Insomnia

Chapter 2

I kept going back to the apple orchard everyday.

Each day I would go back at the same time in hopes to see Cal again. I would climb a tree, grab an apple, and wait for hours. He hasn't showed up yet. Everyday I would bring back another basket full of apples.

I was starting to hate apples. I saw them everyday just trying to find Cal again. The house was starting to get full of them because I always told Grandmother I was going to collect more apples. They reminded me of him. As more appeared in the house, they reminded me that I would be stuck here.

I started taking my sketchbook to the orchard. Grandmother was convinced that I just wanted a change of scenery, so did I. After only a few days, it became more about getting away from the house.

I looked down at the dirt as I walked along the path to the orchard. I small footprints were still visible from the day before. I took my time while walking, enjoying the sun warming my pale shoulders and the top of my head. As I looked up again, I need to shake my hair out of my eyes. The sunlight made my light brown hair appear nearly blond. I liked seeing it like this, which was why I avoided Grandmother's silver scissors when they threatened to cut my curly locks.

The wind pushed the hair back into my eyes, so I just turned my face to the sky again. I had memorized the path that I took on a daily basis. I could tell I was near as the luscious scent of apples filled the air.

I set the basket down and leaned against a tree. I took out the multiple books I brought and my sketching materials. The books consisted of classics I had read over and over. Grandmother refused to by me anymore books, claiming that these were great reads that one could never tired of.

The wind blew the pages of my sketchbook open. I laid my arm on the page to keep it from blowing open any further. I started to draw.

I ended up drawing the birds again. I pursed my lips before signing "Rory" near the bottom of the page. I had the urge to crumble the paper up, but resisted. I sighed reached up to grab an apple off the tree. I ended up hitting it, which ended in it hitting me on the head.

"You okay there, Isaac Newton?" A familiar voice caused me to swiftly turn my head in the direction of it. Cal stood there with an amused expression plastered on his face. I couldn't restrain the smile that appeared on my face. I felt like a child seeing Santa Claus on Christmas.

I rubbed the top of my head, "Yeah, I'm fine." I moved to stand, but stopped when Cal sat in the shade of the tree next to me.

"You come out here everyday or something?" Cal questioned as he grabbed his own apple off the tree.

"Yeah, usually." Trying to see you.

"I can see why, it's nice out here." He looked over at me. If my face wasn't already flushed, I would have gone red at how his brown eyes sparkled at me. He averted his eyes to my books and sketchbook that lay at me feet. "What do you have here?" I didn't get to respond before he grabbed my sketchbook and began to flip through the pages.

"That's..um...I," I stuttered as I watched him examine each picture. He nods his head in appreciation.

"These are pretty neat. You should know that I can't draw for shit, so anything looks better than my artworks."

"Thanks?" Was I suppose to take that as a compliment?

"You sure do have a lot classics here," he started browsing through my books now. "God, I hated reading these in high school." High school? I tried to figure out what he was talking about.

"Um yeah, me too." I laughed nervously, his eyes flickered to mine. "They're just...forcing me to read them." I awkwardly place my materials back into the basket. He laughed and handed the book to me. Oh god, his laugh.