"A friend walks in when everyone walks out."
-Source Unknown
As Ash reached the top of the stairs and turned to walk to Lanona's room at the end of the hall, a brown tabby cat cut him off and sat directly in front of him. Mitten's slender body curled up against Ash's leg before she ran to the end of the hallway. Her green eyes glanced behind her to see Ash still following. She jumped up on her hind legs and pushed the door open with her front paws and entered through the small crack she made in the door.
He slowly walked to the door and tapped. The door swung open and the first thing he saw was a pair of ice blue eyes. Nona stepped back from the door and walked over to her vanity, which had begun to run low on pictures. She had a really pretty white dress with gold scrolling and red hems. He followed her inside and looked at the walls. Two were covered in uniform rows of pictures.
"This is what you've been doing since you got out of the hospital?" She looked at him and smiled.
"Well, I like it. Are you trying to cover all four walls?" She nodded. He glanced at the small pile on her vanity.
"You're gonna need to take more pictures, then." He walked over to one of the walls and looked at the pictures. One picture showed her as a baby, another showed her at her birthday party with everyone. His eyes scanned more pictures until he found the one of him and her hugging at her birthday when he gave her the bracelet. He turned back to look at her with a smile plastered on his face.
She cocked her head to one side in a questioning manner. His eyes traveled down her arm to the bracelet on her wrist.
"Just remembering when I gave that to you." She smiled at him, then looked down at her bracelet. He walked over and grabbed the blue camera off of her dresser.
"What do you say? Let's take more pictures," she smiled at him and nodded. He rapped his arm around her shoulders and raised the camera to look down on them and snapped the picture. He lowered the camera and looked at the screen that showed the picture. Nona was smiling, but not the happier smiles that were taped on the wall. She only smiled with her lips in this one and didn't show her perfectly lined up teeth.
"Wanna go meet JJ, Alex, and Ellie? Get more pictures together." She bit her lip and looked down.
"Are you going to forgive them? I won't until you do." She looked up from the floor to stare in his eyes. A smile played on her lips as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Forgive and forget?" She nodded her head, grabbed his hand and yanked the camera away from him. She snapped a picture of him when he wasn't expecting it. He rolled his eyes at her, but smiled anyway.
"Wanna go find JJ, Alex and Ellie? Last minute picnic?" She nodded her head. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began tapping on the keys. He laced his hand in hers and dragged her out the door to his car which later led to a park.
His blue mustang pulled up. JJ, Alex, and Ellie surrounded the car. It was a new start to everything, new beginnings and new endings.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ash handed Lanona the picture. The last one for the wall. She turned around to see all the pictures perfectly lined on the wall. There was enough room for one more picture, a perfect square. She smiled at the picture. It was Ash and Lanona's hands holding. She peeled the tape off of the dispenser and pasted it on the back of the picture and hung it up on the wall. Everything was perfect.
"It took me a while, but I had to find myself again," Lanona said smiling at Ash. The first time she had spoken in a year and a half.
"It's about time," he smiled and pulled her into a hug then set his lips on hers.
"Never mind searching for who you are. Search for the person you aspire to be."
-Robert Brault
~~~~~~~END~~~~~~~~
Thank you to everyone that read this. I'm really grateful to you guys. I hope you check out my other stories as well. Thanks so much!
YOU ARE READING
Campfire Stories
Mystery / ThrillerThere were only just messing with her, but messing with Lanona got her kidnapped. How long until they see their friend again? Will she ever talk afterwards?
