Evacuated

May Belle

It started on Sunday, April 17th 2016. Yes, everything centered round that day for quite some time. I knew I was gonna be staying with the Aarons at least a week, after the second day had already kicked me into the gutters. That moment I walked outside to make a trip to the grocery store for Mrs. Aarons that Sunday, was the moment that changed my whole experience as a resident of the small farmhouse up the hill. I walked in silence, tears streaming down my face. "What the heck am I gonna do now? I'm all alone! Who am I gonna talk to? Jess is gone! Him and I won't be able to even look at each other! He's the whole reason I agreed to stay here in the first place! Now what?!" I had began to panic before I heard her, calling my name in that sweet voice that had yet to change. "Leslie! Leslie! Leslie!" and I stopped. Holding back the fact that I was soaked from my face to my chest was unmasked. "I wanna come--" and her voice dropped three notches. "What are you crying?" damn the child was still innocent. "Nothing, May Belle" I managed to say, wiping my tears with my arm. "I'm sorry" she suddenly let out as we walked to the bus stop, before turning in the direction of the grocery store. "Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything" I reminded. "I'm sorry this happened.. What happened?" she pressed. "I was prepared for this, I made sure I knew it was over before I could be sure" I cried, tears began falling all over again, my tearful voice getting louder. "What was over?" so many damn questions. "My friendship with Jess" I told. She nodded, staring only at the pavement below us. I didn't know this child very well. In fact, she was the little sister of the best friend who just broke my heart. "Why is she here comforting me instead of Jess?" she must've been reading my mind somehow. "Jess doesn't like me much either" she began. "He's never liked me. I try to play with him and talk to him but he just gets annoyed and pushes me away" she explained. Damn, it was still Sunday. That very Sunday. I guess that day brought something good into my life. As much as May Belle wasn't my sister and I had never hung around her without Jess being there, I suddenly felt like I knew the girl better than anyone else in the world, like I could trust her with everything and not have to worry about it getting repeated. I told her everything, I cried in front of her, only she knew how much this really affected me. Because Jess had thrown her aside in life too, and I knew that alone would strengthen a bond between the two of us.

Days and days followed, and Jess and I never got better. We hadn't spoken, we hadn't even looked at each other without painfully stressed out looks on both our faces. Things were not looking up for Jess and I. But May Belle and I had gotten a little closer. She began talking to me when I was just awkwardly sitting there in silence. She came to the store with me sometimes and we talked here and there, small talk it was. I didn't consider myself close to any of the Aarons anymore. Jess was my tie to this family and because that string broke, I had to hold myself together. May Belle and I slowly began to build up a rope that would soon reconnect me comfortably enough into this family, at least for as long as I had to stay here. I always felt as if the universe gave me May Belle because if it hadn't, the remaining time I had staying with the Aarons would've been nothing short of uncomfortable. I'd feel like an outsider, which I was, but I would've felt like an outsider by myself instead of having at least one person, even though she was short of power, she still decreased my stress levels a whole awful lot and I knew I needed that so very much.

As time went by, May Belle and I began to talk voluntarily instead of just when we had to. We spent a lot of time together after school. We talked sometimes at night for a few minutes before settling into bed. If it wasn't for her, all my feelings would've been crammed up inside of me and eventually I would've snapped. Hard. And it wouldn't have been good. We both connected in regards to Jess. We both developed similar feelings towards him, none of them positive at all. We reached that stage in our friendship when we began to make fun of other people like Jess, rather than just grieve about it. We mocked him for being so neglecting and disrespectful towards both of us. "This day has been a nightmare" I'd say. "Just like Jess" May Belle chimed in, both of us settling into a fit of laughter.