Lazy Lizzie

FREEZE

Lizzie had not seen another person for over a year. Slouched in her plastic chair, right by the inflatable pool, she watched it melting under the heat. The leaves dying in its musty water made it look even more deflated.

June's sun hit hard all over The Golden State: not even a drop of rain. In her stained tank top, with strings from her bathing suit drawing fluorescent green lines on her skin, fading around her neck, Lizzie waited for the night to fall. She'd then move back inside, in front of the laptop, and watch some shows online.

Tomorrow would be a glorious new day of doing absolutely nothing at all. Life was still good to her, one thousand three hundred eight dollars left to go. She could stretch that for months. Then? She had no idea. It was a problem for Future Lizzie.

Warsa RV & Trailer Park was small, isolated, and left unattended for months at a time. It was perfect for Dale and his games around the law. Reminded of him, Lizzie closed her eyes at the thought he'd eventually reappear to torment her again. To drink her beer until he'd pass out on the retractable couch. His release date had passed, but somehow he'd managed not to show his face around her trailer yet. Technically his trailer, but The Lair was Lizzie's only home.

That was also a problem for Future Lizzie. Present Lizzie had over a thousand dollars and a lonely heart that never felt more at peace. Because there was no one screaming at her. Finally, since Dale's most recent incarceration left her on her own for four years, there had been no one left to bother her. She would make the best of it, every scorching day she had left. And give Future Lizzie a heartfelt "Good luck with all that!"

She knew Fizzie would understand. They were a team of two, there was no one else in the world that cared about either. They both hated Past Lizzie, so they didn't talk to her much. Pizzie had a way of making everything more difficult.

It was time to shift herself slightly more perpendicular to the sun, so she set the alarm clock to another 30 minutes more. She could waste an entire day just following the sun - not even reading, but lost in her mind - waiting for the perfect tan to stretch all over her arms and legs, her current session's focus. The next half an hour would be the last one, for the day.

A pair of headlights woke her up, long after night had set. The generator ones and the small light bulb set above the trailer door were the only help Lizzie could count on to see who interrupted her solitude.

A long silhouette exited the car, leaving the headlights on. One man, alone. Not Dale.