Vacant

Chapter Fourteen

            I end up in a mall parking lot. It has two levels, one for cars on top, and the other for cars on the bottom. Although it eventually turned to night, the park was pretty deserted. The parking lot was turned into a skate park at night. There was dime light lighting the way, and I could hear faint skateboarding echoing off the walls.

            This is usually where I end up when I feel down. I found out this place by a friend. His name was River, and we were really close friends until he moved away with his family. I don’t remember the last time I saw him, I think I might’ve been fourteen at the time. He was seventeen- much older than me, but we still got along somehow. He was Shane’s friend first, but after we met we started to hang out together. He always brought me here when winter came along, when we couldn’t skate at an outside park. We tried to stay in touch, but after a couple of months, we became distant and I haven’t heard from him since. I mean, I’m sixteen now, so that means he’s about nineteen now.  

            I didn’t bring my skateboard because of the fact that I knew there was always extras in a bin somewhere. So I ventured along the side of the cool pavement ground. The dim lights reflected off of the ground, resembling it a sort of porcelain aspect. I skimmed my hand along the wall as I walked, remembering the feel of it when, well, anyways…

            I reached the large bin where all the boards were stocked up beside each other. I grabbed the first one on top, examined it and pleased with my choice. I road it a couple of times, to get a good feel of the board and wheels under my feet. Satisfied, I road up to a long rail. I haven’t glided along a rail for a while, but I figured now would be a great time to bring back the familiarity of it all.

            Moving back a meter or two, I set my board down and started skating. I pumped my back foot as fast as I could, to maintain a perfect speed. Then when I reached a respectable distance from the rail, I lifted my self up, along with my board to glide flawlessly along the rail.

            Here, I didn’t mind having my blond hair out while I skated. No body was here anyways. I enjoyed being free as a girl, with no one around to judge me. I stuck an excellent landing and skated back to try it again. I still had it, I knew. I was just glad nobody saw-

            “Wow. I had no idea you could skate like that,” a familiar voice said.

 I desperately looked around, trying to figure out the phantom voice. I drew my attention to the entrance of the parking lot. The only thing visible was shadows. Only then did I realize that the faint board clashing and shouts far off into the lot was no longer audible. The only person in the parking lot was me, until I heard that voice.

I saw something move at the corner of my eye. A tall person removed itself from the shadows of the park. He was broad and tall and had a helmet on his head. You could see his chestnut hair sticking out of his helmet. He wore a light blue sweater and dark baggy jeans. He held a skateboard in his right hand too. As he came closer I started to make out even more of his features, his dark blue eyes, his beaming smile, and of course, the way he walked. Only then I knew who it could have been. He just looked so different now, more put together, handsomer. I just couldn’t believe he was here, with me, right now.

            River.