KICK IT | JENLISA

115

Jennie

Dust kicked up over the hood. The road bumped its tires, jostling my hips. Loud beats deafened my ears as I drove closer. I chewed my index finger's nail until it was raw and bled.

Slamming the door behind me, all the comfort my go-to spot for pulling myself out of bed greeted me in a bittersweet slap to the face. The hard dirt under my boots, the soft shrills of birds, and the warm, dry breeze tickling my cheeks - none of it mattered.

Not anymore.

The white fence's condition worsened the more I visited. Paint peeled in tendrils and exposed the raw wood to the elements. I drew a breath through my nose. Four letters stared back.

No.

An invisible knife stabbed my heart. It crumpled with another piece of Taehyung torn away. The last and biggest piece would be removed from my life. This fucking sucked.

The sign was crooked. The realtor slapped it up, relieved to be rid of the burdensome property after three years. While the property embedded itself deep in my memories, tethering my heart to its undisturbed presence, I had no claim here.

Three years of weeds grew wilder. Their tops snaked through the white fence and narrowed the entrance road. But the rest remained the same - a voluminous sky that offered vast exposure to air gusts, green-topped trees, and chattering bird conversations.

I closed my eyes under a weighted sense of finality. It permeated my skin beneath the sun's searing heat and filled my limbs with lead. I slumped and rounded my shoulders, bowing my head until my chin tipped into my chest. Hot tears beaded over the rims of my eyes, tickling on their downward escape.

"We're gonna grow old here someday, Ladybug."

"No." The whispered word crushed my heart. An invisible limb was cleaved off my body, another connection to Taehyung severed by the cruelty of life's forward momentum. Streams of tears rolled over my cheeks. "We're not."

Between the rush of blood in my ears and the breeze tugging my hair, I almost missed another voice creeping into my mind.

"You're trespassing, darling."