Watch What You Say by Melissa Essor

Blurs of green and brown and the colors of random cars she surpassed were in her peripheral but her only focus was getting to her destination, to the one place where all her memories were, her home since she was three years old. Her own mother couldn't have forgotten, impossible. Consumed in her thoughts, she ran a red light and saw the blue and red flashes in her rearview mirror. She pulled over and rolled down her window waiting for the officer to come, as she rolled down her window. She looked in her rearview and watched the man step out of his vehicle and walk towards her car the greasy officers deep voice made her jump a little "License and registration" he bellowed.

So she reached into her wallet to pull out her license, only to realize that it is completely blank, only "Orange County, Florida" written on it. No picture, no name, no date of birth, nothing. "WHAT THE FLYING FISH CAKES!!" she screamed in frustration.

As the officer stares at her although she had lost her God given mind. She was living her biggest nightmare.

Sally thinks to herself, “How could this have happened?” Just yesterday she was a regular 18 year old girl with an average life, living in California and is a senior in William Shwarts High School. Her and her two best friends Freda and Jasmine are just a couple of midgets to everyone in their school. Which is false because a legal midget is UNDER four feet, and all of them passed that mark, though they are still pretty short.

When it comes to school, they aren’t up there in the school hierarchy. Not jocks nor nerds just them. They are a couple of goofballs though, when they get together you would swear that they deserve their own show. They all work together on the weekends and for being such goofballs, they get a lot done together. Together they can do any and everything.

But for some reason Sally was still unhappy, constantly being the underdog of the group has slowly but surely taken a toll on her. Maybe it was the fact that she had yet to find the thing that she was best at, but only a thousand things that she was ‘ok’ at. Freda was an excellent teacher, and extremely creative and probably the smartest of the group. Jasmine was the athlete of the group, many unique talents and very cultured the second smartest of the group. Then there was Sally, not very creative, not very athletic, and plain ol unsure of herself.

Friday night all of the girls were off of work and decided to go out, a simple trip to the movies to see the new Channing Tatum movie, now who wouldn’t want to see that. Freda drove and off to the movies they went. It was a beautiful night and they all enjoyed themselves, all but Sally. Freda was unintentionally rubbing her new car in both of her friends faces, Jazmine won free unlimited movie passes for the month, and both of them found a group of friends to hang out with once they got to the cinema, unknowingly leaving Sally behind.

Sally is the same age as them, yet she had an old soul, so she didn’t hang around with a lot of teens, only her two best friends. The people she usually associated herself with often stayed at home and read the book to the movie, so she was left alone in the theatre. Sitting by herself in the back of the theatre trying to cause the illusion that she was there with some else so that nobody mocked her for being alone. She placed her jacket in the seat to the right of her and in the seat to the left of her she placed her bottle of soda in the cup holder.

It was all working out pretty well for her, the lights were about to dim and she would be safe, everyone would focus on the movie rather than her loneliness. Until a group of about 5 teens approached the back of the theatre, and she knew that this wouldn’t end well, her thoughts were verified once she saw her current boy crush Taylor amongst all of the teens. She looked to her right and noticed that there were three empty seats next to the red velvet seat where she placed her army green cargo coat. Knowing that they were going to ask her to move over, she weighed her options. Look lonely and sit miserably next to a group of fun having kids or keep her facade going. Taylor was the one of group to approach her and speak. “Hey are these seats taken?” she stared into his big blue eyes and before she could even concoct a lie in her head she blurted out “No! Sit!” Embarrassed by her sudden outburst she shifted seats and sat to the end, giving the group of friends space to enjoy themselves.

She wasn’t exactly sure why this embarrassed her so much, but it did, so once the movie was finished she decided to shoot Jasmine and Freda a text saying that she was ready to leave; but when fifteen minutes passed and neither of her friends replied or even answered her phone calls, she decided to walk home. Safe to say that this was the final straw, she was tired of her feelings and wellbeing not being considered by them. Something about night time walks by yourself allows your thoughts to wonder, your brain to explore possibilities and your feelings to do a number on themselves. By the time Sally arrived home, she was completely drained. After digging in her bag for her keys, she finally found them, unlocked the door and entered her home. Her head hung low watching her grey sneakers squeak across the tiled floor she says “Good evening, I’m home” only to be returned with the sound of her own echo. As she approached the kitchen counter she spotted a small pink slip of paper and immediately recognized as her mother’s stationary that she brought for her mom last Mother’s Day. She read the words to herself and felt nothing but a small bit of disappointment, her entire family went out of town and didn’t even extend an invite to her. Shaking her head and continuing her journey to her room, she decided that it was pointless to get dinner because there was no food in the fridge, which she remembered from her scavenger hunt for food this morning. She drug her feet into her room, changed and went straight to bed. The last thing she mumbled to herself before she drifted off to sleep was “They treat me like I’m invisible”.  

The next morning she awoke and got ready for work, same as she does every Saturday upon her arrival she greets everyone there, but only got odd stares in return. Shrugging it off and assuming that everyone was probably having a rough day she continued to her work room which was completely empty. Noticing that Jasmine and Freda were both absent from work wasn't there she made a mental note to call the once she gets off to find out what’s going on. Halfway through the day she finally gets the chance to call them she does so, but neither girls are answering. Getting slightly worried and curious as to if both girls made it home safely she decides to take a drive over to their houses when she gets off of work. As the clock strikes two p.m. she takes off to her dingy little car and takes off. First stop, Jasmine’s house, or the Lane’s residence. As she pulls up in the driveway, she gets out of the car and walks up the steps to the house, expecting to see Mr or Mrs Lane.

Sally has known Mr. and Mrs. Lane for about five years now, the constant sleepovers alternating from one girls house to the other and even the vacations out the country together, they treat though she was their second daughter. Since it’s been about a week since she's last seen them, she was actually looking forward to going by them and catching up. As she knocks on the door and waits, someone peeks through the peephole and cautiously opens the door. "Hey Mama Lane!"

She say as Mrs. Lane petite figure appears through the crack of the door, her warm brown eyes study Sally, hard, until she finally opens her mouth. “How may I help you young lady?”

She speaks once she finishes studying Sally. “Young lady? Are you mad at me Ma? You usually call me Alley”

Sally says, feeling slightly sad and trying to remember what she could’ve done to upset her. “Is it because I haven’t checked up on you all week? I’m sorry Ma, you know that it gets hectic around show time and we just had our spring show, so I’m here to make up for lost times anndd check up on Jasmine.”

Mrs. Lane stood there looking at the girl on her doorstep incredulously. Why is this girl calling her “Ma”? Yet alone why is she at her door? “I’m sorry, who did you say that you were looking for?” She finally decides on saying, maybe she’s a new neighborhood child.

           

“Ma! It’s me Sally!” She shouted playfully, trying to play along with what she thought was Mrs. Lanes’ facade. But when the elder woman took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly taking her time to explain to the girl whom she believed was confused. “I’m NOT your mother little girl, my only daughter is away at boarding school and won’t be back until the summer, so whoever you’re looking for could not possibly be here.

           

With the look of pure confusion spread all over her face, the only thing that

Sally could choke out to say was “When did you ship her off? She was here fine and dandy yesterday”

           

At that point it was Mrs. Lane’s turn to look confused “I Shipped her off over a year ago so you couldn’t have seen her yesterday”

           

Baffled, Sally mumbled her dearest apologies and drove over to Freda’s house, only to find out that Freda went off to live with her father in Georgia a couple months back, apparently due to behavioral issues. In a deep need of caffeine and someone to explain to her what was happening, she made her way to her favorite cafe “Freddie’s” everyday Sally was in there faithfully, if she wasn’t at school or work, this is exactly where she was. All of the workers even knew her by a first name basis. So she expected the usual as she walked in the cafe, two or three workers greet her, she orders her usual and sits down trying to gather her thoughts. But once she stepped through the door and the bell on the door rang gaining people’s attention, everyone gave her a blank stare. Walking to the counter she tried to greet the two workers whom she was familiar with, but they only returned it with fake smiles that reminded her of Barbie dolls and small waves, versus their regular casual conversation.

           

She slid onto one of the stools near the counter and when the waiter, a familiar girl named Crystal, approached her and asked what she wanted, her natural response was “The regular, please” which made Crystal raise an eyebrow. “I’m sorry mam but I’ve been working here for years and I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen you here before”

           

Laughing in response sally informs the girl “Crystal, I’ve been coming here daily for three years please stop playing”

           

Crystal the waiter stared in shock, she wasn’t wearing her name tag today so that fact that this stranger knew her name was odd. As she replied with a simple “I’m sorry Miss, I haven't a clue with who you are.”

           

Fed up with hearing that sentence for the day Sally charged out of the Cafe, she needed to go somewhere where people couldn’t have forgotten her, and she knew just where to go.

           

Blurs of green and brown and the colors of random cars she surpassed were in her peripheral but her only focus was getting to her destination, to the one place where all her memories were, her home since she was three years old. Her own family couldn't have forgotten who she was, simply impossible. Her grandma only lived a town away, a simple 15 minute drive. Consumed in her thoughts, she ran a red light and saw the blue and red flashes in her rearview mirror. She pulled over and rolled down her window waiting for the officer to come, as she rolled down her window. She looked in her rearview and watched the man step out of his vehicle and walk towards her car the greasy officers deep voice made her jump a little "Licence and registration" he bellowed.

So she reached into her wallet to pull out her license, only to realize that it is completely blank, only "Orange County, Florida" written on it. No picture, no name, no date of birth, nothing. "WHAT THE FLYING FISH CAKES!!" she screamed in frustration.

As the officer stares at her although she had lost her God given mind. Unsure of what to do, she hands the officer her blank I.D. and her registration for the car from the glove compartment. The large officer who, based on his name tag, is named Officer Riddick, takes off his sunglasses and looks at Sally wide eyed. “I’m sorry mam, but I have to take you in”

Completely understanding, Sally gets out of the car and walks to the back of the police vehicle, the entire ride to the station, the only question on her mind is “What on EARTH is going on”. As the car comes to a slow halt, realization hits Sally that she will be able to call her family and get this all cleared up. Officer Riddick leads her into the station and by his desk seating her in a blue plastic chair, he reaches across his desk for his landline telephone and turns it around to her. “Call someone to come down here and clear this all up, if you cannot, then you may be spending the night in this place. The simple thought of that scared Sally to the point where she quickly picked up the phone and dialed her Mother’s cell number.

“Hello?” She heard her mother's loving voice sing through the other end of the phone

“Hey Mama, I got in a little trouble, would you be able to come down to the police station and clear some things up for me” She whispered, scared of her mother’s reaction

“I’m sorry, who is this?” Her mother questioned

“Sally, your only daughter mom” She answered, silently praying that her mother would remember her.

“I’m sorry, but you must have the wrong number, I only have sons” Her mother stated simply hanging up the phone

Sitting there in complete and utter shock, sally closed her eyes and silently wished for a miracle. Just then she heard the officer calling her name “Sally? Sally honey wake up” She opened her eyes expecting to see the Officer, but instead her eyes met her bedroom ceiling. There was a knock on the bedroom door, “Sally sweetie, you’re going to be late for work if you don’t get up soon” her mother called. Sitting up from her bed, she realized that it was all just a dream.