when you met me

leaves

leaves

Dud felt the autumn leaves underneath his palms, wet and yet crunchy, as he did push ups. An Officer walked up and down the line of boys working hard to get something not as glamorous as most of them imagined it to be.

Mara kicked the brown and orange leaves surrounding her in complete boredom. She hated to go home, where at least one of her parents was going to bombard her with college applications that she had no interest in filling in.

Training was the worst part. The physical side of things wore on Dud’s body until he felt like he was made of jelly. They slept in shared rooms and controlled their own fate. Meaning, outside of the training, you decided what to do. So while the others were mucking about, Dud was running.

Running was something he could do, no matter how tired he was. He worked up to two miles a day, by the end of the first two weeks. On the second weekend, it was off time. Dud felt healthier, and his aches were slowly becoming less noticeable the more he pushed.

He spent the weekend with a distant version of Mara. “Have you picked a college yet?” He asked, and Mara raised both eyebrows. “No. Can we talk about anything else?” She responded rashly. Dud stretched and stood up. He climbed over the railing. “I have to go. I think if I stay a couple more weekends… Well, I know putting in the extra efforts will get me credit. Maybe a unit will pick me up sooner.”

Mara stood up and kissed him from the other side of the railing. “Bye.” She said quietly, and though Dud knew something wasn’t right with her, he had to leave. He thought that if he just got this training over, he’d have more time to help out Mara with whatever was bothering her.

Dud walked down the bridge, towards the bus stop. Mara watched him carry his bag with one arm, stronger already, she was sure, than when he had left. Mara walked home, crushing the leaves under her feet and greeting people. She hadn’t had time to tell Dud, or maybe she was just revelling in the new feeling of having secrets, but she had friends.

Or, at least acquaintances. And none of them were people she had previously known from school. “Hey, Beth.” She said in passing to a girl in leggings and a bright pink tube top. The girls’ unbelievably blonde hair didn’t move in the wind, there was so much of it. “Hi M!” She screeched, as if she hadn’t seen Mara just yesterday. “Wait until you see this.”

Beth explained no more, just tugged on Mara’s shirt for her to follow. Usually, Mara would object because her parents expected her home. But, lately, she hadn’t been doing so. And that took her talks with her parents to a whole new level. Instead of college talks, it was ‘where were you ‘til three in the morning’ talks.

“If you keep up the hard work,” Officer MacMillan said proudly, “You could be recruited in less than a year.” Dud, having just turned seventeen, grinned quietly and took off his goggles. His target practice was getting better. A lot better. He took the clip out of the glock and set them both down. “Thank you, sir.” He remembered to say, and walked out of the room to sit on the stairs and call Mara.

“Come on, it’s been almost two weeks, when are you gonna get the guts M?” Beth asked, chewing on her gum loudly and obnoxiously in the open space. Mara didn’t remind Beth that it had actually been almost four weeks since she’d first been shown the empty flat by Beth, since she knew Beth had a severe issue with memory lapses.

Dud wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he waited for Mara to pick up.

“I don’t- oh, sorry, it’s Dud.” Mara stepped to the other side of the small flat and answered her phone. “Hi, Dud.” She said sweetly, examining the dirty kitchen with slight disgust and slight excitement. She ran a finger along the dust ridden counter. “Hey, Mara. I just got out of target practice. My overseeing Officer thinks I’m on the fast track to becoming part of a team!” He said excitedly. Mara smiled softly and looked around her.

“That’s great, Dud! Tell me all about it this weekend?” She asked hopefully, having not seen Dud in almost a month as he endeavored to become a police officer and thus have more time with Mara. She couldn’t see how that made sense but said nothing about the fault in his plan. Dud saw the future, Mara saw the present.

“Um make it next weekend? A couple more weeks of shooting and I think I’ll really have it down.” He said in a begging tone. Mara sighed, “Okay, next weekend. Don’t back out.” She warned, raising her voice slightly to convey her seriousness. “Are you joking? I’m already dying without you.” He laughed.

After the phone conversation, Mara went back to Beth. “It’s illegal to stay in a place without paying rent.” She stated, turning to look at the walls of a potentially nice home if she had the money and if there was a landlord, or if it were even for sale.

“Nobody’s staying here! All you have to do is move in. The taps even work, I’d take it if I didn’t have a place! All you have to do is go around the back, and climb up. No one will ever know. And all the tramps live in the downstairs flat, where there’s easy access.” Beth pleaded, making elaborate hand movements.

When Mara continued to stay silent, Beth added, “You’re the one who’s always complaining about your parents.” Mara bit the inside of her cheek and took another look around. She suddenly broke into a smile with the possibility of FREE freedom on the horizon. “Alright, let’s do it.”

Leaves crunched and crackled under Dud’s feet as he ran his two miles with ease. He took a calculated drink of his water and stretched out his arms, taking in the dawn sunlight that warmed up his face. He smiled, retied his shoelace, and started running back.

Leaves split into tiny pieces as Mara walked her street. For the last time, she thought. She’d been moving things all night. The wheels of her two suitcases demolished the leaves so that they barely had time to make a sound before they were dust. She smiled at the pale, crisp morning as she imagined the looks on her parent’s faces when they saw her almost empty room with a note on her barren bed that said, YOU CAN SEPARATE NOW.