The Obsession

Dylan

Dylan locked the door headed back to the kitchen to clean up. His mind went back to a time when things were easier, simpler. He had lived next door to Hannah growing up. Chad and his little sister Audrey lived a few houses down on the same street.

At first she was like an annoying little sister to him, followed him and Chad everywhere. Asked a lot of questions and Dylan spent most of his time trying to hide from her.

Sometimes he and Chad would do things trying to gross her out hoping she'd go away. Like, catching frogs and playing with worms.

One day they stumbled across an empty field at the back of their neighborhood, it was nothing but mud. Chad and Dylan grabbed chunks of mud and began throwing it at each other until they were covered from head to toe. Much to Dylan's dismay Hannah picked up the biggest glob of mud and slung it right at him laughing the whole time.

From then on mud wars became a tradition. Especially once Audrey came along. Chad had brought Audrey one day in hopes of getting Hannah to leave them alone since there was another girl around for her to play with. But the joke was on them because mud wars then became a game of boys versus girls.

They have all been close ever since. He chuckled at the memory of her covered in mud with braided pigtails and freckles and the denim overalls she always wore because it was easier for her to climb trees with the boys.

One tree in particular. It grew in between their houses. The summer she turned 14 he had stumbled into his room and saw her in the tree reading a book.

He'd watched her for a while, wondering why he couldn't seem to break his focus away from her.

Something about the way she sat in the tree lost in that book intrigued him. As he studied her face, he quickly realized his feelings for her had grown stronger, and he contemplated climbing up that tree and telling her that. Afraid of what that might do to their friendship he instead just shut his curtain.

When Dylan turned 18 he decided to enlist in the Navy. It almost killed him when he had to leave for an 18 month pre deployment training the summer he graduated high school. Hannah had one more year to go and seeing her cry was the worst. She wrote to him everyday, that made his time away easier to get through.

He got a deployment almost immediately after his training and was sent to South Korea for a year. His heart sank when he returned and she was seeing Roger Hensley, a guy in his graduating class. Not necessarily a friend, but they hung out in a lot of the same circles. Her letters failed to mention Roger. But he guessed she didn't owe him an explanation.

He hated seeing them together. He hated the way Roger reached for her hand, and the way she would take it with a smile. He hated how they would walk together and Roger would place his hand on the small of her back to lead her around. She was his Hanny, and he wished more than anything that it would have been him holding her instead.

He often wondered what would have happened if he had told her how he felt. But since he hadn't been honest with her about it, he decided not to say anything at all. If Roger made her happy then who was he to take that away from her. However if he ever did hurt her he would break his kneecaps.

Dylan met Ally shortly after at a local pub a the next town over. He liked the way she confidently walked over to him, and though he wasn't really looking for a relationship, he was already about three sheets to the wind, and needed a distraction away from his thoughts of Hannah. She wasn't the type to take no for an answer and after a while it was a whole relationship.

One that he never really thought would be that serious. Let alone last as long as it did. He and Hannah still remained friends, but Ally couldn't stand that so he had to keep his distance for Hannah's sake. He couldn't risk Ally hurting her. He figured he'd lost his chance to tell her how much he loved her anyhow. At least he still had her as a friend. And that was better than nothing at all.

It was fun with Ally for a while but once she had her hooks in him, she didn't want to let go.

Through his thoughts he loaded the dishes into the dishwasher and wiped down the sink before making his way to the bedroom to get ready for bed.

He grabbed a change of clothes from his dresser and stepped into the bathroom. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he didn't recognize the man staring back at him. The relationship with Ally had really taken its toll on him. His once bright blue eyes had turned dull with sadness.

"You gotta stop beating yourself up man." he said to himself, and shook the thought from his mind as he climbed into the shower.

The hot water felt good on his skin. He stood there letting it soak his body. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and letting it out slowly he began to relax.

Before long he was ready to crawl in bed. Butterflies returned as his mind took him back to the thoughts of Hannah.

Pictures of her flashed through his head. Her smile, her laugh, her gorgeous green eyes piercing through his soul. He loved her. Nobody would ever change that. He took a deep breath and smiled. As he drifted off to sleep his mind swirled back to his past with Hannah.