Starry Skies

Number 15

Go down to Truro, check in with extended family, and see how my brother is doing

10 months, 16 days until I'm out

"Call us if you need anything!" I was already on the way to Truro, about to pass the Super 8 hotel, and the Bingo hall right beside it as my mother ended the call. I nodded, keeping my hands steady on the wheel as the call ended.

Anwen was the one who called next, thick accent greeting me in a happy tone. "Hi, are you almost there?" I shrugged, leaning back into the fake leathery seating. 

"Not quite," I answered. I still had close to half an hour before I'd make it to Bible Hill. "Still have some way to go. How're things?" We'd spoken everyday. I knew how things were, but I also knew it was polite of me to ask, so I did. 

"Things are good, Charleigh. I'm baking you shortbread cookies!" In the time we'd known each other, that small little time that really equated to just over a month, she'd learned that those Walmart sugar cookies with the frosting, and shortbread cookies were two of my favorite things. 

"Thanks, Winnie!" I'd been trying to think of a nickname for her since the day we revised the bucket list. Winnie was all I could come up with, and she'd started warming up to it, as well as the idea of calling me Lee. I didn't hate the nickname, but I couldn't say that I was fond of it either. 

"Of course, Lee! When will ya be back?" I chuckled, combing my right hand through my hair as I drove through a seemingly endless section of trees. 

"Dude, I just left this morning!" I then grabbed my Iced Capp, took a sip of it, and put it back in the cup holder as Anwen whined. 

"I know, I know, but your the one thing thats keeping me sane, with Christmas break about to start and finals and shit, its just, your like, uh, your my rock," she stutters through the last of the sentence, and I smirk, finding it to be cute. "Living without you for any number of hours is something I'm not at all used to at this point, and its making me feel all..." she fake gags, and after continues to make weird noises for a second.

"I'll be back at 11, no later than midnight, though. If you want, I can swing by your place and we can have a late night sleepover? Knowing you, you'll ditch classes either way tomorrow, so it should work for both of us!" Anwen went to Mount Saint Vincent, whilst, before learning of my... predicament, I went to Dalhousie.

Anwen majored in Philosophy while minoring in Writing, and she'd talked my ear off about it the day that we were writing my revised bucket list. She had, really, nothing too bad to say about it. Class sizes were nice, Proffessors were good, and it felt a little more like a highschool. She loved it there, even though, as Christmas break approached, she'd started to ditch some her classes, telling me that there really wasn't a point to go until the exams.

"Alright! I can do that!" she says. "I've gotta go. Finals are today," I smiled, my head bobbing up and down to an imaginary beat, and wished her good luck, then ended the call. 

The rest of the drive to Bible Hill involves a very soft playing of my long car rides playlist, with me humming along with the songs, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel, and a very quick stop at McDonalds for some chicken nuggets. 

I get to my grandparents house at 12, and smile when I look at the pale yellow exterior, parking my car on the rock driveway, right by my grandfathers worn out shed. It was one that'd been there as long as I could remember, and from what Grandma had told me, it'd been there since they got married. They got married at 20, had my mom five years later, and they were in their 80s now, so that means 60 or some years. Long time to have a shed, don't you think?