Taste of Life - Chapter 9

“Are you all set?”

Although her mother expected her daughter to respond in the affirmative, Megan was not all set.
The hospital, located in northern Ohio, as Meg later found out, kept her there for a few days until her hands were better. The blisters had mostly disappeared, but her fingers were still discolored. The important thing was that there was no permanent tissue damage, so her hands were usable and nothing had to be cut off- Megan shuddered at the thought that they might’ve had to do that.

She had gotten her clothes back- to think that I’ve had to wear a hospital gown for five days! Her dad had finished reading The Prisoner of Azkaban to Megan and she was once again satisfied with her favorite of all the Harry Potter books.

However, there was still one thing that was left unresolved: Chris.

“I am not leaving without him,” Megan huffed. As her mother leaned down, she could tell she was going to get the Now-listen-here-it’s-his-problem-don’t-worry lecture. That wasn’t going to happen.

“Mom,” she said sternly, drawing on her memories of Pyrok inside to get her point across, “we are going to go now and find Chris. Whether you believe I made him up or not, we are going to the police station and we will find him.”

Emma Elm huffed but then glanced down at her daughters hands. They looked like they were merely stuffed into gigantic gloves, but underneath they were carefully bandaged so they wouldn’t rub together, and there was another glove layer over that as well.

Megan glanced to the side and saw her father sitting patiently in their little red Honda. Laid back and easy going, he was waiting for Mom’s decision.

“Pppphhhhffffff.” Mrs. Elm let out a long breath of air and ran a hand through her hair. Her eyes flicked between the car and the shining face of her runaway daughter. “Alright Meg,” she conceded, pulling a weary smile onto her face, “we’ll go down to the police station. But let’s make it quick. We need to get you back home.”

She extended a hand to Megan, who gently took it in return. Mother and daughter swung into their car and George started the engine with a smile. Meg pressed her gloved fingers against the foggy and frosted window as the car shook to life beneath her. The wipers shuddered their way across the windshield, uncertain at first, then finding the groove to their movements.

Meg wondered when she would find her own groove in her life, and her thoughts wandered back to the day she really became undone. Maybe Chris is the key, she thought as she hummed softly to herself. Maybe if we find him, he can help me stitch my life back together.

As her mind whirled around in circles, it latched on him, the first friend she had made here, albeit only a few days ago. Meg peered through the hole made by her warmth on the glass and saw the police station- boldly marked- zooming towards her.

In the same moment that the car stopped moving, she found herself flying towards the building, her boots tap-tapping up the three concrete steps to the front door. Megan pushed her elbow down on the door handle, shoving her way past the door. Her parents were a few paces behind her as she reached the front desk where a police officer looked up from his paperwork.

“Excuse me, sir,” Meg began breathlessly, “but I’m looking for my friend. He’s a boy named Chris, about my height, wearing a big red jacket-” She stopped abruptly as someone entered at the far end of the room.

“About your height,” the officer smiled kindly, “a boy named Chris, wearing a big red jacket?” Meg’s eyes widened, and she leapt across the room in seconds.

“Chris!” She couldn’t tell whether she was laughing or shouting or both. But she didn’t care, she just threw her arms around her friend and laughed into his shoulder.

Megan’s parents were full of half-smiles, coming face to face with who they took to be the “root of all the trouble”. Chris glanced coolly at them, and knew then that he and Meg would have lots of talking to do later, but he turned his attention to the person who stood before him.

“Well,” he said, “aren’t you going to do something better than just get all clingy on me here?” Megan smirked and grabbed his arm, pulling them both outside where they raced up and down the street. 

Chris grinned and threw a snowball that he knew Meg couldn’t return, and Megan’s parents were quite forgotten in the midst of fantasy. The quiet snowy world was filled with joyful screams and mirth of a new yet beautiful friendship.