Falling

01

Carson Hughes

It was the end of August and the air was thick and sticky with moisture like the inside of a bathroom with the hot shower running. The golden light from the setting sun blinded me as I drove past the trees on the open road. I would give my damn arm for the air conditioner to work in this car. Maybe then my skin wouldn't be uncomfortably sticking to the leather interior.

The last week of summer had snuck up on me faster than I would have liked. There was no way I was ready to start school and suffer through long days of sitting in saunas for classrooms until the temperature finally started to cool down.

I hated the summer heat, that was for sure.

My car creaked as I came to a stop in front of my house. It looked exactly the same since I left it to work at the summer camp two months ago. It had the same hideous yellow paint entirely covering it and I was sure there was still a chip by the door where I had accidentally knocked the shovel into the house over the winter.

Once parked, I heaved myself out of the car and grabbed my bags to bring them inside. When I entered the house, a pleasant rush of cold air formed goosebumps on my skin.

"Carson!" my mother exclaimed, tossing her arms around me as she met me at the doorway. "I'm so glad you're home!"

I chuckled and let out a content sigh. "I'm glad to be home."

Mom parted from me only briefly before placing her hands on my cheeks, a wide smile taking over her face as she stared at me.

"You must've gotten even more handsome," she said, lightly pinching my cheek.

"Ma," I complained, placing my hand over her's.

"What? Let me look at you! I haven't seen you since June!"

I sighed, but I couldn't keep the smile from creeping onto my face.

"Okay," Mom said, finally releasing me. "I took tomorrow off so we could spend some time together. You should go hang out with your friends tonight. Logan Taylor's been waiting for you to get home."

The mention of my best friend piqued my interest. I hadn't been able to properly talk to any of my friends all summer except for a few texts here and there. There was barely any service at the summer camp and we weren't really supposed to be on our phones anyway.

"Has he come around?" I asked, the two of us walking toward the living room.

Mom nodded. "He mowed the lawn all summer."

"That was nice of him," I replied. "Hope you didn't pay him too much."

"Are you kidding? He didn't even want to take the money," she responded.

"I'm going to go give him a call," I told her, nodding my head toward the stairs.

Once I was up in my room, I set my bags down and pulled my phone out of my pocket to dial Logan. He was quick to answer.

"Carson! Are you home yet, bro?" Logan answered the phone.

"Just pulled in," I replied, taking a seat on my bed.

"Thank God!" he exclaimed. "Hasn't been the same without you."

I lightly laughed and looked up at the ceiling. "Hope you didn't miss me too much."

"Yeah, yeah. Come to mine tonight. I'll have everyone over," Logan suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," I responded.

"Great. Come as soon as you can."

And with that, Logan hung up.

Before heading to Logan's house, I spent some time unpacking my things and putting them away. Once I finished with that, I showered and got dressed then made my way to Logan's.