Coffee Break

I sat out on my front lawn, unconcerned with the fact that it was 2 in the morning. I liked watching the stars. They tasted cold, white, and each was unique. The star that caught my eye tasted like water with lemon. It shone bright in the sky and made me happy. It made my heart shine to see something so far out of my reach, but just as far out of everyone else’s. No one could have it, yet, I was sure that I wasn’t the only one to admire it.

I laid there for a while, letting my eyes drift close. I thought about my life. I let it run through my mind like a bad DVD, skipping over parts and replaying others.

I was sitting in my room when it happened. I had been sick that day and I was listening to music without a care in the world when my father called. He wasn’t frantic like all the other voicemails I had heard. He was calm. But it was a voicemail. I hadn’t heard the phone. I hadn’t picked it up. I had no idea what was going on.

~Flashback~

It was the second week of September and I had been so depressed I hadn’t really kept track of what day it was. My mother came home in tears, frantically asking if my father had called. I had shrugged and claimed I was asleep. She practically ran out of the room, dashing for the answering machine in her bedroom.

My father didn’t call very often. He and mom had divorced, leaving me in the midst of the Texas suburbs. He moved away to New York and got a good job. I missed my father, though. His name was Matthew and he tasted like broccoli. I didn’t mind, though. He was a good dad when he came to see me. He bought me my first drumset. He gave us lots of money to buy food and clothes, pay for the house, pay for insurance, buy cars, and a lot of other things.

My mom came back in the room with tears in her eyes and hugged me. She pulled on the back of my shirt and sobbed into my shoulder. Her body shook and she sounded like a wounded animal. I wrapped my arms around my mom and comforted her.

“He’s gone, baby,” she whispered, looking up into my eyes.

I felt my bottom lip begin to quiver and tears burned the backs of my eyes. My father, Matthew Burns, no longer walked the Earth. He no longer admired the same stars at night. He no longer breathed the same air I did. My father was gone.

My mother wiped the tears from my eyes and left the room. She knew I hated crying in front of people. She respected that and left me to cry by myself. My father saw me cry, though. He looked down at me from the stars and saw the tears streaming down my face.

~Real Life~

I slowly sat up and looked around the barren street. No one was awake right now. I quietly got up and snuck back inside my warm house, taking off my jacket. Tonight was the last night before school started. Soon, I’d have to face my junior year. I had turned 17 two days ago and my mom had bought me my first car with the money my father had left us.

I laid back in my bed and closed my eyes. This year was going to be different. I could feel it in my bones.