𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓⁰²ʰᵉᵐᵐⁱⁿᵍˢ

25 untitled

asari

I wanted to reimagine my present day as I knew it to be. I wanted the vines of my idealism to seep into reality, puncture its harsh bricks, conjure its delicate flowers into being in spring until my house of realities was no longer. I wanted it to crumble all around me, present to house, house to brick, brick to dust - and I wanted my wishes to rebuild it all. Wish to pollen, pollen to marble, marble to house, house to present. And I'd live in my house, the wanted and reimagined image of my present day.

Image. It was just an image. An image in my head constructed by my false hopes and faulty decisions. I made it an image because I couldn't choose better. Or perhaps its faults were destined and I'd been walking down the jagged road of misfortune. That I was simply not in the discussion of control. That, or perhaps I was in denial after being such a fuck up. Good job.

"Were you running?" Cade asked, driving smoothly down the block as he came by a red light, stopping right by another car with a couple guys our age blasting some exchange of beats I found hadn't been for my taste.

I closed the window.

"A little," I sighed, my dry mouth making me heave as though I was still by the sidewalk. "Do you have water?"

Cade nodded, reaching over to my side and opening the glove box, grabbing the bottled water right in it. "It's unopened. Why were you running, exactly?" he looked quite disbelieving of me, or that he saw no reason in me running.

Now that I was thinking about it, I didn't have to run. "Uh, adrenaline?" I took the water he's unbottled for me. "I don't know, I just wanted to be out of there as soon I could be. I've never been threatened like that before, what do you expect?"

"'Like that'? What - you've been threatened some other way?" Cade chuckled pressing on the gas and following closely on the vehicle in front of us.

"No, but you know what I mean. He had two knife dagger things, and there were four of them. One of them could easily beat me to a pulp,"

Cade nodded, taking in the information. "Can you describe what they look like? Did they give their names?"

"No, but they knew mine somehow," I recalled on his voice enunciating my name like a new taste in his mouth. He'd mis pronounced it the way some people do when they first see it written down. Ay-sah-ree. Riel used to mock that pronunciation. "But he probably read my name instead of it being given to him by word of mouth. He mispronounced it,"

I chugged on the water as I processed my thoughts. There I sat in Cade's car wishing to reimagine my present. I could've been with Riel, far removed from our home town and travelling by bus to wherever we felt like going to at the moment. Collecting postcards, eggs instead granola bars for breakfast, and perhaps the slight taste of the lack of boundaries. I'd still be a runaway but then at least he'd be by my side.

"The guy who I talked to had dark brown hair, five o'clock shadow, sorta light brown eyes. Denim jacket, uh..." I racked my brain for any other details about him. So far, he was sounding like any generic guy walking around LA. "I don't know, one of the guys had a mole on his right jaw. Pretty average-lookung guys, to be honest," I gave Cade an apologetic look, unsure why.

He tapped his hands on the wheel, pressing on a thin-lipped smile. "Great. Three average guys and one not-so-average because of a mole,"

"Sorry," I muttered, earning a dismissive wave from him.

"No, don't. It's not your fault," we turned a corner onto the next block. "I just wanna be able to help you. I'm frustrated with the lack of info we have. It's not your fault they were average-looking,"