Theories of Global Warming

~Lee~

 I was perched on top of the roof of the park's slide, my box of cigarettes in my hand. After that conversation with Provence, all I wanted was some peace and quiet... Just some time spent blowing smoke out of my mouth, forgetting my worries.

I took a single cigarette out of the package and stuck it in my mouth. With my other hand, I got out a match and slid it across the edge of the box. A flame of red and orange sprouted from the stick, slowly making its way down. Before it could get too far, I put it to my mouth, lighting the toxicity that sat in my mouth. I flicked the match to the side when I was finished and pulled the lit cigarette out to my side and blew a white puff that was as thick and puffy as a sheep's coat.

As I gazed upon the view of the small subdivision that I have called home for my whole life, Provence's words from the past two years seemed to echo in my head.

"You're thirteen, Lee!" "Do you have any idea how stupid you look?" "You're 14!" "You need to start taking care of yourself." "I miss you," "You are hurting our environment," "Do you have any idea how scared I am?" "You're 15!" These were all the comments that Provence has gave me over all the years I have been smoking.

I've never seen what's so bad about it. Yeah, it's against the law for a boy my age, but honestly, who cares? Provence, apparently.

Whenever I would exhale and blow the smoke out of my mouth, it was as if all of the weight in my chest burned and collapsed to the bottom, relieving all of my pain, my worries, regrets, and broken promises.

Contrary to Terry's belief, I was worried about Provence's new plan involving Arum. In fact, before I got the notebook taken away from me, I was tempted to go in the bathroom later in the night and burn it. However, I probably wouldn't have gotten away with it. And Provence... She's not stupid. She knows what she's in for. But at this point, she would do anything to calm down the Earth. It's not like she wants to put Arum in danger. I'm sure that she's going to make it as risk-free as she possibly can.

We may all be worried, but should we really? Arum seems fine with it. Besides, we're all going to die sooner rather than later anyways. It's frankly the truth. My lungs are all shriveled and black, Arum is suspected to pass away at the age of 20, Terry would probably be lured by some man on the street, and Provence... As soon as the last tree has been cut down, she will guaranteed lose her will to live.

***

Flashback

"Yeah, today the doctors told me I'm going to die when I'm about 20," Arum blurted out, kicking her dangling white legs from the side of the bench. This comment was sudden and upsetting, but in no way alarming. She had been having problems with her health since she was three. "When do you think you guys are going to die? I don't want to be dead alone." I considered this. Like most kids my age, I wasn't quite sure.

"I hope to live long," Terry stated, "but there's really no way to tell for sure when I'm going to go."

No one said anything after that until Arum beckoned to me, "Lee, what about you?"

"Realistically speaking, I'll be thirty-five at the most," I meant it. There was no way my lungs could survive much longer than that. I did my research. Arum asked no follow up questions. I think she knew why I had said that. I think everyone did.

Everyone looked to Provence, who was looking in between her legs, eyes closed, arms shaking.

"I won't die until I see everyone proven wrong," she finally said, her voice uneven and raspy. "Everyone who doubted us, everyone who used to yell at us on the playground must be proven wrong. I want to see the look on their dumb faces when they realize their Earth is destroyed, and that we were right."

We used to get pushed around a lot. It was elementary school when we realized there was something wrong with where we were living. Since ten years ago, Global Warming has been the most controversial issue to our world. We started preaching it to our classmates, which was not a good idea. In return, they called us names, physically hurt us, and the principal even called us each into the office to lecture us about how we knew nothing of the topic, and basically told us to shut our pie holes. We never did shut up. When we entered middle school, we did keep to ourselves more. However, whenever we were able to work anything we wanted to into a school project, it always had to do with the climate change.

"What if you die before then?" Arum asked, taking off her shoes and jumping up onto the yellow grass.

"I won't," Provence started, "the end is coming, Arum."

***

Current Time

As I took another puff of smoke, I spotted a flash of yellow in the distance, under a towering street light. It didn't faze me until it started to head towards me.

Eh, trick of the light, I thought to myself. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, enjoying cooler part of the day, although droplets of water were still stuck to my hairline.

My eyes were heavy. So heavy that they eventually closed. I wasn't aware of anything, besides sleep. The cigarette was still in my hand, a small flame still caught in the bud.

Suddenly, a strong force slammed against my cheek. I opened my eyes to see Provence standing behind me on the playset, blowing out a cigarette. Her breathing was heavy and loud, as if she had just finished running a mile. Tied across her waist was my jacket.

I stared at Provence as she untied the jacket and held it out to me, "I'm sorry." Those words sounded raw coming out of her mouth. I'm sorry were the words that Provence never spoke. I wasn't aware that she could even be able to physically say it.

"You're...Sorry?" I scrunched my face, ignoring the jacket. She shrugged before aiming the cigarette I had been smoking earlier at a trash can that was below the play equipment. Of course she made it, it wasn't a difficult shot.

"If you don't want your jacket-" I cut her off by jumping off from the top of the slide in front of her. I took it out of her hands and threw it to the side. Provence watched as it dropped to cement, the side with all the shreds and loose threads visible.

"It's not important," I raised my voice for no apparent reason.

With her arms crossed, Provence added, "Now it's not important." She was leaned leaned against the green, plastic railing. I could barely see her face, for the sun had just set in Ohio and everything was dark besides the stars and fireflies slimly dotting the skies.

I got impatient, wanting to know why she would walk all the way to the park just to apologize to me for nothing. She did not do anything wrong... That I knew of anyway.

"Anyways," Provence continued, "I'm sorry for being such an obnoxious friend to you." She turned her head to my jacket, laying on the ground, avoiding eye contact. "Have your cigarettes... Have your... stupid jacket," her face scrunched up at the end, clearly disgusted at her own words.

"You would never admit to that." I exhaled. Like everyone in our group, Provence was stubborn. However, she probably thought the same about me. Ever since we were in grade school, she would go on and on about how stubborn I was.

Provence shook her head, "Well. Uh- you've just seemed... off lately. I mean, you've always been kind of... You know... But-" I held out my hand in effort to quiet her.

"I think all of us have been off lately. Even you," I paused before continuing, "Stressed out, doll face?"

Provence looked me over, "Are you, Lee?" An imaginary knife pierced into my chest. I winced in pain. "Lee?" her eyebrows were raised.

"I guess." I felt so out of breath all of a sudden. My heart seemed to be beating a thousand miles a second. I needed to take a smoke. Talking to Provence about this didn't sit well with me.

"I know how you feel," she sighed, "it feels like the whole world is resting on our shoulders, huh? You know, how adults are saying it's our responsibility to fix the world, even though they are against our ideals." I nodded, not wanting to talk about it anymore. "Wanna go back home? We have work to do tomorrow."

"Yeah, let's go."

***