Cherry- H.S

Summer.

"You left me... You left on September 21st... odd numbered day, and a bunch of bad shit happened after." I look up, and he nods.

    "Exactly.. Okay, next rule is that it's bad luck to mention a pig in a pub." He tells me, and I raise an eyebrow.

    "Okay i've got no idea... Not a single idea actually... Please elaborate." I tell him.

    "Mitch came up with it... He was referring to Alyssa... In the bar that night... How bad shit happened after that." He tells me, and I raise my eyebrows.

    "I like the way Mitch thinks.. Okay next rule.." I push on.

    "Some fishermen only wear one gold earring for good luck." He tells me, and my face drops into a glare.

    "You forget to wear an earring one time, ONE TIME!!! And I can't live it down. Dammit, you were rushing me that day too, it's not like I meant to forget an earring." I speak out, and he laughs.

    "It was cute, and it was something I had remembered.. It stuck out to me..." He smiles down to himself. "Okay the next three will be hard for you to guess so I'll just explain them.. So there's this rule that it's frowned upon to whistle in the wind in fear you'll create a bigger gale... Basically what that was for was the sense of when there's already a storm, if you continue to do more it's just going to create a bigger storm.. Like when.. When I got home from the tour, and I had already created a storm but I had tried to fix it, and.. Well it just got worse..." He explains, and I nod, all of it making sense.

    "Makes sense.. I like that one." I tell him with a satisfied smile.

    "This one is just kind of a stupid one that Mitch came up with because he said he remembers you talking about something from growing up in Vegas, but it's the rule "Seeing a minister in the morning means you should go home immediately.. He never really explained it well so I figured you could." He speaks out, and I laugh.

    "Surprised he remembered that, we were drunk off of our ass.. I was telling him that when I got older, and we'd all go into the city late at night that so many people in that city made such dumb decisions.. I always thought no one ever took love seriously there.. Vegas is famous for its drive through chapels, and Elvis Presley weddings so I told him that when I was younger I would say that if we were ever out and saw a minister or preacher in the morning then it was time to go the hell home because it meant bad decisions were being made... It was a joke, but it makes sense I guess." I laugh, and he smiles.

    "You never told me that story.. I like that story." He speaks out.

    "You like every story I tell." I roll my eyes, and he scoffs.

    "And I don't see a problem with that.. Alright, last rule is you have to pay to have your body buried in a strange port, and I can already see your face. I know how it sounds but listen... You explained proof of love to me a thousand times.. Well this is kind of like that I guess? So to love is to die in some ways. To love is to sacrifice ourselves for someone else, to kill ourselves metaphorically for that person to achieve that proof of love. Some people would pay for that type of love... That type of death in my words. It's a strange way to metaphorically die.. By love, and sacrifice.. So that's... well that's proof of love." He explains and nods to me. I smile, and shake my head to him.

    "You are so odd... The way your brain works I mean.. It's so odd, but I love it.. Okay so these rules are cool, but where do they lead?" I ask, and he nods.

"Well, the story of Eroda takes place in the beginning with this boy.. This little boy with this bright smile, so bright that it burns things, and blinds people right?" He asks, and I nod slowly.