The Art of Finding Jasmine Rose Peters

40

'Three things in life

happen without consent

pregnancy is the first one

you might want it

you might not

but it comes without a warning

the second one is feared above all

some call it death

others the gateway to new worlds

and I call it freedom

the last almost always comes

when you least expect it

it starts with tingles

awkward dates and hilarious moments

and often leads to

the first one on the list

always ending with the second.

Among all three, love is what I fear most.'

~Unexpected, Calvin J. Winston.

His first memory of her was sneaking out to go to the park with him. Calvin could remember the day as clear as day.

He was around four that time and he had just finished crying to his parents after his father told him he wasn't going to the park. His mother said nothing nodding silently to his father while his sister tried to protest but was halted.

They snuck out after dinner, Geoffrey covering them.

Eliza was his everything. He had long realized — even before Eliza died — that his mother would never disagree with what his father says, and his father would never do anything to benefit anyone but himself.

The park was enormous. From animal-shaped trees and shrubs, to different play equipment, to animals that Calvin wanted to chase, to a large pond with water jasmines. It was a paradise to an otherwise closely monitored Calvin.

Calvin's favourite part was when she pushed him on the swings. Her laughter was contagious as she kept pushing him, before climbing on the one next to him. At that time, she seemed so big to him, rebelling against their parents and playing with him. She was only 8.

And now, that she was gone, the house was a ghost of its former self. It hadn't been long since she died but it felt like a century to Calvin, especially when he was alone in the house or so he thought.

He heard light footsteps above him and he swiftly turned around and found his mom descending from the staircase. She looked weak and tired, unlike how he was used to seeing her, without any makeup or fancy clothes, and her eyes looked red.

Was she crying? But why?

"Where are you going?" she asked him, quickly wiping away her teary face. The hollowness of the house affected not only him, he realized. His father was always gone on business trips and sometimes took his trophy wife with him.

Instinctively, he almost reached out to wipe his mom's tears away, like he used to back when he was a little boy. A voice in his head stopped him, reminding him of everything that he had been through up till this point because she couldn't speak out and stop his father.

He stood rigid in his spot, until she finished coming down the stairs and met him, with only a small distance between them. He wasn't quite sure why he stood there or why he answered her question, "I'm returning Hayden's bag that she forgot."