Cursive - By Phoebe Lane Page 0,48

thought momentarily, which led to her berating herself again for becoming so attached and vulnerable.

Aislynn avoided calls from her mom, not wanting to get into yet another argument with her. Ellie had been calling her constantly, which was very unlike her.

"I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you're okay," Ellie had explained.

Well, it's kind of getting on my nerves, so stop it.

"You've never checked up on me this much before. What's going on?" The whole thing made Aislynn very suspicious.

"Nothing is going on. I'll be back in town in a few days…I love you, girlie," Ellie had added with hesitation.

Aislynn decided to occupy herself by cleaning up the apartment, hoping the physical activity would help her get rid of some of the restlessness. She got all the cleaning supplies out with the intention of starting in the bathroom, but ended up spilling the tile cleaner on the floor. In her hurry to make sure the hardwood floor didn't get damaged by the chemicals, she reached for a kitchen towel in a drawer without looking and ended up slicing her hand open.

"Damn it! I need this fucking day to end!" she screamed in frustration.

The cut wasn't big, but it was deep and would need stitches. She wrapped her hand in a towel and took herself to the acute care center. She walked in, towel now soaked in blood, and thanked the heavens the waiting room was empty.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the woman at the window asked.

"I just cut my hand. I think it needs stitches."

"Okay, please sign here on the list, and let me get your ID and insurance card."

Aislynn wrote her name on the sign in sheet, and let her eyes wander to the date written in bold black letters on the top of the page.

That's when her world came crashing down.

Her whole body froze. She tried to breathe, but her chest refused to move. She couldn't register anything that was going on around her, only hearing a persistent ringing in her ears that was momentarily interrupted by someone calling out her name in the background.

Next thing she knew, Aislynn found herself sitting in her car. The next memory was of her walking into her apartment, and then later it was the sound of her cell phone going off repeatedly somewhere in the apartment.

She was struck by a moment of clarity sometime during the early afternoon. She sat on the sofa and thought about how powerful the human mind could be. It was impossible to understand or explain how this could have happened to her. Of all people, it happened to her. It was such a blatant oversight, it made Aislynn furious. It was like her mind had betrayed her.

How could I have not seen it? How could I have blocked it out this way?

She heard the breaking of glass at one point, but couldn't care enough to figure out where it had come from, or whether it was her causing the damage. Her phone was still ringing nonstop, but she could only stare at it for what felt like hours, the date on the screen taunting her.

It had been exactly a year.

How was it possible that a whole year had gone by since Christopher had left her?

"Jace, it's Ellie."

"Hey, what's up?" he said, holding his phone with his shoulder as he rolled his carry on out of the plane and into the airport gate.

"Are you back in San Diego already?"

"I just landed. Why? What's going on?" he asked, now worried.

"I've been trying to get hold of Aislynn for hours, and I can't reach her. I'm worried about her, Jace. Today isn't a good day for her, and I wanted to be there, but I'm stuck in O’Hare. Can you please go by and check on her? I tried to call Evan, but he's stuck in a meeting with vendors," Ellie said, alarm in her voice.

"Yeah, okay. I'm on my way right now," he said and walked faster toward the airport exit. "What's really going on, Ellie? What do you mean today isn't a good day for her?"

"I'm sorry…It's not really my story to tell. Just, please check on her. I'll call you as soon as I land."

What the hell is going on? he thought, dread invading his body.

A few minutes later, Jace was on his way to Aislynn's place. This time around, it was him doing one hundred miles per hour on the interstate. He had called her multiple times, but it kept