7

_____________ had known Kindra since she was a teenager. They had been in a relationship then.  He was her punching bag, but she seemed to have forgotten.

The thing about Kindra was, she was always so involved in her head that she forgot certain things about herself. She didn’t notice. One minute she would like something, and another she wouldn’t. She thought about things in her head, and then forgot that they never came out her mouth, then get frustrated that you didn’t know them. She told him stories a thousand times. She altered what she said – hyperbolized it a little bit – and then every time she told a story it became more and more until the entire premise of the story was false. He would listen every time, and react appropriately. That was probably part of the reason why she never realized that she was lying. Every time she said something, it was a fresh slate for her.

__________ happened to be the only one Kindra would do this too. She was generally quiet with other people – especially in high school. If she talked to everyone the same way she talked to him, somebody would have slapped her by then and maybe she would notice.

People assumed Kindra was one of the most in-control because she dressed simply and had a certain air about her – plus, she was in a “real” relationship in high school. It was pretty big. But _____________  knew that she picked her nose, wore the clothes she did because she was scared to wear anything more interesting, and that she was so forgetful, she might as well have been in a brand new relationship every day.

Both _____________ and Kindra had grown up just a few blocks away from Castle Apartments. He knew this, hated that he had stayed in one place so much, but also accepted it because he knew that people usually ended up living 5 miles away from where they grew up. Kindra, however, had always prided herself on getting out of town.

“__________, I’m scared to stay with you cause you’re a nothing. I hate to have to say it like that. But I’m going somewhere and you’re staying here. You’ll drag me down,” Kindra would say.

“That’s not true,” ________ said, for the thousandth time.

Something in her head must have heard him when he said “That’s not true” to every “I’m scared to stay with you,” because she responded with

“You say that but you just don’t know. You’re like a broken record. Always just saying shit like that without anything to back it up. What work have you done to get out of here?” she said. Then she started to cry.

___________ gave her a hug, held her hand, and bought her pink roses the next day. Next fight, she forgot all those nice things.

___________ began stapling the roses he brought her to the walls of her bedroom to remind her. A thousand flowers, all lined up, so then she went to bed, she would stare at them first. But somehow, it didn't work. Kindra would stare all right, but not think. Whatever synapses had to fire to make her remember just didn't. She was so involved with the beauty of the roses, and what if her friends could see the roses, and how did the roses crumple that way as they dehydrated, that she never even realized what it meant.

And then she got pregnant with Andy.