Everything Fragile✔

Chapter Thirty - Everything Fragile

   It's a beautiful Tuesday morning despite the snow; the first fall of the season. The cemetery is covered in nothing but white along with mom's tombstone. I slide my hand against her name etched into the rock, smiling as I do so.

   "Hey, mama."

   The wind blows in reply, making the snow swirl like a whirlpool in the air around me. Some of the flakes land on my lashes, melting upon contact. I wish I could stay with her longer, but I'm here to meet up with someone.

   I tread deeper into the graveyard, passing by row after row of the deceased. The snow crunches beneath my feet as I walk. It's the only sound that penetrates the air. Like the dead, everything here is quiet. I like it. Far away from the chaoticness of life, I'm able to take a moment and breathe in peace. It's almost funny how much I prefer the company of the dead over that of the living.

   Up ahead I spot an old church building. It's small and broken down with mold and moss growing along the white planks of wood that make up its walls. There's a hole in the roof that seems to have gotten bigger since the last time I've been here. It's giving haunted house vibes, but this is the safest place in Kingston. It's where Carter and I hooked up for the first time. He brought me here Halloween night and scared me with his creepy little stories about ghosts and headless men. He said that he'd protect me. Cliché, I know, but at the time his words had me in a chokehold. We had sex in the land keepers abandoned room before it became a resting house for wandering animals and critters (and I suppose sometimes ghosts too).

   Speaking of the devil, Carter rounds the corner of the building. He smiles as soon as he sees me despite the sadness that swirls in the blueness of his eyes.

   "Hi."

   "Hey."

   He reaches out to me as if to give me a hug, but thinks better of it and glues his arms to his sides. I hold back and smile and follow him towards the bench at the front of the abandoned church. Neither of us sit because that thing hasn't been cleaned in years. We just stand and admire the view of flowers and a naked Willow tree that sits a couple of feet away from a pond that once used to be riddled with beauty and life, but now looks more like a large puddle of radioactive waste. The snow makes everything look prettier though.

   "There's a thunderstorm coming in tomorrow." Carter says randomly. "Soon enough, this place will be a disgusting mess."

   "Good thing." I mumble. "I hate the snow."

   He smiles sadly, turning slightly to look at me. "I know."

   The conversation starts to die out. I would let this silence continue on if I weren't so curious to know why he wanted me to meet up with him today. Though I'm sure I know. It must have something to do with Willow and our fight from a few nights ago (if you can even call it that). She's always had a knack for sending someone else to clean up her mess for her.

   "What's this about?" I ask just as he says "I'm leaving."

   I blink, trying to process his words. "What? What do you mean you're leaving?"

   "I'm moving in with my aunt. The one who lives in LA."

   I remember meeting her once in Texas when I was a junior during spring break. Carter had invited me to his family's ranch to meet some of his relatives. It took a lot of convincing for my mom, but miraculously I was allowed to go and had the opportunity to meet the wild and intimidating thirty year old with no kids and a love for wine and traveling. What did Carter do to deserve such a punishment?

   "Why?" I ask. "Did you get in trouble again?"

   "No." He chuckles humorlessly. "It was my idea. I need to get away."