No More Ice Cream

Who is That?

'She slowly made her way downstairs while she let Mike continue looking around her room. She, once again, peered out in between the slither of the blinds. "What is going on?" She opened the door again, she kept it unlocked after the previous visitor, and there stood the outline of another person.'

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Another boy, this time a year older than Haisley, stood on the 'Welcome' mat at her door. Mason; the smart kid in his classes. Mainly more in the Music department, but was still skilled in Maths and pretty good in English too. He wouldn't get a lot of attention, despite being impressively good at guitars and his looks were to die for. His slim face and smooth pale skin correlated well with his newly dyed deep-purple hair. His jade and forest green eyes, glistened too perfectly in the lights reflection, creating a shimmer in Haisley's too.

"It's your favourite loonatic!" Mason exclaimed, grinning widely at her before entering the house.

"Yeah well I already have a loonatic upstairs." Haisley laughed, closing the door behind. "Why don't you just come over tomorrow? Why are so many people coming to see me today?" she asked following Mason as he waited patiently for Haisley to lead him upstairs. He had been to her house many times before, so he could pretty much come in when he pleased.

"Cause we love you. Or at least, I do." he stated, glancing at Haisley with his alluring eyes.

"I love you too, silly." Haisley replied, whose cheeks were now flushed with a red pigment, looked down before calming herself and leading him up the stairs.

"How's your project coming along? Found anything interesting?"

"Yes, actually. I'll show you in a min." Finally, they reached Haisley's room, with Michael still rummaging around through the piles of newspapers.

"Oh, this loonatic." Mason said sternly. Eyeing Michael up and down with his now narrowed eyes. The two boys previously had arguments about certain things. Once it was about video games, some were about what pizza toppings were the best, but the most recent, was about Haisley herself. They would fight like lions over who gets the queen. It was ridiculous. Even with Mason being the winner, they still fought. It was hard to keep them in the same house let alone the same room sometimes. Michael stood up, trying to keep his cool from the awkward heated moment.

"Guys, just get along for once. I didn't bring you to argue. I didn't bring you at all! So just calm down and just make it up to one another some how." Haisley accused. Walking over to her desk while the boys glared at one another like the start of a boss fight.

"Fine." the boys said in unison as they made their way over to the desk and leaned over Haisley's shoulders, examining her papers.

A few hours went by and it was time for Mike and Mason to go home. Mum and Dad would be back in about an hour so Haisley wanted them gone before they got back. Mike was the first to leave.
"Enjoy your vacation." Haisley waved as he exited the house.
"I will." he replied, waving back.
"See ya." Mason said plainly, with an annoyed expression upon his face.
"Yup." Mike replied, with the same tone. Haisley nudged Mason's arm and stared at him frustrated.
"Just say something nice for once." she growled through her teeth.
"Alright fine." Mason gave in, and tried his best to muster up the most convincing, enthusiastic goodbye he could.
"See ya later, dude." it came out a little harsher than expected, but Mike took Haisley's hint and smiled sincerely. Walking off down the road and into the distance. Haisley turned to face Mason. He looked back at her, his eyes still perfect despite the anger still not fully gone.

"I'm gonna miss you." Haisley eventually said.

"I'm gonna be at your party tomorrow anyway but... yeah I'll miss you too." Mason admitted letting his frown lift into a smile. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. The two blushed a soft pink as Haisley stood up on her tiptoes to reach his cheek, and pressed her warm lips against it. Mason looked away as his smile grew wider, like he was embarrassed to show his true emotions. Haisley giggled before Mason looked back and gently kissed her forehead in return. The two gazed into each others eyes before letting one another go. Mason glided through the door and smiled gently at Haisley before walking in the opposite direction and back the way he came. Haisley closed the door and sighed dreamily, making her way back up into her room; letting Arlo tag along too.

Once she got there, she laid down on her bed, scrolling through social media and stroking her dog's back as he curled up beside her. Until she heard a faint knocking noise coming from outside the house. Just barely audible that you wouldn't have noticed it at all. Arlo shot up, with his ears pointed forward, listening. She sat up to also better hear the repetitive knocking. She assumed it was the front door but peered out of her windows to be sure. An old man dressed in tattered, dirty, baggy clothing stood on the edge of the pavement just in front of the house. He appeared to be throwing things at the door, possibly pebbles or small stones. Haisley watched as the man stared blankly at the door, taking out small objects from his pocket and throwing them effortlessly in front of him.

"Hey!" Haisley shouted to the man, but he didn't turn, not even flinch at the sound of Haisley's exasperated tone. She looked away for a second to reposition herself into a standing upright posture and looked back up to open the window and lean out. Before she could repeat herself, the man was now standing in the middle of the road. How did he move that quickly? She watched in confusion as the man stood motionless, still staring at the door. Haisley looked away again to grab her phone and prepared to call her dad and when she looked back up, the man was still. He had not moved or turned. An airy sound came from the distance with the subtle crackling of gravel. A car came into view over the horizon but Haisley did not look away. She felt as though if she did so, she might open up an opportunity for him to come closer again. As soon as the car came into focus, the man snapped his head towards Haisley before disappearing behind the car, and just as quickly as the car came, it sped off. Leaving nothing but a wind of grey dust. Haisley startled. Her head was disorientated with questions: What did he want? Where did he come from? Why did he do that? Where did he go? How did he move so fast? She tried to compose herself by saying that she was just seeing things, but she knew that the knocking was real. She knew that the man was real. Just as she was about to call her dad, her phone died. She put it on charge and anxiously made her way down the stairs and locked the front and back door. She stayed in her room until her parents came back. She was contemplating whether or not to explain to her parents what she had seen, but in the end, she didn't. She felt as though she was just being silly.

By the time night came, she tried to envision the fun she'd have tomorrow. With all her friends there, her boyfriend there, her family there, the animatronics there. She smiled as a familiar nervousness and excitement overwhelmed her mind and stomach, as it did every year. Although thoughts rushed through her mind from earlier today, she found it surprisingly easy to fall asleep.