The Longest Year

That River

Above is a picture of Rose.

She looked around as the breeze pushed through her hair. Great. Not only did her hair get in her mouth, but it also got knotted in her necklace. She spit the salty tasting hair out of her mouth, and licked her chapped lips. Then reached around to the clasp of her necklace, closes her eyes, and pulled.

Unclasping the necklace she then held it in her hands. Yay.  As if she needed to see pieces of hair falling out. Something small, yet annoying, brought her emotions around to being negative.  Her mind went to a dark place, the hospital, the doctors rushing, nothing good. With whatever strength she had left she pulled herself out of her mind.

To think she would be used to the wind. She came here every summer. Same dock, same wind, same river. Nothing new. While putting the necklace of an old locket heart, given to her by her mother, into one hand, she sighed. Nothing was new about the place, but everything had changed. The dock was older, covered in feces from birds who have been eating god knows what. The wind, breezy, as always, but to her it was now stale, colder. The river. God, the river. It had always been her favorite place to swim, now, she couldn't even imagine her skin touching that distasteful water.

She looked at the brown haired, grey eyed boy sitting beside her, as he was swinging his feet back and forth off the edge of the dock. Somehow he was the only thing in this place that she could stand. After all, a lot had happened in the past year, and he had been there through it all. His light freckles got her mind off of things as her eyes danced all over his skin wondering how he got them. He was always out in the sun, but he usually never did the same thing. One day it was football, the next it was planting a garden, and another he was swimming in this hellish river. The river. She sighed once again, this time it caught the boy's attention.

"What is that beautiful mind thinking about?" He smiled at her. While she didn't think the word beautiful suited her, with him it was different. Anything he said would make her smile. But not today. Today she responded with a grim look on her face as she glanced over the river that they were sitting near.

"I hate this place."

"Why?"

"Does there have to be a reason why Santiago?" She snapped. He lost his smile, he knew that whenever she used his full name she wasn't happy, nor in the mood to joke around.

He adjusted his shoulders while clearing his throat, "I suppose not.."

Her body caved in, in defeat, "Ugghhhh. I'm sorry T, I don't mean to bring you down too. It's just," she paused looking down at the necklace she held in her hand, rubbing her thumb over the engraved rosebud on it. "It's hard. She left me, and I feel like I'm paralyzed without her." She started to tear up looking at the necklace.

"I know Rose. I'm sorry," T reaches over to grab Rose's hand, but without hesitation she pulls away from him. "Hey. You don't have to be shy with me, I'm here for you."

Rose looked up to those grey eyes and found herself gazing into his eyes. They stared at each other for a minute before Rose pulled her eyes away to look at a pelican flying by. She hated when people saw her cry, it made her feel exposed; weak.

This was too much, too quickly. To many emotions were swirling around her head at once. Rose loved Santiago, she really did. Especially because he was there through everything. But right now, she couldn't bare the touch of another. No. For now, she just wanted to sit there, with him beside her, swinging their feet while looking at the world. Not thinking; not wondering about what was to happen next. For now, having her light dirty brown hair dancing in the wind, and looking over the river was enough.