fire starter | l.s [1]

ten

With every step I took, my heart beat seemed to speed up. Sweat started to cover my forehead in a thin layer and I wasn't sure if it was from the sun or my nervousness. Ruby didn't seem to be scared or nervous at all but perhaps she was good at hiding her emotions. Oranges must be crazy good at that stuff.

We were walking silently along a sidewalk. Not many cars were passing but when a car did, my stomach plummeted fifty feet and I'm pretty sure Ruby's did too. Her hands balled up into fists whenever we heard the faint whizzing of a car. I took a note of each street sign we passed and every one of them was rusted and the lettering was faded into almost nothing. It seemed as though the town had given up, that nothing really mattered anymore. There were no kids out playing on the streets, wearing bright smiles and laughing contagious laughs. The happiness was sucked right out of the place and was replaced with a broken town.

Ruby stopped in front of a street sign after a half hour walk. Her chocolate brown eyes looked the metal pole up and down, her chest rising and falling slowly. I reached out and pulled her into a hug, knowing this was her street and this would be our final goodbye.

"Stay safe, okay?" I say, squeezing her tighter.

"You too," she replied, her voice low.

The brunette pulled away from the hug and held onto my arm for a moment before letting go and walking down the street. My house was still a long walk from here and I couldn't decide on whether that was a good or bad thing. The thumping my chest was louder now and the anxiety was starting to flood my mind. They don't want to see you. This was a stupid idea, why had I even gone through with this.

My mind and feet weren't working together at all. My feet kept walking to the direction of my house while my mind screamed for me to stop and turn around. Both options tore me in half, but I still kept walking forward. My feet carried me all the way to the beginning of my street and continued to carry me until I was out the front of my house.

Beer bottles littered the porch steps along with cigarette ash and soggy newspapers. The house still looked the same however the swing set was gone and the strawberry patches I had made when I was younger were destroyed. My hand grabbed one of the beer bottles and I studied it. The smell was disgusting, like it had been sitting there for years. I placed it back on the step and I looked up at the white double door. It was like my parents weren't the same people they were when I had left them. There was the possibility that they had moved away, I would have too.

Stepping up the wooden steps, I found myself standing directly in front of the door. A deep sigh fell from my lips effortlessly as I knocked on the wooden door. Nothing. I knocked again I heard beer bottles being kicked over behind the door. My parents were never alcoholics which lead me to believe they had moved away.

Then the white doors opened, and my suspicions were washed away. There stood my very own mother however, she didn't look like her at all. Wrinkles covered her face and a cigarette hung loosely from her lips with a beer bottle in her hand. Her wild curly hair was pulled up into a messy bun and her once bright green eyes were sunken in and tired. The woman took a moment to realise who was standing in front of her and when she did, a glare of true horror graced her features.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She said through gritted teeth, her voice was husky.

"I just wanted to see you. I missed you," my voice was soft and quiet.

"What makes you think," she held out a finger and jabbed me in the chest, "That we would ever want to see you again."

"I-I don't know, I thought you-"