Lonely With You

1. lingering shadows

Staring up at the ceiling so early in the morning I could do nothing but despise moving any further.

I would prefer it, me sitting here for the rest of my life staring into darkness. My soul nothing but a lingering light.

The dark terrifies people because it is unknown, kind of like the ocean.

It scares people because what if when you die there's nothing there but pitch black, maybe that's why people hold onto the light that they so desperately want to believe in.

Hope.

Getting out of bed I threw the covers off my body and headed to the shower, turning the heat almost all the way up, until it was hot enough that I would only leave the shower with pink skin.

Moving here I decided I would begin school again, after doing online schooling for all of high school, maybe college was my chance, my chance for what, I have no idea.

I was smart in some sense, I never saw myself that way but, apparently this school did.

Before heading out I had fed Posie and Peanut, let them both outside before I had to leave. I had thrown on loose jeans and a white cropped tank.

I had figured that you can't give them too much on the first day, because then they'll expect it, and I don't even expect it from myself.

If I show up to school one day in pajamas that's my business.

Driving through the foreign streets I seen many people walking and laughing, children riding bikes with backpacks on their backs.

They had looked care free, happy.

I pulled in the parking lot of the building, grabbing my bag.

It had been a long time since I had actually been around people. I try to avoid the general population as much as possible, save for the job I had gotten this summer.

I had moved here before the fall semester in order to get acquainted I suppose. I got a job, explored the new city, beach's, and parks.

Taking a seat in the far back of the room hoping to avoid the looks of anyone and everyone, I passively faced the front yet that hadn't stopped the whispers.

I was a first year in a class with a bunch of people older than me, people who have known each other. I was the outcast, and I was perfectly fine with it.

That, or more so along the lines I was used to it.

When I had said college may have been my chance, I never meant it as in I would meet people, become close to others.

The professor had dismissed us and I was the first out the door. Now to do it two more times.

The Day went on pretty uneventful. I left the building ,went home to check on Posie and Peanut, then to work.

I had picked morning classes so I would have the time to work in the afternoons till evening. I worked in a small bakery called Emma's, she owned the place.

She was sweet, in her early thirties with 2 kids that would come and go. She had also been quite gorgeous with golden brown skin, short black hair, and eyes that reminded me of the night sky.

When I walked into the soft bakery, the bell chiming as the door opened, the smell of cupcakes and pastry's eddied through the air. There Emma was, smiling so brightly I could only envy her for it.

"Glad you could make it Jupiter." She said from behind the counter, her smile never faltering. The place wasn't too small but a lot of people came in, locals mostly, everyone was indeed a victim to Emma's homey aura.

I met her in the kitchen in the back and plastered on a smile, the one I always had. "Wouldn't miss it for the world." I really did like working here, it was just so hard to smile.

Whether she could see beyond it, I couldn't tell, but she returned the happy look and gave a list of things I could start on, orders that would be going out later, things that needed to be baked for here.

I did it happily. It wasn't long before Emma had to run out to pick one of her kids up from school, she said he had been sick and asked me to watch the place for a while, I obliged.

I took orders from the people that came in, wiped the tables, I always managed fine in our less busy hours until people flooded through, I'd only hope Emma would return back before then.

I had been placing more pastries at the front counter when I heard the bell sound of someone entering.

Lifting my head from behind the display case I saw in walked a boy. Rubbing my hands down my apron I made my way to the cash register.

As happy and proud as I could, I said, "What can I get for you?"

Now standing closer to him, the only thing in between being a counter, I saw how beautiful he really was.

His slanted brown eyes with lashes so long and dark, his pink lips, dark hair, and skin that I don't think had one imperfection.

This boy had glowed, yet not enough as his shadows still seemed to linger.

"Chocolate donut and there was uh.. help wanted sign on the door?" His voice had come off softer than I thought it would. Much closer to a whisper, deep but soft.

This had been news to me, I didn't even know Emma looked for more help.

I answered as I placed the order in the cash register and got his donut from the display, " The owner isn't here at the moment do you want to leave your information?"

Placing the chocolate treat in the little pastel blue paper bag and then on the counter, I looked up and found his outstretched hand with the money.

Yet his eyes had been on me, I could see that much. "Sure." He said.

Before he left I handed him a notepad and a pen while I handled other customers. He walked up a few minutes later and handed it back to me, leaving with a quiet thanks and nothing more.

I read the paper where he had left his name and number for Emma.

His name was River.