Leaves Are Falling

2 - Do You Mean Silker Street?

    "So, where do you live?" He asked, annoyed.

    "That's what I'm trying to find out." I sighed blankly.

    "Fine, what's the street that you live on?" He shrugged, wanting to get things over already.

    "I'm pretty sure it's Silking Street or something like that?" Shoot, I forgot which one it is already! I was too focused on doing real class work.

    "Do you mean Silker Street?" He replied with an awe of how dumbfounded I seemed to be.

"Yeah... That's the one! Do you know how to get there?" I died in embarrassment.

"Follow me and try to actually remember what streets we use to get there, okay?"

"Yeah yeah, will do" I took out a piece of paper and followed him in search of the street names. Scribbling down every street name we came across and drawing a poorly-done arrow in the direction we took from there. Over my shoulder, I find Wolf Boy peering down at the sheet of scribbles.

"Try to make it comprehensible at the very least." He stated with a smirk.

Why do I feel like I'm just so disappointingly bad at things? It's all because Wolf Boy's expectations are too high for me. I sigh quietly and asked, "Hey Wolf Boy, are you going to tell me about your story now? If you don't mind."

"As long as you don't ask me to do anything else, then I might consider it."

"Alright, I won't ask for you to do anything else. And I said if you don't mind, I'm not forcing you to." Humph! He makes me slightly pissed off over the things that comes out of his mouth.

    "Pretty much the reason why I've been bummed out is because my family has been struggling financially and emotionally. My mother and father fought often because of money problems. My younger brother and I will never get used to it. I just wish it could stop and go back to how things used to be. Are you happy that you've heard the story, now?"

It went silent real quick. All the anger dissolved and left me with guilt. I didn't know what to say, my mind made up a bunch of things I could say, but nothing good enough to actually make him feel better. All I wanted to do was tell him...

"It's fine if you don't say anything, besides it's not like they get violent. But I'm afraid things will just get worse." He reassured.

"I'm sorry for being nosy.." I stuttered in guilt.

"It's alright, you didn't force me to tell y.."

"My Mom and Dad had the same issues. I'm an only child so I had myself to deal with all these things. Always alone, always sad. Eventually Mom and Dad separated for my sake and theirs. But now, my Mom's always busy with work and doesn't have time for me. And she's doing this for us both. I miss my Dad, but it really can't be helped. We're a broken family, once broken we can't really be 'fixed'," I blurted.

Wolf Boy was surprised by my words. He may seem like trouble, but he's just like me?

———————————————————

   We crossed the following cracked road and took a turn to the left. One of the cracks looked similar to a fish. The crack was filled in, but very noticeable since they used different material than what the road was made of.

    "Doesn't this crack look like a fish?"

    Did I just say that out loud?

    "I'm asking you if it looks like a fish, Miss Helms."

     He thought the same thing I did? "Yeah, it does kinda look like a fish."

    We entered Waterway Park and settled down into the wooden bench besides the yellow painted slide. Wolf Boy started to say, "My father and I usually go fishing during the summers, for fun. But now since we're falling behind in our payments, we normally go fishing every week. We don't do it for fun, we sell all the fish we can catch and save up for the payments. It used to be fun when we did it once in a while. But now, I'll only remember fishing as a job. Not a fun memory of my father and I, but labor. It's funny how you can talk about something from the sight of a fish-looking crack in the road." He smiled gently, "Are you ready to start walking again?"

    "Yeah, I'm ready."
———————————————————
    In no time, we made it to Silker Street. I wonder how he knows about my street? Does he either like to study out the general area of where he lives? Or does he by chance...

    "I live in this blue house, right at the beginning of this road. Which of these houses do you live in?" In silence he began to say, "What? Did you think I wanted to help you because I simply wanted to? You know, I'm not too nice to girls. Don't get your hopes up too high." He chuckled.

    So he does live on this street, no wonder he'd help a newcomer like me so easily. It's because this is the way he was going anyways. I'm such a fool, of course he didn't want to help me because he's not actually a nice person after all. "Im pretty sure I live in that brown house on the other side of yours. And I never thought that. I think you have your hopes up." I stated madly.

    "Sure sure, whatever you say. And the houses here are pretty small, but for a family like mine, it's at least affordable at a good cost. See ya around, Miss Helms."

    "Thanks, let's try to get along from now on, Wolf Boy."

    "Oh? But I'm very stubborn, it won't be easy for us to get along, you know?"

    "Don't worry, I'm very persistent. You'll come to like my presence, you know?" I laughed. It's fun to joke around with him. He's the first guy I ever joked around with, without a care in the world. "Bye!" I waved to him as I ran to the other side of the road.

    I hurriedly entered my house. Maybe moving to a new state was a good idea? And.. I think I made a friend or two? Hopefully he considers me one..? I entered my room and grabbed a change of clothes. Walking towards the bathroom door, I jump into the shower and let the warm water run. Baths are the best on a day like this.