Young Writers Society

This is for clograbby's contest, Lost In The Atmosphere.

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It hit me in the face -between the eyes, I might add. I could feel its stinging presence as it slid down my nose where it fell to its demise on my faded jeans. For a fleeting moment, I wished it was a bullet, putting an end to my misery instead of getting me wet. The sky growled deeply in the distance, probably sending down little soldiers to infiltrate the library through its cracked roof. Ms.Mcaffer was most likely catching them in foam coffee cups before they could harm her books. I laughed at the thought of the little invasion.

Static erupted out of the blue from the red radio beside me, and a unexpected gust of wind only added to the noise while causing it to tip precariously on its spot on the tin roof. After a few moments of watching the dog in our neighbor’s backyard pull the laundry down from the line, my music returned with crackling noises in the background –It wasn’t my fault the thing was as old as my grandmother. It began to play a soft tune that I especially loved. One that-

“You know that I hate that song.”

I grinned, and I was sure she doing the same standing in the yard down below. “Ladder’s on the other side,” I called back. I heard a shuffling noise through the grass below. Her movement on the ladder shook the branches of the oak tree that grew next to the side of the house. Some brown leaves fell, spiraling down into a puddle, no doubt. Fall was never beautiful here. It only meant soggy leaves and rain –lots of rain.

“Hey, Loser.” Her cheery voice pierced the macabre bleakness of the day –not to mention the reason she came.

“Afternoon, Freak.” She hit me in the arm for that one, and I couldn’t help but feel her freezing skin even through my sweater.

“Pretty boy,” She shot back, clearly flaunting the fact she could always manage to stand out. Though, wearing a t-shirt in the middle of November, I believe, was a little too extreme.

“Tomboy.” Truthfully, these were all terms of endearment, if you really look underneath the surface. Really deep.

She smiled when she realized I could keep up with our arguments a bit faster than when we’d first met. It soon faded away however and she sat next to me in silence. I was sure we were both feeling sick –with dread, regret, and anything else in between that would fit.

“Why aren’t you wearing shoes?” She said this in a casual, but puzzled tone.

I looked down at my feet, wriggling my toes defiantly with a goofy smile. I shrugged my shoulders, but I didn’t say anything. Honestly, it didn’t feel right to speak about the numbness I had been feeling ever since she told me. I think I just wanted to feel something again –So I had settled for the cold metal roof. Pointing out her lack of a jacket seemed like a good idea, but it had been too long since her question, and the silence had already settled back into place. I sighed loudly, the sound turning into a groan in my throat. Pulling my legs up close to my chest, I glared across my backyard while refusing to look at her.

“Wha…?” She didn’t even finish her thought before yelling, “I just wanted to come and say goodbye! You make everything so hard, Tucker!” She crossed her arms over her stained shirt.

“You make everything stupid, Lila,” I mumbled.

A leaf fell from the tree again, the soft click of its stem breaking the only sound that passed by our ears.

And then we couldn’t stop laughing.

It was as if we were seven years old again, laughing at the dumb comebacks we would come up with when we fought. She put her arm around my shoulder and I returned the gesture. I wanted to tell her I wasn’t going to let her go –that I didn’t care if her family had to go without her. The problem was –I did care.

Her laugh left mist in the air for a moment and I couldn’t help but look at her. I did care –because I knew no one could live without Lila.

Except for me –because I didn’t have a choice.

“You’re such a dork, Tuck.” Her green eyes sparkled like they always did when she smiled.

“Yeah,” I said with a grin that barely fit on my face. “But I’m your dork.”

Her sweet laugh died and her smile dwindled down to a straight line. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with chilly air. “This sucks.” Funny –she hated it when people stated the obvious.

I nodded and pulled her close. I knew she would be leaving me in a couple hours, and tomorrow she would be on the other side of the country. With new friends. Without me. My hatred for our little town grew because it had made a special effort to reflect that day. The skies were as grey as my mood and the air as sharp as the insufferable circumstances.

The only source of color in that day was Lila’s hair. It was defiant like the rest of her –bright red, a beautiful watercolor on the most dreary of canvases.

It was sad, really, that we had once hated this town, so beautifully dull.

And now I had to hate it enough for the both of us.

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Edit: I fixed some errors that managed to hide from me before.