After Childhood

Art by artist-exhale on Deviant Art

"Elmo, come on."
"Bye mom, Zoey's here."
"Bye, babycakes. I love you, have a wonderful day at school."
"I will."
"Your mom still calls you that?"
"Yes, and she always will as long as she want to. My mom is important to me. If she wants to, then she can. Wow, look at that dress. You look beautiful. Teal is a nice color on you."
"Thank you. And I see you got a nice button up and new jeans. Flaunt it, dude. Looking good. Abby would love you in that."
"I wish she would get back from that school. I miss her."
"Ha, we all do."
"Yeah, but... I miss her more than you do."
"No way. Allen!"
"Elmo. Zoey. You two look ready for a great day today. Ready for your first day?"
"Yeah."
"Well here, start with a decent piece of fruit."
"Bananas? Thanks, Allan."
"Yeah. What she said. Thanks, Allan. Chris working today?"
"No. He went to his aunt's today to talk to her. She's been really lonely lately."
"For obvious reasons. Gordan loved her and showed it to her all the time. I would be sad too. later Allan. Come on, Zoe."
"Hmm? Elmo, your phone is going off."
"Huh. Didn't notice. Hello?"
"You must listen and listen good. Your life is on the line, otherwise."
What?