Fireflies at Midnight

ONE 1

1 ONE

Evelyn Asher despised Mondays with a passion. She had convinced herself there was even a different smell in the air when the day came to pass. It was something about the expectations everyone had for Monday. The demand of 'get it done', you have to do it. It was the beginning of the week, and everyone acted as if there weren't 4 more days ahead. Or that's what it seemed like to Evelyn.

She pulled herself up out of bed, slipping on her house shoes before heading into the kitchen. It was a ritual every morning; wake up, make coffee, go on the front porch, drink the coffee. There was something about the dew in the morning that made everything feel so comfortable, so peaceful.

But today just seemed different, and she didn't know why. It always gave her anxiety, feeling as if something bad was going to happen. Or not knowing how the day was going to play out. Evelyn liked control, and she loved knowing every step of the day. She laid it out as if she wrote it on a piece of paper.

When she stepped out onto her front porch, she looked around. It had rained last night and everything surrounding her had been made greener. The road in front of her house had a wet film over it, calm after the storm. It all looked so calm. This was what she enjoyed, it was what brought her peace.

Evelyn was the type who didn't seem to need much in life. Peace was the only thing that she requested. It was her first priority in life. She found her brain creating hundreds of random scenarios throughout the day, it ran away from her so much. And in her 22 years of life, she'd never found a way to make it stop.

The local restaurant she worked at did seem to quieten it down some. Probably not because it was an outlet, but more so because it was a distraction. But it has become more plain lately. All day, for two years straight, Evelyn did nothing but serve people at the local breakfast shop. She pulled the night shift most days, save for maybe one a week or so. Not much went on in life, so her hours seemed pretty flexible most days.

It was a decent place to work she'd say, if anyone asked her. The coworkers were nice, helpful even. Most people that showed up were either late night truck drivers or people who were having a rough patch in life. Evelyn loved interacting with them, learning their life. She learned early on to listen twice and speak once. You learn more about people, more about life.

Evelyn took a few deep breaths, filling her lungs with the fresh air surrounding her. She didn't know why she was awake so early. Her shift started at 11 tonight and honestly, if you asked her, work sucked without proper sleep. But Evelyn had it in her brain that something was just wrong.

Things that used to excite her didn't anymore. Her life, her job, her activities of daily living even. There wasn't much of anything that would actually help her get out of this funk anymore. It's as if it was all suddenly dull, and Evelyn didn't like that at all. She had to have excitement.

"So you mean to tell me that you made coffee and didn't make me some?" The screen door clicked open and Aaron stepped out onto the porch.

He stretched so big, probably just waking up a mere 3 minutes ago. Evelyn watched his arms as the veins and muscles twisted. He was so beautiful that it almost hurt to watch for so long.

Aaron Eric Carter was her boyfriend, the best thing that had ever happened to her. She loved the man, more than she'd ever loved anything. And the past 2 years they had been together had been the best two years of her life thus far.

"I didn't know when you were going to wake up." She responded, wrapping her arms around his waist as he stood in front of her. He always had such a sweet smell to him.