Can't Trust Summer

(2) Aquiring Aquaintances

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"One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi..."

Anna's morning routine essentially determined how her day was going to go. Wake up, brush teeth, do hair, get dressed, eat breakfast. One step out of routine, and Anna was bound to have a bad day. It was the one part of the day she knew she must not screw up - the medication helped with everything after that.

She counted out the entire two minutes it took to brush her teeth before trotting to finish the rest of her morning tasks. Still fresh in her mind, Anna carefully hopped down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. She stopped just in the doorway and turned to face the refrigerator, grabbing the magnetic dry erase marker and crossing off the spot on the calendar - showing that she had taken her medication. Immediately after, she grabbed the little pill out of its bottle and swished it down with a nice, cold cup of water.

She quickly grabbed a pop-tart out of the cupboard, scooped her phone into her pocket, and marched right for the front door. All she could think about was going back to that spot. The spot where she saw the strange statues and the Power Rangers had appeared. She had to know more about it.

"Wow, the Power Rangers are back..."

Anna got five houses down and started wondering if she had remembered to lock the door. She stopped, stared down at the house trying to resist the urge to skip back and check. She replayed all her movements prior to leaving the house, trying to convince herself that she had indeed locked the door.

She quickly distracted herself with the thought of the statues and continued on her walk. She carefully stepped over each crack, counting each piece of sidewalk she stepped on until she reached the dirt that started to lead her towards her path.

The walk from her house to the path that led straight to Pine Ridge Park was exactly seven minutes from her house. She knew that because she had been walking the same route everyday for the last fifteen years. That shortcut had become her favorite path to walk - even more so after the accident. It served as a reminder - a reminder that she was still there, and sometimes, Anna felt like she was still beside her walking with her.

"Mom would have thought this was so cool..."

She stopped once she reached the dirt trail, trying to picture herself coming from the opposite direction so that she could find the spot she had been in the night before. She could see the statues clearly in her mind and the Power Rangers fighting against the Sporix, but she couldn't exactly remember how she had gotten to that spot or where her feet had led her.

After a few minutes of thought, Anna decided to retrace her steps. She started at the park entrance to the path and then acted as if she were walking home normally. She just passed the big rock where she would sometimes climb on top of and jump off as a little girl, when she heard the commotion. She stopped and listened, hearing the wind pull the sounds together.

"Found it..."

Anna walked through the overgrown grass and stopped just before the statues. She counted six of them, but she immediately noticed that they looked different from the night before. When she got closer, she noticed that they were not just random statues, but rather statues of different species of dinosaurs. They were no longer covered in moss and overgrown vines and Anna stood in awe over them.

She walked closer, carefully running her fingertips across the stone and looking for anything around her that could tell her about them. She thought they were beautiful and wondered why they were hidden away in the middle of a random patch of woods.