It All Leads to One Thing
First, there's the meeting.
Ashley is exhausted. The sun is pouring down upon her, making her boil like the pitch black pavement below her feet, like the rough, potholed concrete currently scorching her hands. Sitting on the edge of a sidewalk, it turns out, is not actually all that comfortable, especially after a day full of carrying boxes with the fillings bursting from the tops and backbreaking pieces of furniture nonstop.
She was looking forward to the move, to the possibilities it presented her and her family, but that was before she realized how much heavy lifting and pain would be involved. Now that they’re here, now that they’re unpacking the memories of her old life, Ashley isn’t so sure. She had wonderful friends, friends found only a few times during the course of life, back in Tennessee. She had her Grandpa Eddie and her Grandma Dorris and all her cousins and aunts and uncles. She had a support system. Here, she has only her parents and the family dog, Gus. Here, she has only the internet and phones connecting her to the only world she has ever known.
Here, Ashley is alone.
Contemplating how she will survive this newly discovered darkness, she collapses onto her back, ready for the sweet relief the blankness of sleep will provide her. She doesn’t dare consider the dreams she might have. Closing her eyes, she starts to drift off, ignoring the searing heat, ignoring the many scatterings of gravel underneath her.
“That doesn’t look comfortable.”
Ashley startles and opens her tired eyes, surprised by the unwelcome voice, too deep to be her mother's, but too high to be her father's. Standing above her is a boy who looks to be around her age, fifteen or sixteen. Unlike herself, he looks to be completely at ease, like he talks to absolute strangers lying on the ground all the time.
Ashley decides she might as well answer him, and says, “No, but it passes. I think I’d fall asleep anywhere right now.”
The boy chuckles, soft and higher pitched than one would expect, and pulls his hands from their previous positions, from his pockets, and responds unapologetically, “Well, then. Sorry I disturbed you, I guess.”
Ashley sits up, no longer quite as tired. She laughs right back at him, then wonders, “And why is it I don’t believe you?”
“Probably because I don’t really mean it,” he says with a smile. “I’m Tyler.”
Ashley decides moving wasn’t such a terrible decision, right at that moment.
She was looking forward to the move, to the possibilities it presented her and her family, but that was before she realized how much heavy lifting and pain would be involved. Now that they’re here, now that they’re unpacking the memories of her old life, Ashley isn’t so sure. She had wonderful friends, friends found only a few times during the course of life, back in Tennessee. She had her Grandpa Eddie and her Grandma Dorris and all her cousins and aunts and uncles. She had a support system. Here, she has only her parents and the family dog, Gus. Here, she has only the internet and phones connecting her to the only world she has ever known.
Here, Ashley is alone.
Contemplating how she will survive this newly discovered darkness, she collapses onto her back, ready for the sweet relief the blankness of sleep will provide her. She doesn’t dare consider the dreams she might have. Closing her eyes, she starts to drift off, ignoring the searing heat, ignoring the many scatterings of gravel underneath her.
“That doesn’t look comfortable.”
Ashley startles and opens her tired eyes, surprised by the unwelcome voice, too deep to be her mother's, but too high to be her father's. Standing above her is a boy who looks to be around her age, fifteen or sixteen. Unlike herself, he looks to be completely at ease, like he talks to absolute strangers lying on the ground all the time.
Ashley decides she might as well answer him, and says, “No, but it passes. I think I’d fall asleep anywhere right now.”
The boy chuckles, soft and higher pitched than one would expect, and pulls his hands from their previous positions, from his pockets, and responds unapologetically, “Well, then. Sorry I disturbed you, I guess.”
Ashley sits up, no longer quite as tired. She laughs right back at him, then wonders, “And why is it I don’t believe you?”
“Probably because I don’t really mean it,” he says with a smile. “I’m Tyler.”
Ashley decides moving wasn’t such a terrible decision, right at that moment.