Sunny Hill, New York is where tourists go to seek adventure. A small town of innocence, peculiar weather patterns, and the occasional supernatural sighting, Sunny Hill is every adventurer's dream.
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𝐌𝐀𝐗 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐅𝐑�...
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HE DIED THREE FALLS AGO.
The odds that Michael would die before me were unforeseen. Still, here I am on the third anniversary of his death. As long as it's been, the holidays haven't gotten any easier. But I decided this year would be different when John and I were fairy-hunting in the woods this summer.
John watched as the green glow of chlorophyll and golden sunlight shed across his curious blue eyes and high cheekbones. The words he said as we discovered a few of the most bizarre fae above us, trickling from trees, rang in my head:
"I didn't expect them to be so beautiful."
His naturally flushed cheeks darkened as he watched the moth-winged creatures in awe.
"I hate moths and butterflies so much but my God," he sighed in bewilderment. Eyes dazzling as the fae twittered amongst each other.
For thirty-six months, I found comfort in John's entire being. Not even hatred could make John Edward suck the magic out of my Fairy Exposition that I dragged him on. Proof that the safe feeling I had in his presence was no farce. John Edward was genuinely as good as they came. And though I'd had inklings before, that was when I established I loved him with my entire being.
☠︎☠︎☠︎
The school bus shrieked to a halt. The doors hissed open and accepted me into the cesspool of vape scents, painted lips chomping gum, and the plasticky smell of Halloween costumes. I barely found my seat before the bus jerked forward, launching me three seats behind my usual.
Already dreading the following voice, I rolled my eyes.
"Student Council only past this point, Malline." Cooper McKinley looked up from whichever textbook occupied his lap with a smug smile and a familiar obnoxiously clever look in his brown eyes.
For three years he used the one thing he had over me to tease me, and had I been at Sunny Hill High as a freshman, I'd have had it before him.
"I'd seriously rather die than sit with you." I narrowed my eyes and turned back toward my seat, wheeling my tank with me.
"Don't be so sour you weren't elected President."
"Blow it out your ass, McKinley. I have better things to be doing than organizing the prom."
His sniggering made the bus bumping down the road just that much more annoying.
"Like writing self-insert stories about your boyfriend is so great for your transcripts."
The bus shrieked to another stop. The only stop between my house and school that I cared about.
"He's not my boyfriend." I hissed as the man in question sat down beside me. I could blame the redness in my cheeks on rage if I needed to. John's brother, Joshua trailed into the seat just across from us and three in front of Dre.
"You're sharply dressed as usual." I checked John from head to toe and moved my tank between our feet.
John smiled, energy drink in hand as he nodded at me.
"I'm not wearing my costume til later."
I nodded back, suddenly glad I decided to dress normally. As part of having a good holiday this year, matching costumes were a must.
"I can't wait to have the coolest costumes in the entire town."
John smiled, "Going homemade is the best choice for costumes."
"I'm excited," I couldn't resist bouncing on the cushiony plastic bus seat.
"Have you ever participated in Halloween in Sunny Hill before?" He asked.
Define participate, I thought, reflecting on Halloweens spent bitterly watching Trick-or-Treaters from my window as I laid around in the dark.
"No," I answered.
"It gets kind of wild. Think you can handle it?"
The immediate comfort I always felt with John washed back over me in a thick wave. He had an impeccable way of understanding everything about me without begging me to see the world through my eyes.
"I should be able to. It's been a few years since I've been social but I'll let you know if I get overstimulated."
He sipped his energy drink again.
"How wild does it get?" I wondered out loud, thinking of how quiet things must be at the Hill Top compared to the center of the city where all of the tourist attractions remained.
"You act like you don't live here," he teased, "it's not so bad. Just a lot of the usual chaos but add drunk people in costumes and bright lights. My dad's job is challenging for a reason today."
As he mentioned it, the police cars I had seen patrolling every Halloween made more sense.
"Not sure I like the sounds of that."
"No one does," he replied but changed his sentence with a few glances at our surroundings. Our vape-sucking peers blew their nicotine into the aisle and blabbed about their hatred for school, how great vaping was, and whichever physically derelict behavior they wanted to participate in later tonight.
"Anyone halfway decent does, anyway," he grumbled in correction.
"Graduation is in just a few months," I encouraged.
But he didn't exactly light up at the idea the way he used to two or three years ago. Chances were, he still had no idea what he wanted to do when we finished high school. I didn't either, but I expected to be dead within the decade based on my health records.
"Mom wanted me to ask," he changed the subject as he slipped his cellphone out of his pocket.
I nodded to show him I was listening. My heart fluttered at the mention of his mother. Jennifer Edward was a woman as beautiful as gold. Inside and out, she radiated such a warmth that turned my heart to putty. She was my safe space when my parents became too much.
"Are you coming over to get ready or will you be ready when you come over?"
"I'm getting ready at your place," I answered, mind changed on the fly now that I knew the option was on the table.
The look in John's eyes told me he knew I'd changed my mind, but he didn't mention it, texting his mother with my response.
"She wants to take pictures of all of us is why I ask."
I smiled, heart burning as much as my cheeks as I nodded my head. Any words I could think up evaporated off the tip of my tongue. Oh, to appear in a photo beside John.
"Okay!" I answered, trying not to sound too enthusiastic.
I hated cameras but a photo opportunity beside John was worth the pressure of awkward smiles and feeling naked.
Maybe holiday plans would go as anticipated for the first time in three years.
