Perpetual Moment

1. Perpetual - Lasting for eternity. Continuing or lasting for an indefinitely long time. Instituted to be in effect or have tenure for an unlimited duration.

2. Moment - A brief, indefinite interval of time. A specific point in time, especially the present time. A particular period of importance.



An empty glass lay on the discoloring coffee table. Arms folded with her chin resting in place Jena sighed. It had been a long day and she didn’t want to think about work at the moment. She had just broke up with her boyfriend Brent. Even though they had only gone out for three months it was still hard for her. She couldn’t grasp the fact that he was cheating on her for some other girl. Brent and Jena always clasped to each other nothing stopping them from separating until now. Every day before school they would meet each other by the buses and walk hand in hand to class. Brent and Jena where unlike any other couple. They had there little arguments over something stupid and then got over it later on down the road. But Jena never thought that this day would come where they would break up and never talk face to face again. Jena slowly spread her arms and in front of her and stretched until her shoulders hurt. She rubbed her forehead softly. Another headache was coming. All Jena wanted to do was sleep. She hadn’t got sleep much lately since her best friend Carol died. Jena looked up at the clock that was now reading 5:25. That meant she had to be at work in about an hour. She would be working until 10:00 tonight since it was Friday. Every Friday night was hell at the pizza shop. People ran in and out, phones ringing for impatient people with orders to be made, dirty dishes clanging together wanting to be washed. Jena never looked forward to her job.It was the least of her worries when it came to doing some extra work when she already had enough school. She yawned and got up from the coffee table extending her right hand and grabbing the empty glass. She put the glass in the sink and washed it out. While putting away the glass the phone rang. Jena looked over to the phone. Her hand still inside the cabinet. She carefully placed the glass inside the cabinet and shut it. She shuffled for the phone. It rang three more times before she had reached it. Jena picked up the phone and with a sobering voice answered:

“Hello.” She said with a tired expression. No one answered. All she could hear was light breathing of someone on the other end.
“Hello?” Jena said her voice curious.

The light breathing stopped and there was a shatter of glass. Jena hung up the phone and saw that the glass she placed in the cabinet was now lying on the kitchen floor in pieces. She threw up her arms and grunted. She got the dust pan and brush to sweep the mess up. Jena pondered over how the glass could have broke when she put it in close to the back of the cabinet. She slid the glass into the pan and threw it away in the trash. She put the dust pan and brush back where she had gotten it and went upstairs to get a shower and change. Her hands felt cold on the metal railing that led up to her room. She always felt safe up there. It was her room she treated as a safe house, if she ever felt violated or in danger. She pushed the door open and strolled over to her dresser. She took what she needed and headed over to the bathroom. The bathroom was two doors down from where she was. Her feet let out a soft thud when she walked to the bathroom. Her dad never got the carpenters in to fix the floor that had been like it for months. The bathroom never stayed lit unless someone left the light on inside. There was no window for anyone to see the beautiful outside world. Jena pulled open the shower curtain and turned the hot water knob all the way to the right. She turned around and opened up the medicine cabinet and took out some Aspirin. She twisted the cap off and tapped the bottle against her palm. Out came two of the pills. She filled up a cup with water from the spicate. The coolness of it seeped through the cup and into her hand. Jena tilted her head back and popped the pills in her mouth. She then drank the cup of water to help wash down the pills. She tossed the cup into the trash can next to her and went to the shower. The steam rose from the bathtub. She slipped off her clothes and went inside.

After she had taken her shower Jena was feeling rejuvenated. The headache was gone and she didn’t feel tired anymore. Jena ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. She quickly snatched some sticky paper from the counter and wrote her mom a note. The note read:

“Mom,

Went to work, will be back around 11:00. If not, call my cell phone. You know the number already.

Love Jena"

She slapped the note to the fridge and ran out to the front door. It was cold outside and Jena had forgotten to bring her coat along. She cursed herself for not remembering it. Jena had no time to go back inside and get it. Instead she jogged to her and opened the drivers door. She climbed in and put the key into the ignition. She turned it hard. The car wouldn’t start. She did it again and this time the car started. Jena let out a sigh of relief and drove out of the drive way. While driving she turned on the heat on high and let it run. It was not that far from her house to get to the pizza place. She felt like turning around and going back home. Jena hated working. Her mom was the one who made her get a job so she could have what people called ‘Responsibility’. It was never her type of thing. When she reached work she was cutting close to being late. She hurriedly turned off the car and went inside the pizza shop. When Jena walked into the shop she realized she had forgotten to put on her work clothes. She let out a long groan. The boss was not going to like this since it was Jena’s third time coming to work without her clothes. Jena escorted herself to the back where all of the action was taking place. She stood at her usual spot everyday and began washing all of the dirty dishes that customers had left. Thinking to herself, Jena thought of Brent and there relationship. She stood like a puppet waiting to be moved by its master. Something tapped her shoulder. Jena turned around and saw a tall bald muscular man. It was her boss. She let out a cry of fear and drop a dish she had in her hand. It didn’t break but clattered to the floor. The man looked down at the dish and then back up at Jena. He grunted and asked Jena where her work clothes were. She tried to explain everything that happened to her but he didn’t want to hear it. He told her the next time she forgot her clothes she would be fired. Jena nodded in response and went back to her work. Once her boss left, Jena caught her breath and took a moment to breath. She was startled at the way her boss looked at her. He never had looked at her that way before. Jena forgot about it and once again went back to the work that she was supposed to be doing. Jena still had three hours before she could be set free from the prison she was sentenced to sit through.

Two hours later Jena had estimated she washed over two-hundred dishes not including all of the spatulas and some other items. Most of the people from the bar were leaving and no one was sitting at the tables for lounging. This was called their “Clean-Up Hour”. Jena and the rest of the kitchen crew had to clean the pizza shop spotless. After Jena finished her last dish she was to go around and clear off all of the tables and wipe them down with a rag. This was the easiest part of her job that she actually liked. She knew that in one hour she would be going home and see to it that she slept good tonight. While wiping off one of the tables the bell that hung on the entrance door rung. A tall figure approached her. It was her boyfriend Brent. He stared at her for what seemed like eternity. She tried to look away from him but couldn’t. She couldn’t help but to keep her eyes glued to his. Finally Brent broke the silence and said that it was Jena’s fault they broke up. Jena didn’t feel like arguing and just kept on doing her job. He forced her to look back into his eyes. She glared at him with hatred. It was over she told him. He was consumed with so much anger and frustration that he slapped her across the face. He left a red mark on her left cheek. She didn’t cry out which surprised him and made him angry even more. He went to slap her again but a strong iron fist stopped him from doing so. Jena’s boss had punched Brent square in the face and knocked him down on his butt. He scrambled to his feet and ran out the door. Jena’s boss kneeled down to her and asked her if she was okay. She said that she was fine. Her boss told her to go home early and that he would call the cops the next time he saw such a thing happen. Jena got up and walked out of the pizza shop rubbing her cheek.

The sting kept bothering her for the rest of the night. Jena didn’t know what she should do about Brent. She thought about going over to his house and talking it over with him but she knew it probably wouldn’t work out too well. Instead of worrying about it anymore Jena decided to go to bed and forget about the whole thing. She walked up the stairs and into her room. She flipped the light switch and threw herself onto her bed. She closed her eyes and soon dozed off.

Jena roamed the dark corridors of a familiar place. She squinted her eyes to see better. A clearer picture showed of her ex-boyfriends house. She searched around for a way out. Jena did not want to see his house or his face ever again. She ran down the long hallway flashing her head from left to right to find an exit. All there was were pictures of her and him together forever. She ran and ran until her knees gave in. She stumbled to the floor her face smacking the hard wood floor. Jena quickly picked her self up and kept running. She saw light ahead. It was a door. Light crept through the ends of the door. The rays caressed the darkness. Jena walked foot over foot to the door. All was silent except her loud footsteps coming closer and closer to the door. She lifted her arm out and put her hand on the cool knob. She turned it cautiously and walked through the door. Her eyes went wide to what she was seeing. It was Brent’s room filled with pictures of her in many shapes and forms. Jena wanted to leave but couldn’t help but stay and search the room. She walked over to Brent’s bed and sat down. Over towards the window was her hamster cage. Inside her hamster was choking on a seashell. She got off the bed and ran over to help her hamster. It was too late the hamster had died with the seashell half way down its throat. She cried out and went to leave the room. The door slammed shut and Brent walked in. He did not recognize Jena. He shuffled his feet towards the window and completely ignored Jena. A long pause of silence came upon them. Soon after, Brent started talking to Jena about there relationship. Heat rose up in the house. Smoke and steam appeared from the door and the window. Fire caught on everything Jena looked at. She screamed and ran out of the house with Brent. Outside of the house an old lady sat on a bench. She looked at the both of them.

“You mustn’t go back there! You mustn’t!” She said her voice high and cracking. The old lady stared at the tree by her side. Brent and Jena carefully ran back into the burning house. The house turned to ashes and lay in the fiery soil.

Something woke Jena up. She looked around her room. The room still looked the same. Her posters hanging from the wall and the mirror still there too. She sighed in relief and pulled herself out of bed. Jena blinked at the clock. It read 8:20. She got on some clean clothes and walked down the stairs still tired from work last night. Jena’s mom was already off to work. She would be gone the rest of the day. Jena went into the kitchen and took out a glass from the cabinet. She carried it over to the refrigerator and opened the door. She looked for the milk and took it out. She turned the cap of the milk and poured it into her glass. Satisfying her need for milk she then put it back into the fridge and walked to the living room. Jena sat down on the couch and stared blankly at the coffee table. She shot back to reality and just remembered that she had left her shorts at Brent’s house. She put a disgusted look on her face and decided that she wasn’t going to go over there for a pair of shorts.

It was now noon and Jena had still not moved from the couch. She grabbed the remote and turned on her T.V. Jena flipped through a few channels until she found the music station. Her favorite song was on. She kept it playing and bobbed her head to the tune of the music. She thought about her ex-boyfriend again. She wanted to talk to him now. All she could think of since last night was Brent. How he slapped her how her dream seemed so real. It was to much for her. She was going to talk to Brent whether he wanted to or not. Jena got off the couch and went to the phone. She picked it up and dialed his number. It rang and rang. Nobody answered. She figured that he wouldn’t answer since he had caller I.D. Jena grabbed her coat this time and shut the door behind her. Outside it was still pretty cool. She put on her coat and got into her car. Jena drove faster than last night. This time when she saw Brent she was going to tell it straight to his face it was really over. She would never talk to him again after that. She would go home and never answer her phone.

She parked the car sloppily. She would only be a few moments. She quickly walked up to the front door her hands at her sides swaying back and forth furiously. Jena pounded on the door with her fist. She pounded a few more times before she noticed that there was no one to be found in the house. She thought it was cute that Brent was going to chicken out and not talk to her. She turned the door knob. Surprisingly the door was unlocked. She headed in side and started towards the upstairs. Jena was not going to be stopped at anything. She was going to march right into Brent’s room and tell him what she thought.

The door was right in front of her. She did not budge. Jena wasn’t going to back down now. She opened up the door and walked inside. She had a lump in her throat and was nervous at confronting Brent. She started to say something but then found that Brent was not there. Instead she found pictures covering the walls of herself. She gasped at the sight of all of them. Jena looked around the room. All of it looked so familiar. The window in the same spot. Her hamsters cage lying right below it. Jena wanted to leave right now. She couldn’t move. She felt as if she was glued to the spot she was standing at. Jena started to cry. She gazed over at her hamsters cage. Her hamster was choking on a seashell. She tried to save him but couldn’t. The hamster died with half of the seashell hanging out of its mouth. Jean screamed with anger and frustration. She cried even more. The tears ran down her cheeks and seeped into her soft skin. The door slammed shut in front of her. Brent was there in place of the door. He did not notice Jena and walked to the window. He completely ignored her and stayed silent. A long pause of silence came upon them. All Jena could hear was herself sob. Brent began to talk to her. He was talking about there relationship. He said that he did not want to see her again and then turned around. He glared at her and started screaming. Jena stopped crying and then began to scream at him too. They screamed at each other for what seemed like a perpetual moment. Smoke and Steam rose from the room door and window. Heat came from the hard wood floor. Everything that Jena looked at started on fire. Jena screamed and ran out of the house with Brent. They ran towards the road. An old lady sat a bench staring at them. She kept staring at them with her cane in one hand.

“You mustn’t go back there! You mustn’t!” She said. The old lady turned her head away from them and over to a tree next to her. Brent and Jena both ran back into the house. Flames rose everywhere. The house fell with wood splintering and carpets smoldered. The house landed on the fiery soil.