Riparian

Aven III

I wasn't hungry. She was all I could think about.

I'd eaten a couple of bites to keep my father at bay, but when he was nearly done with his large portions and my mother with her small ones, he took one look at my half-full plate and I knew I was in for it.

"You've barely touched your food. Finally starving yourself?"

My grip tightened just a bit on the fork I was neglecting. I didn't hate my father; I couldn't. It was just that I sometimes wished he would let us be. All the edginess and tension wasn't something I wanted to be a part of.

"It was a very filling meal; I can't eat another bite. Thanks for the meal." One-third of this was a lie; it really wasn't that filling a meal. I just thought of her and only her. It had been over 24 hours and she was still the only thing on my mind. I thought of how guarded she was and wondered what--or who--made her that way. And, crazier still, I wanted to hurt whoever could've done it for twisting and breaking something, someone, so beautiful.

More than anything, I just wanted to see her again. Well, more than anything except her prosperity. Hang in there, Tallahassee. I'm coming.

And her name, Tallahassee, like the cover of a well-written mystery, just the first page in a beautiful story I wanted to read.

But I doubted her story to be "beautiful." A girl like that couldn't have had a cakewalk for a backstory.

I didn't care, though. I just wanted to see her. I wanted to see Tallahassee.

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My bedroom was a dark and lonely place, much too big.

It might've sounded ungrateful, but my father had allowed me a large room with very few fillers. This basically left me with a big empty space with lots of wallpaper and carpet to stare at while tears would stream down my face of their own volition. I wouldn't ask for them, so I'd just sit there, motionless and emotionless, whilst tears made their journey from their eyes past my chin and onto the bedspread I sat on.

This is what happened that night, after my dad had called me all sorts of names, "ungrateful" being the tamest.
My tears were their own. Had I a choice, I would not have been tearful that night. However, I did decide, in the midst of them, that I would sneak out and hope she was there. If she wasn't, I would come back the next day. This couldn't be the end of her. I couldn't stop trying.

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My room was on the second floor, which complicated things, but there was a window between me and the deceptively cheery-looking front yard, which was my only possible route. After a little while, I had formulated a halfway-decent plan.

I started by setting up a decoy of me with my bedsheets and pillows. "He" resembled a cliché dead body; pillows formed a body shape underneath the sheets.

After that, I climbed out the window, easing my fingertips along the edge. A fall from the height of my second-story window could've potentially given me a concussion or rendered me deceased, and I was doing it just for her. Why? I could only form guesses.

About fifteen feet away was a tree with a sturdy branch physically appearing to reach out to me. I would soon accept its grasp, jumping off the windowsill to reach it.

I braced myself for the worst and gave a strong leap off the windowsill, catching my hands on the branch. The bark had scraped my palms pretty severely, but I didn't care. I'd endured much worse. I was then left hanging by my hands from this reaching branch, only a little lower than the second-story window. Adrenaline still coursing through my veins, I lifted myself up onto the branch with the little bit of strength I had left, and the rest was a cakewalk. I hopped down from branch to branch until I was running--because driving would've made noise--towards the space I hoped she occupied.

Hang in there, Tallahassee. I'm coming.

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Author's Note

As short as this chapter is, I think it's very important in the buildup of Aven's relationships with both his father and Tallahassee.

I still have one more prewritten chapter after this one, and then I'll start trying to get you a chapter every Tuesday!

I thought the last scene in this chapter was a bit weakly written, but I lacked experience in that area. Notwithstanding, I'm trying to make this situation as realistic as possible.

However, how can I know without feedback? ~_^

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