Collision Course

Chapter 9: A conversation of slogans

I wasn't sure what fact possessed me to be here when I was but I was, and I didn't feel like going anywhere anytime soon.

The sun was beginning to set turning the sky into a beautiful array of blending colors. A cold nighttime wind blew through the air pushing my hair behind my head and sending chills all through my body. I pulled my jacket closer to me, hoping to eliminate any uncovered and attackable skin.

Maybe one of the reasons I was here was because it was quiet. It was always quiet at this time of day, the time where families went to eat dinner together and talk about their days. Nobody bothered to come when it started getting dark, it was hard to see and proved difficult to do anything.

Or maybe it was the memories this place brought back to me. The ones where we'd laugh and play while they'd sit and watch from a nearby bench. It gave me a sense that I still had happy memories.

It could be either of those reasons, but I think the biggest one was that I could see us here. I could feel the smiles we shared, the crazy laughs we made. All the times we'd sit underneath the big tree and just talk together. That was what it was. That was why I found myself sitting on a swing in the middle of a park at 7 o'clock at night.

The large play set was put up in the middle of a wood-chip circle with two rows of swings near the twisty slides. Two baby swings were separate from the normal swings. I remember seeing mothers with their young children playing in those. A couple trees were scattered on the outer rim of the wood-chip circle. Not too far away was a gravel path that lead into the forest nearby.

My feet dangled off the edge of the last swing on the set closest to the woods, swaying back and forth with the chilling wind. Bits of wood would fly up occasionally when my feet scuffed the ground but other than that, it was eerily silent. I felt my eyes flutter shut, any weight that was previously on my shoulders-backpack especially-was gone. Everything was peaceful.

Time was something foreign to me as I sat there. It was something that I didn't know, something I had no control over. I could've sat there for a minute, five, an hour, or maybe even a couple seconds. Whatever it was, it was nice. But of course, all good things come to an end at some time.

"Haven't seen you here in while." There are only a couple voices I knew that were as deep and masculine as the one speaking to me. It wasn't hard to pick out who the voice belonged to whether I was thinking hard about it or not. There was only one who knew about me and this place, not even Lily. Someone that no one would ever think I associated with.

"Haven't been here in a while," I replied keeping my eyes shut. I didn't need to have them open to know he was standing off on my right side- with his hands in his pocket most likely- the shuffling of his feet on the wood-chips gave it away.

"I know. You stopped coming over the summer," He stated, still not moving. He was probably testing the waters which was a smart move on his part. If I was here then he knew to be cautious. Luckily for him, I didn't have that problem at the moment.

"It became too frequent. I assumed someone would get suspicious," I said nonchalantly. That was the truth. After a while it became too frequent to handle and a teenage girl going to a park with busted up knuckles wasn't exactly ordinary.

He snorted, "Too suspicious? You were here at like 6 in the afternoon, nobody's around then," He reasoned and took one step closer. I kept my legs going at a steady tempo; fold, stretch, fold, stretch. The wind kept my hair out of my face.

I sighed in an exhausted defeat. Arguing didn't sound like the best thing in the world right now. "You know what I mean."