Drawings on the Pavement

Chapter Twenty-Seven

~Rose~
Through the commotion of students cheering in corridors , I couldn't help but join in. Everyone was laughing and yelling as the bell trilled over the loud speakers. Finally after many long and painful weeks, school was over.

For the whole year in fact.

Kids trampled out the doors, desperate to leave school grounds.

Logan had the day off because his head pains were too much. Well that's what he said anyway.

I waited to the side until the crowds died down. Then put my on headphones, and avoided all social contact as I strolled out of the school gates.

I breathed deeply. Letting the cool air whip around my hair as I pulled my jumper, making it cover my hands. I let the lyrics that blasted in my ears consume me.
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I looked around the street I was now walking down. It was bare and the only thing that that moved was the trees which swayed and lashed in jerky movements with the unpredictable wind. A stray cat with mangled fur was hunched over what seemed like a dead bird, but it quickly disappeared as I walked around the corner.

I soon walked through the front door and dumped my bag on the floor. I went into my room and fell on my bed. I pulled the covers and sheets over me and made a warm nest that I snuggled in.

Everything was becoming too much to handle. All my thoughts and worries had become one jumbled mess.

I grabbed my book that I was reading and tried to continue from where I left off. But just as I expected, my mind was unsettled, and the words I was trying to process began to float off the page.

I massaged my temples in a weak attempt, to somehow fix my problems.

No. Not helping.

I threw on a pair of cargo pants and an old sweater then called out to my mum.

"Mum! I'm just going for a walk!" I saw her head poke out of the office.

"Oh okay, don't be too long" she replied.

"I won't" I assured.

As I left the house I thought about where I should walk to. I thought about seeing Logan but something stopped me. I hated how he had a tumour. I hated how he forgot everything. I hated that the memories we had were stolen. And I hated having to remember the past.
No. I'm just going to walk.
Just walk.
Just focus on the path ahead of me.

I kept moving forward.
Who knows how long I spent walking aimlessly through the streets and fields of my town.
At one point I had to turn back before I travelled too far in unfamiliar directions.
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I couldn't help it.
I found myself at the bottom of a tall tree, staring up towards the branches. The tree was isolated completely except from the occasional huddle of small plants which surrounded the area. It was hidden from view to most and was off to the edge of the local park.
It looks like any normal tree.
Nothing special to the average person.
But I am far from an average person.
This tree meant something too me.

It was years ago. When I was eleven.
Whenever I couldn't think, or when I wanted an escape I would always climb this very tree. I used to find a certain spot. A fork that was perfect to sit in. My feet would dangle down, or be tucked tight against the branches.
One day I was crying from a fight I had with Logan and I went up to my tree.
When I think back on it, the fight was so stupid I wondered why I ever got mad in the first place. If I remember, I think it was over a broken crayon or about a stupid rumour spread by a few girls at our school.
But at the time I was hysterical. My breath uneven and raspy.
As I sat in the tree calming myself down, I watched the grass ripple and the cars fly by.
Logan had followed me.
He had climbed up and joined me.
I didn't refuse his company, and I didn't hesitate to crawl into his arms and rest on his shoulder as he held me.