Changing Leaves Pt. 1

In her backyard swung a crumbling rubber tire swing, the black fading to grey, the rope rubbed smooth after so many uses. The grass had grown above ankle height since she had last mowed. The picnic table still sunk in the middle from the meals smothered in gossip and story telling by six people all at once. Her shack, the yellow boards sun-bleached from the endless summers she spent in pure bliss, sat in the back corner, right where it had been left, a perfect sanctuary since her dad had built it with her that spring break so long ago.
 

On the porch, looking out at the yard she knew so well, seemed like a different world now. The protected shed was no more than a yellow structure marring the landscape, the tire swing was a hazard, the picnic table no more than a perilous outdoor dining table.
 

Alysandra missed her sister. When she said she was leaving, it was not supposed to hurt the way it did now. Now senior year was here and she had to deal with all of the stress and drama without her sister down the hallway. She couldn’t bear to look at the now foreign yard, no longer getting ready to meet Autumn in the shed.
 

Everything was just how she had left it only a few weeks ago. No one dared to touch her precious memories. Mom shuffled through the ever-growing grass in her old pink slippers every morning to water the garden, mowing was her job, not Mom’s. Dad stayed on the sidewalk to get to his car in the morning, glancing at the picnic table as he passed without any plans on correcting the massive dip in the middle. Aaron, the eldest brother, would come home on the weekends but never bothered to change out the tire swing. Anton, the youngest, a freshman in high school and directly below her in family lineage, would walk to the back and look at the shed but never raided her personal space the way he used to before she left.

The phone shook Alysandra back into reality. She ran into the house to get her phone off the charger. Before she was even in the door, a curious eye had invaded to quiet yard.
 

He pressed his face against the rough wooden fence to get a glimpse of her yard. He had only been in it twice but he longed to feel the grass she walked upon and touch the swing where she thought so vigorously. To touch the shed only nine feet away was a luxury too overwhelming to even dwell upon. He waited until Alysandra was satisfactorily indoors before stepping on a small stool he had confiscated from the kitchen. He rested his head on his hands on the top of the fence.

She had a stool too. She kept it in the shed. She used to talk to him every so often but never for extended periods of time. She was always busy, day in and day out. Now she couldn’t even speak to her sister or brothers.

The very first day they officially met, he happened to glance over from his porch while doing homework to she her wander through the grass, freshly cut and step onto the lower part of the swing. She slipped her legs in the hole one at a time to sift through a muddled thought in the tranquility  of the gently swaying to and fro.
 

Suddenly she sat up with an epitome’ and the need for a second opinion. She wriggled out of the swing and ran to the door. She stood there for a second before turning back, dejection written across her face. He looked to his homework and looked up again. With her there he couldn’t even tell what he was supposed to be studying. She looked over the fence from her porch at the same moment and her gaze instantly locked onto him.
 

She ran to the fence waving one arm wildly above her head. “Hey you!” He looked around even though no one was even in any of the yards nearby. He still remembered the question clearly as if she were still on the other side of the fence peering eagerly in for the answer she so desired. “If I were to work for an entire year with a plan to buy one big thing and I saved all of my money for it, do you think I could get it?” He got up and walked over.
 

“Well that depends-”
 

“If I were to save for a trip to New York City?”
 

“Well, I guess so but, who would you go visit?”
 

“Nobody, I would just go!”
 

“Who would you stay with?”
 

“Myself in a hotel.”
 

“Would your parents be cool with that?”
 

“Who cares! I would be old enough by then to do what I want!” She was so sure of herself and seemed fairly determined that no matter how he answered, she would be in New York City by this time next year.
 

They chatted over the fence for a good half an hour. Not good, wonderful. Benjamin never forgot that conversation even though it and a million other little talks had passed.
 

Benjamin finished gazing at her empty yard and hopped down to take the stool back into the kitchen before his mother whined about the cupboards being unacceptable for any normal human being.
 

This world is a chaotic place to be and rarely very friendly to those who cannot or will not adapt. She seemed to have acclimated very well as he watched her come outside after school some days but the world did not agree.
 

He stood on his porch, smiling at the fading image of his friendly neighbor before walking inside, stool still in hand.
 

Alysandra finished her call with one statement, “I have to go, I think the neighbor’s watching.” She hung up and glared at the swinging screen door across the fence. She never liked the way Benjamin had lurked around outside, apparently in hopes of chatting with her sister. He had no right to talk to her in the first place. He ruined her life and she had to get him out of the way quick so he would not be his self and ruin Autumn’s funeral.

(It does not feel like a complete chapter. What could I add to make it more interesting and full? Also, I don't like the conversation but I don't know how to fix it.)