𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥 |𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐧|

𝟎𝟑 | 𝙊𝙣𝙚𝙞𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙭𝙞𝙖 |

𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐚 (𝐧.) 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

"Dude you could've given me a fucking heads up earlier!"

I stood outside Harlow's front door. She yelled at me through her upstairs window.

"Well, it's not my fault someone didn't show up for school today!"

I've known Harlow since I was a kid. Most of the time I can't stand her, but I have to admit, that's what I love about her. She always keeps me on edge. You never know what to expect from her.

"No Harlow. Put them back." She came out the door with roller skates in hand. She looked up at me and winked.

"Nope. Put them on or I'll tell Kenzo you want to suck his wang." She shoved the pair in my hands and started tying hers.

"His wang? Are you twelve?" I put them on and fell when I tried to stand up.

"Would you prefer me to say his big, massive di-"

"Finish that sentence and you'll die." She skated ahead of me. We both laughed as I caught up to her.

Harlow was obligated to accompany me since she didn't have to "tutor" today, which was simply an excuse for her to hang out with her dickhead of a boyfriend. I had a feeling he was a drug dealer of some sort. At school, I was always hearing his name spoken. I didn't have a nice history with him, either.

"How's Mr. Mary Jane?" I asked.

I grinned at her as she turned to stare at me coldly.

We reached our destination and tugged the skates off. It was an old white property with a lot of landscaping work that needed to be done, so I made a mental note to ask if I could help.

"James is well thanks for asking. How about you and Kenzo?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"We've always been just friends and we plan to keep it that way." I shook my head in disapproval at her ridiculous statement.

"We'll see about that." I heard her mutter as we stepped inside.

We walked to the reception desk. We signed in as volunteers and headed to the recreation room. Some of our jobs were to assist, tidy up, and most of all interact with the residents. Harlow stated she needed to take a long piss before disappearing to the bathroom. Which left me trying to put away an abandoned game of bingo.

"Helen? Is that really you?" I turned around to see where the voice came from. I met a confused stare.

"Hi sir, my name is Michelle. I can assure you I'm not anyone you know," I gave him a kind smile which he returned.

I was pretty sure it was just a simple mix-up because I had no idea who he was and he seemed like a nice man.

"I'm sorry, it's just- you look so much like her, I got so happy,"

He lowered his gaze. I invited him to sit at the table next to us. I couldn't help but sympathize with him. Seeing his excitement as he looked at me and then seeing it vanish so quickly ripped at my heart.

"Tell me more about her," He began to smile again. It's like I could feel the happiness radiating off of him when I spoke to him.

"I met her after I was deployed to the war..... I was distraught when I returned, I witnessed so many deaths, lost so many friends. I felt no urge to continue... That was until I bumped into someone on a walk. I looked up to apologize and it was like I was in another world when I looked into those eyes. My Helen was the love of my life, hearing her laugh and seeing her smile made me forget about all the trauma I went through. She gave me a happy life. Something I thought I'd never have."