Trees of Death

Not Hard to Find

I woke up to the people's blaring music upstairs. I was living in a tiny apartment west of Dallas, Texas. On Kingbridge Street. I didn't know how I would stop them from playing the music so I just left my apartment in dark jeans, a black sweater, and boots.
It was December and Texas was covered in ice.

I rode the elevator from the 10th floor down to the lobby with a little 8 year old boy.

"Good mornin', ma'am," he said in a southern accent as he got on at level 8.

"Good morning, sir," I replied back. Texas people have better hospitality than people in Missouri.

There was a pause before he said, "Why does it have to be so cold?"

"It is January. Where's your mom and dad," I asked politely.

"My Dad is still sleepin' n' my Mom is in the lobby. Where's yours?"

"They are living in Columbia, Missouri, right now. They sent me here to find a job," I said to the little boy.

"Are you not going to college?"

"I don't know. I want to but my parents didn't allow me to. Isn't that crazy? My Father taught at NYU and is now teaching at MU. He's a college professor and he doesn't want me to go to college."

"That's interestin' ma'am. The name's Billy," His small hand shakes my hand.

"My name is Andrea."
The elevator door opens and we both step out. He runs to his mother and hugs her tightly. I walk past them and smile. What a sweet family, huh?

I step outside. I began to get chills when the cool air touches my skin.
Brrrrr, I think to myself, I didn't know it would be that cold.
I start heading towards my car until someone bumps into me and knocks me off my feet. Then, the world turns black and I can't remember anything else.

I wake up to a manly voice repeating, "Ma'am, are you okay?"

My vision is blurry so it takes me awhile to figure out that the manly voice is the voice of the stranger who knocked me over. Then, my vision becomes clear and I see the man that knocked me over.

He has brown hair with the perfect amount of product and is perfectly pulled back. His brown eyes look right at me, truly worried about my well-being. His white teeth glisten in the sunlight. He wears a tight blue t-shirt, dark jeans, and running shoes. His muscles and abs showed through his tight shirt. He was definitely hot.

"Ma'am, are you okay," he asks again.

I nod my head and say, "Yeah." He puts his right hand out for me to grab it. I take it and pull against it to help me get up. Once I stand up, he places his right arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him which sends chills down my arms.

"Are you sure your okay? You fell pretty hard on that ice," He asks me, again, but in a more sexier tone. If that's a thing. We stare into each other's eyes for awhile.

To break the silence, I say, "Yeah. Thank you for helping me."

"Your welcome, ma'am," He says, "May I ask what your name is. I'm gettin' tired of callin' you ma'am." I laugh under my breath. I don't know why, it just sounded funny. 'I'm tired of calling you ma'am.'

"Andrea. Yours," I say to him.

"Ethan. It's nice to met you, Andrea," He smiles at me. Then, we realize that there is no space between us. We separate quickly and laugh it off.

"So... Could you give me your number?"

"Sure," I say and write in down on a piece of paper from my back left jean's pocket.

I hand it to him and he asks, "Do you live in those apartments?" He points towards the complex I live in.

"Yeah. You?"

"I live down the street," He says pointing behind himself.

I check my phone and see it's 10 am. The job interview.

"Oh no," I say freaking out.

"What?"

"I'm suppose to have a job interview with someone in 15 minutes," I answer.

"Are you, somehow, related or know of Alex Jacobs," He asks me.

"Yeah. She's my mother," I say, surprised, "How do you know her?"

"Wow. This is gonna be hard to explain," Ethan says as he scratches his perfect brown hair.