Forty-Three
"Where do you want this box?"
Dylan looked over to me and pointed to the back corner.
"It's a shame the Vegan Dog Food store didn't want to keep even some of these..." I sighed, picking up one of the few books that still lingered on the shelves.
" 'How to Care for Your Pet: When You Go Vegan' second addition. Hm."
Dylan raised his eyebrows in curiously.
"It does not say that."
I laughed.
"Nah..."
Placing the book down inside of the box, I sealed it up and carried it over to the corner he had previously gestured to.
"It's going to be hard watching it close."
I turned around and saw Dylan sitting back in one of the few beanbag chairs the store hadn't yet packed away. He was gazing out the window, his eyes loitering over the quiet street outside.
After setting down the box, I stepped over to Dylan's beanbag and sat down on top of his lap. He scarcely took notice until I ran my index finger across his cheek.
"We're going to get through this. Everything may not be the same, but it's going to go on. You and I, your parents, Tina... We're all going to be fine."
"It's just hard to think about it, you know."
I nodded solemnly, resting my head down in his shoulder.
"Change is never easy. But we'll get by... We'll all get by."
"Yeah... You're right."
Dylan tried to smile.
I pecked him on the lips just as we both heard the front door of the store creak open.
"Sorry, we're closed!"
Dylan called out, standing from the beanbag and hurrying to the front.
"I know- I just came down to see if you guys needed any help."
Recognizing the voice, I stepped up behind Dylan and smiled to the visitor.
"You're sure you can lift boxes with that leg of yours?"
"Yes Amber. I am perfectly capable."
Tina rolled her eyes and picked up one of the boxes we'd already filled, carrying it with ease over to the rest of the stack.
"See."
I grinned and gestured to the remainder of the boxes that still had to be moved in preparation for shipment.
"Have at it."
The three of us worked in silence for a bit, moving each book off it's shelf and into a corresponding box. Progressively, the store grew more and more hollow, until books no longer lined the walls and full boxes took their place.
Tina finally sat down.
"Remember when we used to come in here and read Amber? Like when your mom would drop us off and we'd race around the Kid's Section?"
I nodded.
"All too well."
Tina sighed, leaning her head back against the tower of cardboard boxes.
"Everything's changing, isn't it?"
I looked back and forth between Dylan and Tina; both a part of the two worlds that I had kept separate for so long. Here we were, in a place we'd each called home for so long, helping to close it and move foreword; and in retrospect leaving a piece of ourselves behind.
Yet, I felt not less empty, no less whole. If anything, I felt more united than I had in a longtime.
Sometimes it takes a tragedy to bring those we loved back to us, and change us back being something we're not, to the truth of our identities that lies inside. I'd like to think this year has been my journey, and looking at them both now, here in this room, made me truly realize what a quest to reach this point had been.
Life is a cycle, a learning process; that isn't always fueled by the best of situations. But we heal, we grow, and the world grows with us.
"I don't think in a bad way though."
Tina nodded her head, and Dylan took my hand with a genuine smile.
"I don't think so either."
