If Summer Never Ends

Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual. I would've liked to believe it was because of the different time zone, but it wasn't. It was more of a vexing sense that woke me up. There were no taxis honking or people yelling, just the soothing sound of waves crashing to the shore. I wasn't used to it.

But I had to admit, it was the best sleep I'd gotten in a long time. I woke up fresh and happy, which seldom happens. It was strange. I felt energized and ready to start the day, the complete opposite of a regular morning for me.

For a while, I just laid in bed thinking about last night. Luke and I had walked around the carnival and the beach catching up with what has happened over the past six years. It didn't get home until about eleven thirty, and surprisingly Aunt Julia didn't yell at me after seeing the smile on my face. I learned that Luke had changed quite a lot: he had a job, his driver's licsense, not to mention that he and Dylan formed a very promising volleyball team. But despite how good it felt to have a deep conversation with him, I couldn't shake off the weird feelings I was having towards him. I noticed details about him that I didn't find so attractive before: the sparkle in his eye, the dimple on his left cheek, the perfectly tanned skin.

I wanted to lock those feeling up in a box and throw away the key but somehow, they kept coming back for me. Every time I thought about Luke, I couldn't help but smile. It was all so stupid, so I pushed those feelings as far away from me as possible.

Eventually, I decided to get out of my bed and make myself look human again by brushing my teeth and hair, putting a little makeup on, changing clothes, using deodorant. When I looked normal, I crept down the stairs, hoping that I didn't wake anyone up.

It was 5:30 in the morning, and the sun was rising behind the horizon, giving a warm glow to the kitchen. I poured myself a glass of orange juice and grimaced at the taste of the sweet citrus flavor mixed with the mint from my toothpaste.

For a while, I sat at the island eating a bagel and flipping through a magazine, but than I decided to leave. I left a note for Aunt Julia so she wouldn't have a heart attack and left the house. It was a little chilly outside, but I was fine. I had come from Chicago, the city where you could see all four seasons in one week. It was like the weather was bipolar there, so I could pretty much handle any type of it.

I wasn't really surprised that I still knew where everything was. I spent twelve years of my life wandering the streets of Sanibel; I knew the place like the back of my hand. So there I was, walking up and down the quiet streets of island until I reached my destination.

The gates to the cemetery were unlocked, so I pushed past them and scanned the rows of tombstones. I knew exactly where my parents were, for I had spent nearly everyday there after the burial before I was shipped off to the Windy City.

There they were.

In loving memory of Ray and Kimberly Heaton

After placing flowers by the tombstone that I plucked from the backyard earlier, I sat in front of their grave and did some thinking. I thought about how they wouldn't be here to see me graduate high school, go off to college, start a career, get married, have kids... I liked to believe that they were watching me, their spirits in the air, but they would never physically be here for me. I would never hear my dad's burly laugh, or feel the loving arms of my mother around me. And then for the first time in a long while, I let myself cry.

_____________________________________________________________________________

"I've got it!" I hollered as I ran from the kitchen, across living room, and to the front door. I almost fell at one point, but I survived and kept running.