Unmuted (Remastered)

37

"So, Alli, I was wondering."

I hummed at Jax. We were walking down the street to my house as we talked, about a block away. "What's up?"

"Do you think, maybe, we could go to the park nearby? For a while, at least. I wanna show you something there."

I smiled. "Sure! I'd love to. I don't have any homework, anyway."

"Great!" She took my hand and began sprinting around the corner and down to the house.

Mark and Bob were in the living room, waiting for us. Mark smiled at us from the couch. "Did you two run here? What's going on?"

"Nothing!" Jax called out as she put her bag on a chair in the dining room.

I did the same, then walked up to Mark as I caught my breath. "Can Jax and I go to the park for a little bit?"

Mark pretended to think. "Do either of you have homework?"

"Nope!" Jax and I both said.

He shrugged. "Then I don't see why not. Be back in two hours for dinner."

"We will!" Jax took my hand again before racing back out of the house.

"Jax, slow down!" I giggled, pulling on her arm.

She finally slowed to a walk. "Sorry, I'm just excited! I haven't been to this park since elementary school. I just really want to show you something."

"That's fine, but I don't have the same stamina you do. Remember, I don't usually run."

"Fair."

"Wait, hang on, now I'm confused. You live on this side of the city. How come you don't go to this park?"

She thought for a moment. "Well... in elementary school, I had a best friend. We would come here basically every day. We had our own spot. We would talk for hours there, about anything we wanted. Most of it was nonsense, really. We promised each other that if we weren't married by the time we were 25, we'd marry each other. But one day, she just... went quiet. Stopped talking as much. She stopped showing up at our spot, and I found out it was because she moved to the other side of town. That was when I was transferred to the private school, and we never spoke again. I stopped coming here, because it was always something she and I did. I didn't want to take that away from us."

"Oh, then maybe we shouldn't go-"

"No, Alli, it's fine." Jax smiled genuinely. "It's about time I go back. Besides, I'll see her again one day, right? Small world, after all."

We stepped through the gates of the park, and I glanced around. "I think I've been here before..."

Jax took my hand again but still walked. She led me to the corner of the lot, up against a tree close to a water fountain. She sat down against it, pulling me with her. We both looked toward the playground, which was bustling with children.

"I can see why you picked this hangout spot." I muttered, enjoying the peace the scene brought.

"It wasn't mine to pick. She did. She said it gave her peace."

"It does." I turned to her. "So. What did you want to show me?"

Jax turned toward the tree we sat against, and I saw the etching in the bark. She ran her fingers over three small carvings. "T plus A."

I smiled again. "Cute. I wonder who they are."

"You were the one who decided to carve it, right where we first met." Jax smiled longingly. "You never really could say or spell my name right, so you decided to just go with our first initials. You snagged your uncle's pocketknife to do it."

I stared at her. "I... made this?" She nodded. "You... T? Daisy?"

"Theodosia."

My face slowly grew into a grin. "...what? But how..? How did I not recognize you?"

"It's been a few years, I didn't really expect you to remember."

I attacked her with a hug. "I'm just so happy that it's you!"

She laughed. "I'm just so happy you finally realized." She pulled away. "But now we have a lot to talk about."

I sighed. "I know."

"So start talking. What happened to make you go quiet?"

"It's... a long story."