Anything Could Happen

Chapter 3

"Oh sorry! I wasn't aware anybody lived here. I'll leave now, sorry again" I said turning around to hurry out. To my surprise I didn't see the old man who had lived her, but rather a boy who couldn't have been much older than me.

"Nobody does live here," he smirked "I mean you didn't think you were the only one who would be coming out to these houses?"

He had a point. Of course other people had thought of this, I should've realized that. I wasn't scared of him like I probably should have been. He didn't seem in any way like someone who would pull a gun on me over some shampoo.

"Yeah, you're right. Do you know what happened to the people who lived here?" I asked. He reached into his pocket, and slowly pulled out a knife. He flashed me an evil smile and I instinctively stepped back a little.

"Hmmm, I have an idea," He replied gently stroking the knife. He looked up at me and laughed, shaking his head. "I'm kidding! I heard they got on the earliest flight to Canada when they heard the news."

"That wasn't funny at all! I thought you were going to kill me." I said also laughing a little. I hadn't laughed in so long it made me smile just to hear my own laugh.

"Hey don't get your hopes up maybe I still will"

It had been weeks since I had a conversation with anyone outside of my family, and despite the fact he had just caught me stealing and pulled out a knife, it was the highlight of my week.

"I should get home, but if you haven't already cleared the house would you mind leaving some for me? I have 3 other family members to take care of." I questioned. He shrugged and left the room.

I continued to take anything I could find in the bathroom, which ended up being a lot more then I was expecting to find in the whole house. When I left the room I was surprised to see the boy still sitting there on the couch like it was his own home. I attempted to leave the house without catching his attention, even though a small part of me wanted him to see me and beg me to stay. What can I say, I am still a teenage girl.

I made it down the small staircase to the landing, only to realize the garage door was slightly open. I didn't remember it being that way before.  I fumbled around for a light switch until I found it on the left side of the door. I opened it a little more and looked in. It was rather empty and I was disappointed not to find anything worth taking. Then again what was I expecting? For there to be a  small supermarket in the garage?

"Sorry," said a voice behind me "this garage was one of the first places I came to, you won't find anything in here."

"God! What is it with you and sneaking up on people! You'll give someone a heart attack!" 

He just smiled at me again and turned around to reenter the house. I followed back in, with no intentions for anything but access to the door. I put both bags of the random objects in one hand and used the other to open the door, but the boy quickly closed it. I was a bit taken aback by his actions.

"Here, let me take a bag" he said and slid one out of my hands "I'll walk you home. It's dangerous out there."

"I'll be fine. Anyways how do I know you're not just going to take my bag and run off"

"I guess you'll just have to trust me." He insisted. I really didn't trust him not to just run off, but I don't think he trusted me either to go on my own. He opened the door and we both walked out. Just being outside for a moment brought me back to the reality of everything that was going on, and I regretted being so caught up In thinking about a boy when my family's lives could depend on these supplies.

I started walking towards my house and he just followed quietly behind me. When we passed by the Hispanic's house I mentally thanked myself for not going in there. A new light was on since I had rang the doorbell earlier. 

"So..." he finally spoke up after a long awkwardness "you never told me your name?"

"Well, neither did you." I replied a bit ruder than I intended "but I mean I'm Ava."

"Oh. That's cute. I'm Harry" he mumbled quietly. The name fit him well, and I was happy to know I wasn't the only teenager around here still.

We approached my house and I started up the driveway. He must have got the hint that this was my house as he handed me the bag and began to walk away.

"Wait! Harry, thank you for walking me home, and you know like not killing me. You're right it's pretty dangerous these days and I'm sorry if I came off rude I just haven't had much interaction with anyone but my family in a little over a week. It was nice meeting you." I rambled to him, hoping he would ask if he could stay. He didn't though, instead he just said it was no problem and started to walk away again.

"Am I ever going to see you again? I don't have any way to contact my friends anymore, and I could really use someone my age to talk to. You know, keep me sane?" I called after him. This seemed to get his attention.

"Do you like clichés, Ava?" He asked me with a small smile forming.

"I guess so? I don't really know. I'll take anything right now!" I replied desperately.

"Look in the bag. There's something you forgot to get while you were at the house."

With that he walked away, into the fog.  Oh why can't he be like most guys my age and just say "Ok let's hang out" This isn't a romantic movie for goodness sake. I ran into my house and quickly took off my things emptying the cans from my pants and placed the bags on the table rummaging through them.

I didn't know what he was talking about. I grabbed everything in there myself. I took everything out one by one, until finally finding a small piece of paper at the bottom of the bag he had carried here. A little note was written on a sticky note in neat handwriting.

If you ever find yourself bored, I've heard there's this guy who's always down at the old motel who could use some company. Room 23. Knock 4 times. 

- Harry x

Smiling like an idiot, I put the note back down. Boy was he right, this is cliché, but I couldn't help but find it adorable. I wanted to go right now, but I didn't want to seem that desperate for a friend.

I didn't know anything about him except his name. Could I really trust him enough to walk all the way across down to an abandoned motel just to maybe have a small conversation?

Under normal circumstances I would have rolled my eyes and waited for a phone call. But, when the world is literally collapsing around you,

Some risks are worth taking.