The Atheil Chronicles: A Call to Fire

Chapter 3

Finally, after three days of non-stop rain and thunderstorms, the weather decided to calm down. While the sky was still a swirling mass of angry darkened clouds, the rain had at least ceased. Branches littered the yard, their leaves having ripped off and deposited themselves in soggy heaps along the tree-line.
Ariana looked out the window, wondering if anything else had been demolished in the storms war-path. Just as she thought this, she saw a flash of orange hurrying past her bedroom. As she leaned closer to the window pane, she could see her mom pacing next to her garden, clearly in a huff. She had one hand pressed against her face and was shaking her head repeatedly as she walked, her curls bouncing wildly around her shoulders with every step.
Ariana sighed lightly, pushing herself out of her favorite blue oversized papasan chair. On her way out of the house, she leaned down and slipped on her worn out sneakers that she kept beside the door. She let the screen door slam behind her as she carefully made her way down the wet stairs and out into the yard. The closer she got to her mom, the more she was beginning to understand what all the fuss was about.
The usually vibrant, thriving flowers were now torn up and strewn about the garden bed, their stems having snapped from the weight of the rain coming down on them. Her prized flowers, the chrysanthemums, which she was constantly and meticulously fawning over, were ripped bare of their petals and were drooping sadly to the ground.
"Oh mom." She said, reaching out and placing her hand on her mom's arm. She stopped pacing suddenly and turned to face Ariana.
Her face was strained and she looked to be on the verge of tears. "I don't know if they'll make it this time." She muttered, shaking her head. She let out a deep sigh and reached up a hand to push her curls back from her face. "I suppose this is what I get for being so excited about that storm."
Ariana knelt down and ran her fingers over the stem of the nearest flower, a forlorn looking lavender plant. It was one of the newest editions to the garden and it was still only a few inches off the ground, although, now it was pressed flat to the ground in a mess of leaves and dirt "I don't know," Ariana said slowly, "I think they'll be alright. They're hardier than they look."
"Maybe." Her mom said, but she hardly sounded convinced. She crouched down next to Ariana and gently pinched a leaf between her fingers.
Ariana looked sideways at her mom, still seeing the worry etched on her freckled face. "Hey mom, how about we make some wild rice soup today? Doesn't that sound good?"
Her mom perked up slightly at hearing that, turning to give Ariana a hesitant smile. "I do love some wild rice soup after a storm."
Ariana chuckled and stood up, stretching her arms above her head. She knew that that would work like a charm: it always did. Her mom was a sucker for homemade soup. "I'll go put on a pot of boiling water." She said, starting toward the house.
"Wait," her mom said, stopping her in her tracks.
Ariana turned around and raised her eyebrows as her mom scrunched her face in concentration. "I think...no," she clarified, "I know that we ran out of wild rice a few weeks ago." She paused for a second and then bit her lip. "You know what, I don't think we have any carrots, either."
Although Ariana knew where this was going, she couldn't help but walk right into it. "Oh no, really?"
Her mom nodded and then wiped her hands on her pants. "I think you may need to run into town."
She nodded, having already expected that. "Want to write me up a list while you're at it?" She asked.
"Good idea." Her mom said. She put her arm around Arianas shoulder as they walked to the porch together. "This way we can kill two birds with one stone."
* * * * *
After what seemed like forever, her mom finally handed over the list. She took just long enough for Ariana to begin regretting her decision to go in the first place. By the time she was done, the list had gone from rice and carrots to at least a dozen other items.
"Honestly, mom" Ariana said as she read through the list, "Do we really need all this right now?"
Her mom waved her off, opening another cabinet door in her search for something else to add. "You might as well pick it up while you're there." She said cheerfully before letting the cabinet fall shut with a gentle slap.
Now, Ariana drove silently down the solitary road leading into Aden, the rocks crunching beneath the tires as showers of muddied gravel shot in all directions. When she finally reached the edge of town, she eased on the brakes and turned right, seeing a rickety old sign with paint so old she could barely make out what was written on it come into view. The proof of a dying town could be seen all around, from the deteriorating signs to the cracked sidewalks to the ivy woven buildings lining the streets that were falling into ruin. Sadler's Grocery was no exception, its once bright and cheery paint job was now a chipping revenant of what it once was. The neon sign above the front doors had been abandoned long ago, with only the d and capital G lighting up with a pale lackluster orange. Only a handful of cars riddled the parking lot, so she had no issues as she pulled the car into a space next to a muddy Jeep. Her footsteps smacked against the wet pavement as she made her way into the building.
Slipping out the note her mom had handed her before she left, Ariana picked what she hoped was the least damaged cart out of the corral before setting off to the bakery. Very little about Sadler's Grocery was nice. A freezer was almost always out when she came, and there seemed to be a never ending sticky residue stuck to the floor that made the bottom of her shoes stick with each step. Personally, Ariana hated the place, but it was quite literally the only option besides traveling 30 or 40 miles to the next town.
Almost as if to emphasize this, the fluorescent lights above flickered a few times before stabilizing again. Ariana let out a heavy sigh as she shoved off toward the bakery. As usual, half of the staff were MIA. While this wasn't exactly unusual, it didn't mean that it was any less irritating. She rang the bell on top of the glass a few times, watching as a middle aged woman with a pair of retro style pink glasses sauntered out from the back.
"What'll it be?" She asked in a monotone voice, snapping her gum in her mouth.
"Can I have a loaf of French bread, please?" Then she added, "Can I have that sliced a little thicker than normal?"
The lady nodded, pulling out a pink flower notepad and writing down the order. Without another word, she made her way back to the kitchen in what Ariana could only assume was her usual slow pace.
As she waited for her order of French bread to be sliced, Ariana perused through the cake book on the counter just to pass the time. She was just turning the page to a Dora the Explorer cake when someone came up behind her and looked over her shoulder. "Looking for a birthday cake?"
Ariana rolled her eyes, recognizing the voice instantly. She didn't even bother to turn around. "Hello Cody." She said, her voice flat.
Ariana could feel Cody's warm breath on her neck as she tried to ignore him, turning the page to a ninja turtle cake. "Haven't seen you around lately, Ari, I thought maybe you were avoiding me."
Ariana shut the book with a bang. This guy knew how to get on her nerves real quick, that's for sure. "First of all, my name's Ariana, not 'Ari'. Second of all," She said, turning around, "I have been avoiding you. Mainly because I don't like you." She pushed her cart away, hoping to get away from him. No such luck.
He followed behind her, his footsteps loud against the tile. "Don't lie, you know you like me." His voice was light and confident.
Ariana shook her head, hardly believing her bad luck at coming at the same time as him. "Trust me," she said, "I wouldn't lie to you."
He laughed and continued to follow her. Ariana grabbed her sliced bread from the lady behind the counter and smiled curtly before pushing her cart hurriedly in the opposite direction.
"So," he said, apparently not getting the hint, "how about you and I go out to dinner on Friday to Pablo's?" Before she could even respond he continued. "You know, to catch up?"
Ariana looked over at him leaning against a rack of condensed soups. She was sure that her face looked as horrified as she felt. "Sorry, I'm busy that day." Her voice was curt, and she could almost hear her mom's voice in her head telling her not to be rude.
"What can you possibly be doing that's more exciting than a date with me?"
Ariana grabbed some tuna off the shelf and continued down the aisle, hardly bothered. This crude confidence was nothing new, Ariana was used to it at this point. "Anything I do would be more exciting than a date with you." She glanced down at her list, checking off the items in her head.
Cody stepped in front of her cart, stopping her. "You're not being very nice to me." He said, smiling as Ariana frowned at him. He sounded amused which, quite frankly, she found irritating.
Ariana tried to push the cart forward but he wouldn't budge. She sighed. "I don't like you. How many times do I have to tell you that?" Her count was currently at 25, but she could have been underestimating it.
He smiled, and the sheer gall of it made her shudder internally. He was such a creep. "Why don't you like me?"
Ariana pushed against the cart again. "Because you annoy me, that's why. Now move before I kick you." Just to emphasize her point, Ariana lifted her foot slightly and aimed it in his direction.
He let go of the cart but continued to follow her like a dog begging for scraps. "You know I love when you act all feisty, it's your best quality."
"You haven't seen the half of it." She muttered under her breath , navigating her way to the check-out. Cody was still trailing behind her, refusing to get the hint. Geeze, she thought, this guy just didn't know when to stop.
"Well," he said, "I think I can change your mind about me, I'm not as bad as you seem to make me out to be. Just meet me Friday at Pablo's." When Ariana ignored this, he continued. "How about you meet me there at 7? I promise you won't regret it." He gave another smile and, finally, turned and walked toward the freezer aisles.
Ariana watched him go, feeling the tension building above her right eye. She reached up, rubbing her temples gingerly as the cashier, who was a decrepit old lady with a head of wild graying hair, began scanning the items at an alarmingly slow rate. Ariana tried not to let her impatience spill over to the cashier but she had to admit it was harder than she would have liked. It was always an interesting experience seeing Cody. It didn't matter how many times she insisted she didn't want to date him, he was relentless. If she didn't dislike him so much, she almost would have considered giving him a little credit for his tenaciousness.
The register dinged loudly, pulling Ariana from her thoughts. The cashier squinted at the screen, trying to read the total through the tape and crack covered screen . After what seemed like an eternity, she turned to Ariana.
"$33.29, dear." She let out a wet cough, wiping her mouth before holding out her hand expectedly.
Ariana tried not to make a disgusted face as she slipped a pair of twenties into her wrinkled hand. She watched as she exchanged it, her hands moving slowly to grip the crumpled dollar bills as she counted out the change.
"Thanks." Ariana said, trying not to touch the lady's hand as she reached across the counter to grab the bills from her.
Ariana hurriedly threw her bags into the cart as the woman behind her began impatiently putting her items on the belt. After slipping the bags handles over her wrists and onto her forearm, Ariana deposited the cart back into the corral, which was now practically overrun with carts thrown in every direction. It was a mess but, fortunately, it wasn't her problem.
The ride home was quiet, with Ariana opting to turn off the radio and just drive silently with her arm hanging out the window. It was that time of day, the one where the sun was inching its way back to the horizon, throwing shades of oranges and pinks into the sky in streaks of brilliant color. It was one of Ariana's favorite things to watch, although she usually did it from her front porch while sipping tea from her favorite mug and Henry perched on her lap sleepily. If anything, these times were especially useful at giving her an opportunity to mull things over in her head.
While she knew she had been rude at the grocery store, she barely cared. When she had graduated over a year ago in May, Ariana had felt as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. It's not so much that she had disliked High School itself, but rather, the people that were in it. For as long as she could remember she had never fit in with her peers. While they were full of wild energy, running rampant with their raging hormones, Ariana was always the mellow type. Her mom liked to say that she was an old soul, but Ariana sometimes got the impression that that was just a nicer way of saying that she was boring. However her mom liked to spin it, it all amounted to the same thing; Ariana just couldn't relate to her peers.
Sure, there were a few people here and there that had shown a genuine interest in being friends with her, but Ariana never felt that connection, the one that made her want to cross that line into friendship. In her mind, these people could never understand her. They were all planning for their futures, deciding what colleges to go to and what studies to major in. And what was she doing? She was sitting there wondering what book she should read next. It wasn't until graduation that she truly realized how isolated she had let herself become. While everyone was talking about which after parties they wanted to go to, Ariana was left standing off to the side, alone and forgotten. She had done it to herself, this much was true, but that didn't mean she still didn't feel that pang in her gut at being left behind.
When Ariana was younger, she had felt the need to keep her distance from her classmates because of their rambunctious tendencies. If it had ended there, fine, but it very rarely ever does. Even as they matured around her, Ariana still kept withdrawing, choosing to sit outside at the lone picnic table and read her Walt Whitman book in the shade of the building while lunch chatter rose up around her. At first, it was because she was a little bit shy, not wanting to draw unwanted attention to herself. This was an alright excuse, but even as she grew into herself and gained confidence she still felt herself hesitating when it came to interacting. It was similar to the peace she felt when she sat under the old oak tree in the woods behind her house, both comforting and familiar.
No one held any issues with her, mainly because she never said or did anything to elicit any ill will. It was for this reason that most people just left Ariana to her business. Most of her classmates liked her well enough, knowing that she was the type of girl who sat quietly by herself most days and never really bothered anyone. Ariana was so used to being alone that she was stunned when she started getting attention from a boy in her math class, a senior with a mop of dark brown hair that sprouted from his head in tight curls and mischievous blue eyes.
It started off innocently enough with him asking to borrow a pen. She thought he seemed alright, not really knowing much about him.The next week, he moved into the desk next to her, flashing her a smile as he slid into his chair. Ariana had been weary, not knowing exactly what he was doing. It became apparently fairly quickly, though, that he had something in mind. As the days wore on, he would find some reason to talk to her, whether it was asking her what the quadratic formula was or inquiring if she knew the answer to one of the questions on the homework. She felt herself starting to warm up to him, thinking that maybe it wasn't so bad talking to someone else. It gave her a sense of normalcy, if only for a little bit.
By November, Ariana had started looking forward to seeing Cody in math. They had moved on from Math related topics to other things, like what she liked to do in her spare time or how he was on the soccer team. They got along so well in class that Ariana didn't even hesitate when he finally asked if she wanted to go on a date the upcoming weekend. She felt as if she were finally coming out of her shell and beginning to fit in.
While waiting for 6 o' clock to roll around, Ariana had sat in her room playing aimlessly with the end of her sleeve. When Cody finally pulled into her driveway in his beat up pick-up truck, Ariana was a ball of nerves. Her mom, always calm, told her not to worry about it and to have a great time.
The date started alright; they went to the town's only Italian Restaurant, Rosa's Pizzeria and Authentic Cuisine. Things started to take a turn for the worse when, right off the bat, he thought it would be alright to order her drink for her. He seemed genuinely confused when she told him she didn't want what he had gotten her. She reordered herself a water with lemon, trying not to form an opinion yet; maybe he was just trying to impress her.
When the waitress came back with menus, however, he told her that they didn't need them and they were both going to have the Oslo buco alla Milanese. At this point, Ariana was starting to really get annoyed.
"Cody," she tried telling him, "I don't want that."
"Trust me." He said confidently, flashing her an award winning smile. "You're going to love it. I get it here all the time when I come with my parents."
"You don't understand," she said, feeling a flush creeping into her cheeks, "I don't eat meat."
He was apparently stunned by this, because he immediately raised his eyebrows and gave her an unconvincing look. "What?" He said. "Who doesn't eat meat?"
Ariana knew her cheeks were definitely red, now. "I don't." She repeated, wholly embarrassed. The waitress was still standing there, expectantly.
He waved her off, hardly bothered. "It's good, you can trust me. It's braised in white wine and they put this amazing sauce on it. You just need to try it." He nodded at the waitress and she gave Ariana a brief glance before heading back to the kitchen.
Ariana let out a breath, biting back what she really wanted to say. "No, really, I don't want it. I was going to get a salad."
He looked at her, his pale blue eyes widening in surprise as if she had admitted some horrifying secret. "A salad," he said slowly, "is not a meal. You need some sustenance."
"Look," she said, losing her cool, "You can't just take me out for dinner and then think you can order my food for me without even caring whether or not I like it."
This also surprised him, which didn't actually surprise Ariana at that point. "I'm sorry." He said. Ariana felt a ray of hope beginning to show and then he opened his mouth again, completely wiping it out. "I thought girls liked it when men took the reins."
Ariana would have responded, but she was so shocked by the comment that it shut her up for a minute. Unfortunately, that only gave him the encouragement he needed  to continue.
"I know you're used to being by yourself, but you should say thank you when someone tries to help you better yourself." He smiled in what Ariana was sure he believed was a reassuring way. "Meat is good for you, Ariana. It helps keep you healthy and strong."
Ariana blinked at him. She was so angry, she was surprised she wasn't shaking. Inside, she felt like a volcano ready to explode. "Are you serious?" She asked, baffled. "Please tell me this is all an elaborate joke."
"What?" He laughed. It was clear to Ariana that he had no idea that he had insulted her. In fact, he seemed quite pleased with himself, as if he truly believed that the date was going well.
"Who are you?" Ariana asked, cocking her head to the side. "I had thought that I was talking to a sweet, funny guy all this time during math, not this condescending jerk sitting in front of me trying to act like he's gods gift to women." She took a breath, trying to calm herself down.
Cody, shockingly, was not at all deterred by her words. He seemed to be looking at her as if he were seeing her for the first time. Rather than shame at his actions, he almost seemed to be enthralled by this new side of her that he was seeing. "No need to get so worked up." He said, all casual. He took a sip of his soda and leaned toward her from across the table. "I guess I should have known you would be a little edgy, considering you've never done anything like this before. Good girls like you can be really uptight when you take them out of their comfort zone."
Ariana raised an eyebrow. "Good girls like me? And what's that supposed to mean?" She had asked, though she wasn't sure she really wanted to know. She was getting a sinking feeling about Cody.
He had given her a searching look and then shrugged before leaning in. "You know, virgins." He whispered.
Ariana had finally had enough. "Excuse me?!" She said, almost spitting out her water. She folded her napkin and stood up. "Take me home, please." She said, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice.
"No way," he said indignantly, "our food's not even arrived yet!"
Ariana ignored this and looked him directly in the eyes. "If you won't take me home then I'll walk." She said, struck by the sheer nerve of him to continue to treat her in such a way.
"Ariana," he said, his voice still cocky but now trying hard to sound reassuring. "Sit back down, we're all having a good time here. You just need to relax a little bit."
In response, Ariana turned on her heels and headed toward the door. She handed the hostess a $10 bill on the way out and had barely made it to the sidewalk when she heard hurried footsteps behind her. She didn't turn around, refusing to give him another minute of her time.
Once she crossed the street she started to fasten her pace. She knew that there was a phone booth on the other side of town, but it was at least a mile away. Above her, tiny drops of rain had started to come down. It was just a mist, but Ariana knew that there was surely more where that came from. Still, she would rather run drenched in the rain than spend another second with Cody. Vaguely, she could hear a voice calling her name, but she barely gave it a second notice as she began to run, her feet smacking lightly against the pavement. The familiar feeling of the wind whipping past her seemed to embrace her like an old friend as she ran even faster, the rain now falling steadily all around her.