noticed a girl in a long, dark dress who was looking up at her, with long, raven hair, like her own.  There was something familiar about this girl, Morgan thought.  Staring at her pale face, she was startled by the blackness of her eyes.  They looked so intense, and yet, somehow lifeless.  Just as Morgan turned her gaze away and began feeling silly, because she knew people didn’t have black eyes, it was just her distance and the darkness that made them look that way, the girl had vanished into the night.

      There was no moon, not even a single solitary star in that pitch black sky, not that there ever was.  The only things visible were the blinding white lights of the cars that rushed past, the neon glare of the buildings all around her, and the dim glow of the street lamps along the cracked, broken sidewalk.  Those ever vigilant sentinels of the night, guiding the drivers onward into the darkness beyond, Morgan assumed it was their incessant flickering that had awoken her, like it did many nights, until she heard the shrill ring of the phone again.

“Damnit, now what?” she grumbled as she flung the covers to the floor and rose to grab the telephone.  “Hello?”

Nothing but silence.  “Hello?” she repeated, yelling into the receiver, now rather agitated.  Not again.  She woke up for this, just to be some loser’s oh-so-original-and-hilarious prank?

“Look, I dunno who you the hell you think you are, but I’m not playing your stupid games!” she screamed into the phone before slamming it down and walking back towards her bed.

Ring Ring.

“Un-freakin-believable” she snarled as she turned on her heels and snatched up the phone once again and began shrieking “Listen jerk, I don’t care what your…”

“Morgan?” a confused voice answered.

Her frustration ebbed away.  “Erik,” she responded, “I’m sorry, I thought it was some kids playing a joke on me or something.”

He chuckled on the other end.  “It’s alright.  I left my phone in my pants yesterday and it went through the laundry, and now it refuses to do anything, so I guess it’s kinda my fault.”

“I guess it is your fault.”  Morgan agreed, falling back onto her bed, relieved.  “So, I take it you got my message?”

Erik responded, “Yeah, and I’m on my way up the stairs right now, so unlock the door because I don’t want to have to stand outside talking Mrs. Shaffer about how big her cats Nipsy and Mr. Tibbles have grown.”

Morgan burst out laughing as she rose to go unlock the door. “Oh, come off it Erik, you know you and Mrs. Shaffer are best friends.  You can’t tell me you don’t go sneaking off with her to go watch Press Your Luck every night after you leave me.”

As she turned the knob and pulled the door open, she could hear Erik sarcastically laughing on the other side.  “Har, Har, Morgan.  You are so funny.”

She flipped her cell phone closed and swung the door open.  There stood Erik, his scraggly black hair hanging in a mess around his shoulders, his mouth curled into a playful sneer, arms crossed in mock anger.

Looking at him, Morgan realized that it was no wonder people thought Erik was bad news.  With his long hair, leather jacket, torn baggy jeans, and especially his lip ring, he certainly didn’t look like a well mannered, upstanding student. But that was the trouble with people, they never looked beyond that.  But Morgan did, and inside, she saw one of the kindest people she’d ever met, and that was why she loved him.

After pulling him inside and pushing the door closed, she flung her arms around his neck, proclaiming, “Good lord, I’ve missed you.”

Holding her in his arms, Erik greeted her with a long, slow kiss that left Morgan’s face a deep shade of red.  When they broke apart, he replied, “I missed you too.”

As they found a place on the sofa, Erik questioned, “So, what’s been going, babe, you’ve been MIA for like two weeks now… I was getting worried about you.”

Morgan looked into his eyes.  They were the color of rain, a watery blue, and right now, they looked serious and calculating.  She knew he could tell just by looking at her what was going on.  Her own eyes were tired, the circles underneath were etched in deep, and her skin was almost chalk white.  She was exhausted, her whole body felt heavy and tired, and everything she saw started to blur at the edges.  And Erik obviously knew she was not okay.

“I know I haven’t been around much Erik, and I’m really sorry.  I just… have had a lot to deal with right now.  Mom’s been spending a lot of nights at the office and so things have been kinda hectic around here” she quickly explained, knowing from the way he stared back that he wasn’t pleased.

Raising a cynical eyebrow, Erik retorted, “Uh-huh, so I take it that she hasn’t been laying off of you any?  And let me guess, you still haven’t quit that job, have you?”

“Not exactly.”

“That’s what I thought,” he snapped, agitated.  “That sadistic hag has you slaving away in this hell hole morning and night, on top of all of your school work and that damn job you refuse to quit.  I mean, look at yourself Morgan, you’re killing yourself, you look as pale as death!”  Placing a hand on her cheek, he exclaimed, “Dear God, Morgan, you’re ice cold.”

She took her own hand and brushed his away, claiming “I’m perfectly fine, Erik, don’t be so paranoid.  I mean, what are you, my mother?”

He quipped, “No, if I was your mother, I would ignore you, keep you locked in this house as my own personal maid, and then come home just to tell you how worthless I think you are.”

“That is not true!” Morgan yelled, color rising in her cheeks, tears welling up in her dark eyes.  Somewhere inside, she knew it was true, but her mind refused to accept it.  She wanted so badly to pretend that she had a happy family, a family just like the ones in those old television shows, with a mother and father who loved each other.  A mother who could make anything better, and who wanted nothing more than to take care of her children.  Morgan wanted to pretend everything was okay in her life, just like she pretended with the people on the street, even though she knew it was far from okay.  

Erik grabbed her shoulders and shook her.  “Listen to yourself Morgan.  You can’t just keep pretending things are alright when they’re not, you can’t keep trying to pretend you are okay when you’re not!”

Tears fell from her eyes and ran down her face as she choked, “I know things aren’t okay, but what do you want me to do, Erik?  Run away from everything?  Leave my mom here all alone, just like my stupid father!”

He released his grip and pulled her in close to him, and she sobbed into his shoulder as he comforted her, “No Morgan, that’s not what I want you to do.  I want you to stop pushing yourself so hard when you don’t have to.  All of this stress you keep putting on yourself is destroying you, can’t you see it?  I mean, you don’t look like yourself anymore.  You look pale and sick, almost like you’re dying or something.  And it scares the hell out of me.”

The words rang in her ears.  They frightened her too, because in a way, she felt sick, not dying, but she definitely knew something was wrong with her.  True she had always been an insomniac, but lately, she couldn’t sleep at all.  Not to mention she was always freezing, even though it was summer, and moving made her slightly dizzy and everything seemed slightly fuzzy, like the world was sliding out of focus.  Maybe she should see a doctor?  But, she would worry about that tomorrow.  For now, she had to convince Erik that she was okay, even though she could no longer convince herself.

Her tears had stopped, and though she felt no relief, she tried to look it as she raised her head and said, “Really Erik, I’m not sick or dying.  I just haven’t been able to sleep very well lately.  I think it’s just the stress and all of the heat getting to me.  I’m fine, I promise.”  The last sentence hung on her tongue, the taste was bitter.  She hated lying to him more than anything.

Sighing, Erik responded, “I’m sorry for getting so worked up, but I worry about you, I just want to make sure you’re okay.  I mean, you’re the most important person in my life, babe, and if something ever happened to you, I don’t think I could handle it.  Just promise me that if something is wrong, something you can’t handle, you’ll let me know?”

“Of course I will,” Morgan agreed, resting her head against his chest.  “If there’s anything seriously wrong, I’ll tell you.”

He stroked her head, running his fingers through her hair.  “That’s all I want.  I mean, what kind of a boyfriend would I be if I didn’t take care of you?”

Morgan smiled.  “I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter, because you always take good care of me.”  Wrapping her arms around him, she quietly said, “Did  mention that I missed you?”

Erik lightly kissed the top of her head and whispered back.  “I missed you too.”