That Summer

Blindly, I walked away from Daniel’s house. It was getting dark. What kind of uncle would be so cruel to his nephew? Suddenly, I realized with a shock that Uncle George was Aaron’s father. I suppose if I was in Aaron’s position, being disowned wouldn’t be so bad.

I crossed the street towards the park. The park I had gone with Daniel to just hours ago.

I was about to go and sit by Lake Topanga when I realized that someone was already there. I looked closer and I was shocked by what I saw.

Aaron was sitting on a patch of grass with his arms rested on his knees. As he looked out across the lake, it seemed that something was troubling him.

I wanted to walk away, but I found myself moving closer to him until, nervously, I sat beside him. He didn’t look at me and I didn’t look at him.

In our silence there was only the gentle sound of the soft pushing little waves around.

“Did you meet my dad?” Aaron asked suddenly.

“Um, yeah,” I replied. “He’s something else.”

Aaron mocked me and said, “More like um yeah, he’s a living nightmare.”

I laughed softly. “I’m sorry.”

He smirked. “So am I.”

“Do you live by yourself?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Oh,” was all I could think to say.

“It’s better being deserted than having my dad’s attention on me all the time, Haley.”

I glanced at him. I didn’t even know he knew my name. “

Besides, I’m better off this way,” he explained. “I never was one of those people that stay put.”

I lay on my back and stared at the scarlet sky. It was the same sky I had known all my life. Why would I want to go somewhere else when all I needed was right here?

“How do you do it?” I blurted.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“How do you just leave? How do you leave behind your friends, family…and everything you’ve ever known?”

Aaron didn’t answer immediately.

In the time it took him to answer I’d found clouds in the shape of a dragon, poodle, and bunny in the sky.

“One day, something will happen that cracks a part of you inside. It will cut so deep that, finally, you can’t take it. The place that holds those memories wouldn’t exactly be the place you want to stay. It makes things harder, but leaving is a hell of a lot easier.”

I nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right.”

He shrugged and his face began to go back to that expressionless look.

“Do you hate me?” I whispered.

He turned and stared at me. “What makes you think that?”

“W-well,” I stuttered, “you just seem—”

“Cruel? Terrifying? Revolting?” Aaron suggested.

“Sad,” I decided.

For a long time there was a silence and I thought he wasn’t going to answer me, but he stood up and looked down at me intensely.

“I don’t hate you, Haley Zinger,” he whispered. “I’ve never even really spoken to you. But if you looked a little bit past my ‘terrifying’ exterior, maybe there would be something…a little bit more humane.

“I’m really not as bad as Daniel says I am. I understand his hate towards me. I deserve it actually. But I’m still a human being, Haley. I regret a lot of things I’ve done in my past. Things I wish I could change, but God knows I can’t do that. Yet, do you think at least you could forgive me if I did something to hurt you?”

I stared out across the lake, speechless. I’d never really known Aaron Collins that well, yet here he was asking me a question I thought I knew the answer to, but suddenly wasn’t so sure of. What was I supposed to say?

It must have taken me too long to answer because he softly swore than began to walk briskly away.

“Aaron, wait!” I called.

He stopped, but didn’t turn around.

“I think I could...if you meant it.”

Finally, he looked at me and smiled. It was genuine smile, not one of his sarcastic smirks. Silently, he nodded and continued to walk away.