The Boy with Emerald Eyes #Wattys2016

Prologue

Birds were singing and sun was gazing through the covered porch, I was sitting there on the swing we have there, drawing a bird that flew on the post of the stairs. Every stroke of my pencil made a satisfying sound, it made me feel calm. I was also listening to piano music to help me concentrate. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly; to be free? An airplane would never describe the feelings of flying. You're just in a flying object with other people with screaming children, their parents telling them to calm down then taking them to the bathroom to give them a whooping; people snoring while they sleep; misogynists being rude to the flight attendants. Flying in an airplane is just a mess. But just to have the feel of the wind flowing through your hair, to be free, and not have to pay taxes or bills. It would be amazing. My mother, Winnie, came out on to the porch, startled the bird. I let out a sigh, and closed my notepad. "What are you doing out here, Al? You should be hanging out with old friends," she said as I looked out into the backyard and back to her. "My friends from high school? They moved away, got married, had kids, all those adult stuff while I'm still dating my high school sweetheart. I want him to ask me soon, so I can do those things." "I never liked Leiden, he's a sweet boy, but I feel like he's hiding something from you," she said concerned. I snapped, "are you saying he's cheating on me, mom? He's not cheating on me, he loves me too much even if he sometimes doesn't pick up the phone or reply to my text messages," I pressed the home button on my phone to check if he has texted me yet. "He might be, doesn't he cancel plans when you get all dolled up for nothing, seems like he's not cheating at all." I unlocked my phone again to text him, why hasn't he texted me yet. As I was typing my message, I thought maybe if I don't text him for a while, maybe he'll think of me and call. I erased the message, and decided to head back inside. It was staring to get chilly outside, it was around sixty degrees out at the time, it was perfect day, around the upper eighties too, there no cloud in sight.

My parents turned my old bedroom into an office because I was living with Leiden in a college town. I didn't mind sleeping on the couch, I used to turn on the television and watch cartoons all night until I fell asleep, and my dad or mom would wake me up and walk me to go to bed. It was 7:36 in the afternoon, there was a Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family or now Free-form. I hate the name, why would they change it? Anyways, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was on, the kids were running through the halls of many shelves of crystal balls. They were being encountered by Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix and other death eaters. I love these movies, they're gonna be classics. I was eating kettle corn popcorn, and drinking Coca Cola. The movie was getting to the exciting, yet terrible part. I never read the books, I wished I did though. The light in the kitchen flipped on, I turned to look, it was dad, his name was Ron, grabbing a cold beer. "Where is the bottle opener?" He mumbled. "You know you could use your shirt, right?" "I know, I taught you that. I just ironed my shirt so it won't be wrinkled, why would I wrinkle it again?" I shrugged, and kept watching my movie. Dad found the bottle opener and left the room. Oh, Sirius punched Lucius, out of all the magic, he just punched him. After the movie, I started to yawn, and drifting off to sleep.

In the morning, my mother woke up me to go to the local garden store. The ride there was as usual as any drive to anywhere. We pulled into the parking lot, there was a few cars there, it was a small after all, a fishing town actually. "Okay let's go, Allie," I didn't mind helping her, she's 47 years old. She should have brought dad to help her if she's gonna get soil, I guess she wanted mother-daughter time. We go inside the store, it smells like soil, freshly chopped grass, and flowers. She grabs a shopping cart, and does whatever she needs to do. I decided to walk around and take pictures of the flowers so I can draw them later. A woman came up behind and asked if I needed help, I reply to her that I didn't need help, but my mother might need help because she's starting a flower garden. I point her to the direction of my mother. That was the store owner, her name was Jessica, she's a cute old lady. I walked around the store taking pictures of the flowers, I stumbled across one of the flower, the flower had a bee on it. I took a picture of the bee and flower before it could fly off. I'll save that for later, I thought to myself. They had patio furniture out for sale, they had a swing, picnic table with four chair and umbrella. I decided to sit in the swing, I pull out my phone look through Pinterest. On my wall, I had pins of drawing and paintings, D.I.Y. tips, makeup and hair tutorials. I heard some adults talking about how our generation just looks at phones and not talk to people in person. The fact they also do it too is ironic. I sat there about twenty more minutes and mom bought her stuff and we left.

It's the Sunday afternoon, just 5:02. I've only been home for two days, and I decided to go home. Mom helps me gather my stuff and ask if I would like to stay another night, class doesn't start back up again until Tuesday. "I have homework to do, and I would like to go home and feed Potato. I don't know if Leiden feed him or not; he hasn't texted me." "How old is that cat again," Potato is my cat I had him since sophomore year in high school, he was one year old when I got him, he's a calico with yellow and brown spots. He was very derpy, so Potato fits him well. "He's about 7 years old." "Oh okay, well it's getting late, you better head home, darling," as she proceeds to hug me. I grab my stuff, and I kissed my dad on the forehead and I told them I loved them.

It's 11:56, I have one more hour to get home. I finally get a text message from Leiden, I pulled up to a red light, to turn left. I look at my rear view mirror, there's a car coming up behind me, but it was far away. The text message said 'hey babe, I didn't mean to text you all day, I was just busy. Just personal stuff, I fed Potato to let you know. It's really late so I'm going to bed, goodnight, love you.' I tap the reply button and I looked at my rear view mirror again, the car was getting closer, I figured it would slow down soon. I started to type on my phone, I wrote, 'okay Leiden, goodnight I lov...' then the car that was behind, never slowed down. My head flew back into the chair, and I threw my phone into the air. The sound of metal taking into shape, glass breaking, and tires shrieking. All I wanted was to get home. Thoughts of my entire life flashed before my eyes. Was I dying? I haven't graduated or got married and had kids. My life was slipping away, and then darkness.