Eternal.

Chapter Nine

"Could we talk?" He asked holding out his rough hand. I held the rose and the note very close to my chest. I wanted to take it, to see what he had to say to me, but something inside me told me I wasn't ready to hear whatever it was. But his face was so serious. His eyes got less of a shine, his lips straight across his face, and it made me feel claustrophobic. I just couldn't. He noticed my new found need for more air and put his hand down. He turned to walk away singing a poem. A poem I have heard before, somewhere.

The splitting of earth

The crashing of walls

The loss of existence

The Goddess falls.

I watched Aiden disappear as my mind pondered the words. They rung with a slight familiarity also, like trying to remember something I learned in second grade.

It was 10:00 in the morning. It's too late to go school now. I ran in the park until I knew for sure my mother had left for work. But then I still couldn't go home, my brother was there. I ran through down town; down town was soggy. I stopped and caught my reflection in a dark window of an old building. At the left corner of the window a red and black sign read FOR RENT. The window looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in over two months. In the window I saw my stringy hair with its blonde dead ends. I remembered last year I had long hair and died it blonde about five times never achieving the right shade of blonde. Now it was short and the top half showed my natural hair color: light brown with natural red and blonde streaks. It had been at least ten months since I’ve dyed it.

Friday after dinner I put on my shoes. The sun was just setting and I was going to go for my last run of the evening. As I was puting on my jacket I looked at the rose and the note from Alex sitting under my lamp. I thought about what the note said, come visit me sometime I saw the rose, a deep red, just like the ones planted in the side yard of his next door neighbor’s house. I remembered the first rose he gave me, the day of our first kiss. I had to risk going through my neighbor’s yard with that big dog for you, he had said. I wonder what was going on with our relationship since then. We were obviously subtly dating, but then he picks up and leaves without so much of a goodbye. 

“Mom I’m taking the car!” I shouted to her from the entrance where I grabbed my car keys. I haven’t used my car at all yet this season. It wasn’t used to all during the winter because my car is small with less traction than my mom’s. I creaked open the front door. “Where?” My mother yelled back. I had to think of something, I didn’t want to lie to her, but I don’t think she knows Alex had moved away, and I don’t feel like explaining it to her right now. "I'm going to meet Alex somewhere" I yelled back and I felt before there were any more questions.

I drove in silence just listening to the roar of the cars going by. I held the note between my fingers on the steering wheel, and the rose was laying in the passenger seat. I was halfway to Winchester when the sun was nothing but a pink and orenge ray above the mountains in the west. I glanced down at the water while I was on a long bridge. The water looked endless in the dark. Headlights blinded me when I turned onto long driveway. The driveway was dark with four or give trees towering over the cement. At the end of the driveway there were about seven clusters of town houses, each cluster had four attatched sky blue two story, small houses. Somewhat elegant, really. What was the appartment number? Appartment #22. I drove around the circle with an island in the middle. The island had stone bordering and very green properly chopped grass. In the middle was a patch of hyacinths in front of a big bowl looking, marble fountain. I parked my car in front of the third to last cluster in the coldasack. Apartments 20, 21, 22, and 23. The entrance was up a set of stone stairs and there was a navy blue door. I paused at the door. I held in my breath thinking my Alex could be in his room picking his toes playing his older sister's old pink 3DS. I wonder if his little sisters are there, the ones who spend most of their time at their dad's. I wondered how the place looked inside. My thoughts were interruped by a voice.