anika & angus

wondering people

anika stood waiting for the bus, her shoulders and arms aching from the amount of heavy textbooks she had to take home. her body was tired of homework, essays and projects, they were slowly stripping her brain and insanity to nothing. "anika, come with me." angus snuck up behind her and whispered in her ear,
    
"wh-where are we going?" angus casually removes her books from her arms and places them in his bookbag, she watched in curiosity until he grabbed her left hand and gentle pulled her away from the bus stop. "just for a walk in the city." the sky above still lingered with grey clouds and moist air, the two walked in silence for a while. anika wondered why he hadn't released her hand quite, and she was debating on whether she wanted him to. angus loved walking through the city, every person he saw he tried to imagine what their life was like, if they were miserable, content or craving something new and better. angus carefully looked over at anika, who was watching at different stores passed them by, her lips would grin when someone passed her, or she'd mumble a simple hello.
   
over the pass days he thought of anika, not constantly but often. he wondered what happened beyond apartment door 612. was she lonely at home by herself, was her head overwhelmed with too many thoughts, was she a whole different person?
     
"do you like coffee, anika?"
    
"yeah, why?" her voice always sounded so humble and addicting, angus and anika entered a coffee house, the smell of burning coffee beans energized angus, the smell made anika feel somewhat at ease. anika picked a seat near a large window faced towards the north of town while angus ordered them both coffees, she informed him that too much sugar made her brain unstable and panicky.
    
"you won't get in trouble for not being at home, will you?" angus asks, anika struggles her shoulders and takes a gulp of the hot coffee, "my parents usually aren't home when i get home." at that point, angus wished he didn't ask that question, anika sighed as she sat the mug down, her eyes focused on the still hot liquid, her lips formed a straight line, it was like the mentioning of her parents upsetted her, the once happy anika drifted away and a more realistic anika replaced her, "sometimes it's like i don't exist to them. they are always working, working, working constantly. the only time we all can talk is when they are leaving for work."
     
angus understood, his dad worked into the night and slept during the day, barely noticing him and his siblings, his mother was always tired and drained due to taking care of the littlest kids during the day, he missed when it was only him. "i understand. it's like that for me and my folks too," honestly he didn't want to go into detail to her, not now. the mood had already changed, he didn't want to officially ruin it.
    
"if i removed your glasses, would you be able to see?" he changed the course of the conversation, "without my glasses, i can't see a thing."

they sat in silence until both their coffees were finished. angus stood up, so did anika and he grasped her hand again dragging her to a new place, this place was a creek not far from town, the area was isolated and purely empty, except for them. anika looked over at angus, "do you come here a lot?" he nods, "my parents rarely notice that i'm gone."
    
sometimes angus thought that his parents had forgotten of his existence, the boy didn't get to hear a good morning, or hey son anymore, all he heard was crying babies and loud mouthed kids, the only time he heard good morning was when his teachers spoke it to him, or anika did.
   
the boy took a seat next to anika, placing his bookbag onto the ground beside them, "you are my breath of fresh air, anika."