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'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!'
Mark cringed at the sign, but considered his craving for a cold drink and the dull headache he'd been experiencing. A few spare coins clinked in his hand as he approached the stand and the cheery woman in a bright, eye-catching yellow uniform. "Could I get a lemonade please?"
She nodded and produced a cup, pouring some iced lemonade into it from their cooler behind the counter. "There you go, sir," she smiled and passed it to him. "Enjoy."
"Thank you." He turned and began to drink the beverage like there was no tomorrow. It was too hot today to do otherwise, and his fridge was stark empty. There was literally nothing in it. He sighed in content while letting his feet take him anywhere they wanted. As usual, his phone wasn't on him because no one would call him. Life was simple, life was isolating.
Well, at least for Mark it was.
The tarmac was smelling like burnt rubber from the soles of the shoes of people walking by. And as the sun blazed in Mark's face, he found himself standing in front of a little forest at the edge of the centre of town. It was a recreational area where kids liked to go and light illegal bonfires and stir up trouble. But that was only at nighttime. It was twelve in the morning and a weighted guarantee of an unbothered trip through enticed him in. The trees would create perfect coverage in the shadows from the piercing light.
Other young couples and dog-walkers passed him by on their way in and out of the natural canopy. He wandered in with his lips wrapped around the straw of his drink. The slurp sounds were drowned by the joyous birdsong and he felt himself walk with a skip in his step. It wasn't everyday he treated himself to a nice drink. In fact, it wasn't often he'd even leave his house. He had a slight ache in his temples and the cold drink did the trick. There wasn't anything for him to do since dropping out of school. Financial issues are a real pain in the ass, huh?
There was a thin dirt path marked for wanderers such as Mark to follow. He was right: the trees covered him enough to avoid some serious sunburn, but the streams still dappled through the leaves and created specks of light across the pine-needle scattered floor. A grating sound emitted from the cup and straw and to Mark's dismay, he realised that the drink was finished. 'I knew I should've bought five of these,' he thought bitterly to himself and let his arms hang by his sides limply, one hand gripping the cup and the other swinging with his strides.
The other walkers around him slowly began to become fewer and fewer until he was alone on the trail. The cheap watch on his wrist read half-twelve, but in all honesty, Mark didn't know why he even checked if he had nowhere to be.
As he contemplated his life choices, a sudden peculiar scent tickled his nose. "Is that...perfume?" He sniffed at the air but there was no one around who would smell like that. The only smell he had previously noticed was the earthiness of the soil and the leaves. The scent got stronger and more diverse, almost like someone had poured a whole collection of perfumes into one big bottle and sprayed it excessively into the air. The only smell he actually recognised was lavender.
