I look up to check my phone for the thousandth time tonight, nothing. After the most amazing night of my life I find out the girl who I had just met and was already starting to fall for was not even real, a figment of my imagination, she was really the girl who I stuck with for months without even a hint that the feelings I had for her were even possibly mutual, and then. Well... boom I guess... it all blew up in my face at once. I think that's all of what happened anyway, I can't even remember anymore it's all so blurry, even now I can't get rid of the blur.
As I look across the blurry room I see the same homeless woman from earlier talking to her son who seems annoyed at my presence in their make-shift home. I can only make out the vague shapes of their bodies but they are talking just loudly enough for me to hear from across the room. "We cant even feed ourselves so how are we going to take care of another person!" He says in a hushed yell. "Jackson calm down! We are just taking care of him for the night." she says in a slightly more gentle tone. I choke down the last of my already fading sobs in order to speak. "No, no, I'll be gone soon. Can you tell me how I got here, please?" i ask while wiping the remnant tears from my face.
"Alright, um, what was your name again? I don't quite think i caught it earlier." She questions. "I... it's Max... short for Maxwell" I state as I feel the sobs bubbling up inside of me. 'No. Not again. Not yet, I've already shamed myself enough for one night.' I think. "Alrighty then Max, I'll tell you exactly how you ended here. Do you remember earlier tonight when you gave us that bucket of chicken?" She asks and i nod in reply. "Well we enjoyed it very much as it had been our only meal of the week so we wanted to thank you. We walked around for about thirty minutes and just as we were ready to come back inside for the night we found you. When we saw you we rushed over to see if you were hurt but couldn't find a thing wrong with you, we thought that girl you were with could have done something but for such a sweet girl like her I found it hard to believe she could harm a fly." She said with a slight chuckle. " What did she say her name was again? Tr... no. Cas...no, not that. Hea... no not that either..."She says quietly to herself. " I remember the strange looks she would give you when you called her Alex so that can't be right." She elaborates but I'm not pleased. "Can we just get back to how I ended up here?" I plead. "Ooh touchy..." Her son Jackson teases. "Jackson that is enough!" She shouts.
"Thank you Mrs. Now I know how you found me can you please continue?" I politely ask. "Yes, well, when we found you unconscious and thankfully unharmed under one of the trees on the way back here we scooped you up and brought you with us, and covered you up because you were practically frozen solid. Now its your turn to tell me how you ended up under that darn tree." She said in a very straightforward manner. "I would love to mam' but I really need to be going my grandma must be worried sick by now. I'll come and visit some time soon alright? for now just... Here... you need this much more than I do." I say as I begin to hand over the two hundred and seventy six dollars and thirty eight cents. "No, no we will be fine. If this all happened because of that girl then you will need that more than we do. If it is, Just go out there and get her back. You will regret it if you don't." She squeaks out in a broken voice. "Thank you, and you are right, mostly anyway. The only problem is that even though I wanted her to be for the longest time I thought she felt that way for someone else, she was never even mine, and yet even when my own head told me to forget her my heart still cared... My heart still... still loved her..."
When I turn toward the door of the dusty broken down factory I look around and promise myself that I will come back, I WILL help these people just like they did for me. As soon as I leave the building I feel a pang of guilt for not staying longer but I can't stay. Not when the most amazing girl on this planet hates me.
As soon as I hit the gravel I start out in a shaky jog, my legs are still numb from lying down for such a long time, that changes very soon after I hit the broken, discolored, and neglected sidewalk of the small town. When I hit the side walk I bolt, I've all but forgotten my own body the world around me. I run block after block, step after step before long I cross the train tracks then through the center of town eventually I abandon the side walk altogether in favor of the smooth paved main road of the town.
It doesn't take long to reach the school where my car is still sitting. I run across the parking lot and fumble with the keys until I finally find the button to unlock the door. The doors of the car each make a clicking noise signaling that they can be opened. I hop in as fast as is humanly possible put the key in the ignition, start the engine, and quickly speed off. I zoom from down the street trying to search for her house. I search and search. No luck, I end up pulling into a parking lot to try to see if I can get in touch with her. I try a few times but don't get any form of answer, I feel horrible.
I wait for a matter of minutes but they seem to stretch into hours as I try to clear my head. There's really no point though; she is emblazoned into the foremost of my thoughts. It doesn't take long before I decide to search the area one last time. I traverse the area with my full concentration on finding her little car. It takes me about 15 minutes at the pace of a snail but I find it.
'Dear God please help me. I know I'm gonna need it.' I say in a silent prayer. I try to get her to come out but nothing works I try texting calling yelling her name just loud enough to hear but not to wake anyone,
YOU ARE READING
Secrets Of A Sophomore
القصة القصيرةA short story about a small town boy who dreamed of bigger things and when he was losing all hope he finds a girl who he believes is perfect despite her flaws.
