A Fresh Start

“Cherise Allen.”

Cherise walked forward to receive her diploma, a fake smile plastered on her face as people took pictures. She shook hands with her principal, glad that this was the last time she’d have to see him. She walked back to her place in the stands and anxiously awaited the end of the ceremony. All she wanted was to go home.

“Congratulations to this year’s high school graduates!” the principal finally shouted into the microphone.

Pomp and Circumstance started playing again and they filed into a line off the stage. Cherise handed in her gown, walking briskly to the entry way without stopping to talk to her ‘friends’. Her mother and sister were waiting by the front doors, grinning broadly.

“I’m so proud of you,” her mother said, pulling her into a tight hug.

Her sister, Jean, shook her hand. “Way to go, little sister,” she said and Cherise smiled a little.

“What do you say we go out for ice cream?” her mom asked and the three headed into the parking lot to her mom’s car.

At the ice cream parlor, many of her ex-classmates had gathered to plan an after graduation party. No one came to her but she didn’t mind. She had plans and she couldn’t wait to put them into action. When they returned home, she rushed to her bedroom, checking that all of her bags were packed.

“Are you really in such a rush to get away from us?”

Cherise turned around. Her mom was in her doorway, smiling sadly.

“I have to get out of this town, Mom,” she sighed, looking out her window at the country landscape. “I can’t stand it anymore.”

She sighed and hugged Cherise tightly. “It’s not your fault,” she murmured and Cherise swallowed thickly. “Running away isn’t going to fix anything.”

“I’m not running away. I’m starting over. I want to go to a place where they don’t know my name, my sister’s name, or my brother’s name. I’m tired of living in their shadow, you know that.”

Her mother nodded and kissed her forehead. “Come on. You have to take your medicine before you go to bed.”

The next morning, her mother dropped her off at the bus station, tears glistening in her eyes. They always had been close and the parting was hard for Cherise, too.

“I’ll call all the time,” Cherise promised, hugging her.

“Let me know when you get settled in,” her mother sniffled and Cherise kissed her cheek.

She got on the bus and waved good bye, her two suitcases tucked close by.

-

That was nearly six years ago. An alarm woke Cherise at 6:30, just like every morning. She stretched as her service dog, Lira, wagged her tail excitedly, her leash in her mouth. Cherise smiled fondly at the mutt and clicked the leash to her collar.

Cherise had moved from a small town to Oklahoma City. In a way, it was still small, but here no one knew her name, just the way she wanted it to be. She had kept her promise and was in regular contact with her mother. Every holiday she would take a bus or taxi back home and visit but she wouldn’t stay long. Aside from her mother, Cherise had a terrible relationship with her family.

It was brisk for an April morning as she took Lira out for her daily jog. Her doctor said that jogging in the morning would help loosen up her joints and hopefully relieve some of her pain. So far it hadn’t worked but it did provide her with a routine, which she desperately needed. She went to the park as normal and jogged in place while Lira danced around the base of a tree trunk, sniffing for a place to squat.

She sighed. “Come on, Lira,” she said in exasperation. “Does it really matter that much?”

“Apparently it does,” said a voice behind her and she turned to see her partner, Micah, smiling at her. “Morning,” he said and she smiled back. “May I join you?”

“Don’t you always?” she asked with a raised brow and he laughed. Lira jumped on his legs and licked his hands excitedly. “Harry says he has a new case for us,” she said as they ran off down the path.

“Yeah, he called me last night. I wonder what it will be.”

“Probably tax evasion again,” she predicted, keeping an eye on the bracelet she wore that kept track of her heart rate.

Cherise and Micah worked at a tax agency run by Micah’s grandfather, Harold. Cherise had double majored in college with an accounting and English degree. Micah had been her classmate and they were fast friends. He’s the one that helped her get the job in the first place. People kept betting on when they would start dating but they kept their relationship at a business level, mostly at Cherise’s insistence.

“Need me to come by again?” he asked as they came to the end of the jog.

Cherise sighed. “Probably,” she murmured. “God this is embarrassing.”

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said firmly.

“Easy for you to say,” she grumbled and unlocked the front door to her apartment.

He immediately crossed to her fridge and tossed her a water bottle, saluting her goofily as she walked towards her bedroom. She laughed and gathered up her work clothes and cell phone. As she headed to her bathroom, she pulled up a playlist she had created for mornings such as these.

Imagine Dragons’ song, Radioactive, came out of the speaker and she turned the water on. She looked at it nervously but took a deep breath and started her shower. The last thing she needed was to have one of her seizures and have to be saved by Micah. As usual, she didn’t stay in the shower long. The shorter the shower, the better.

She put on her clothes and did her makeup. Micah had left after making sure she had gotten out safely, letting her know he’d pick her up at 8. She was lucky to have a friend like him and, even though she hated to admit it, she did have feelings for him, something she knew he shared. He kept his distance, though, and they had a healthy friendship.

Cherise had been with Lira since she was 21, almost four years now. During her first semester of college, she started having daily seizures resulting in having to have a permanent roommate and greatly affecting her grades. That’s when Micah showed up one day with a surprise in the form of a small black Lab puppy.

“Her name is Lira,” he told her. “My dad pulled some strings.”

She spluttered her thanks. Service dogs were hard to come by without paying an arm and a leg for one.

A horn honked outside of her apartment and she swallowed her pills, slipping Lira’s service dog vest on her back. She fixed her work jacket and stepped out, ready for another day.