Leaving, loving, longing

Leaving

As I pulled away from Sophia, I told her how I'd miss her. I had my Ramen bowl in my hand, and she had gotten jelly in my hair.

I didn't care.

We just got done jumping in the pool. The same one that hadn't been chlorinated since June. We went in our clothes and my hair was still wet and cold from the water. Tomorrow, my mom and I would start driving down. To our new house. 1400 miles away.

I heard her dad's truck coming up the driveway, and I felt tears in my eyes. I looked at her, and I saw some in hers, too. She walked down the stairs of our 3-season room and opened the door, turned around, smiled, and left.
As I heard her dad's truck take off from my driveway, I went back inside and started crying. Why the fuck was I moving? I loved Sophia so much. I loved all my friends so much. They made me happy, as did all the people in Wisconsin. I called my cousin. The phone rang 4 times before he picked up. I had seen him 2 hours prior, but I wanted to come back to my house to see my friends one more time. Kalea had already left an hour before Sophia, but I would miss Sophia more.

Much, much more.

My cousin finally picked up, "What?" He said in a voice much like his brothers. "Can you ask grandma if I can come over tonight? I know I said I'd stay here bu-" I said before he cut me off. "Give me a sec" I heard him talking to my grandma in the distance. We stayed at her house almost everyday in the summer. We had jobs there. They were always the same jobs though, always me, cleaning the house and him taking care of everything outside. Except the yard, I ALWAYS did the yard. Me and him were almost twins. We had the same exact blonde hair and his eyes were just a shade of blue lighter than mine. We grew up together, almost as siblings. We were also the only ones left after all three of his siblings had gotten jobs.

He spoke again, and when he did, he sounded like himself again. "She said yeah, do you want me to pick you up?" I thought about it for a minute and looked out at the field. "No, I'll walk" I needed to clear my head and take in the beautiful scenery one more time. "Alright" he said and hung up.

I grabbed my bag with my stuff for overnight in it and walked out of the door. No need to lock it, we lived in the country. I was walking through my yard, it was a big yard with a pool, a playground and so many oak and crabapple trees. I went up to the oak tree and hugged it one last time, taking in its scent. The sap got on my shirt and I licked it off.

I still had my Ramen and was eating it before I realized how gross and soggy it had gotten. I threw it behind the shed, fork and all. I felt bad, but didn't think much of it. I was passing through the field and looking at the corn husks. It was late July and they were about to be harvested.

I finally got to the woods that connected my house and my grandmas house. I saw the dog and he saw me. He must not have recognized me. He started barking at me, so I tossed my bad down a couple yards in front of me and let him sniff it before his tail started wagging. "Hey there Gauge" I said, rubbing his ears. He sat next to me and licked my leg.

I started up to the house and let Gauge in first. He ran up to the garage door and sniffed the handle. I opened it and was greeted with the smell of food. My cousin, Archer was sitting in the living room on his phone. "Hey Gavin" I said. I dont know where I got the name Gavin from, but his sister and I always called him that. "Hey Shannon," he said. My name is not Shannon. It's Anya. He kept looking at his phone and bouncing his leg. I set my bag down in my grandmas guest room, designated to me. It was a big room, in a big house. My grandpa was a business owner so they built their own house.

I looked at my shorts and noticed they were still wet. I didn't care. I walked back into the hallway, leading to the kitchen and grabbed a hotdog from the fridge. "Come on Gauge," I said, opening the front door. I walked down to the pond and stomped onto the dock. I stuck the hotdog in the water and the turtle came up. Scared the shit out of me. I broke of a piece and threw it to her. I did that until the whole thing was gone.

I sat on the dock for another 20 minutes. Just sitting with Gauge by my side. The pine trees, giving a strong smell off and looking tall and strong. The turtle was still sniffing for more food. I just pet her shell and was careful not to get bit. "Bye Jurassic," I said. She looked like a dinosaur, but I hadn't named her.

I walked back to the house and went inside with Gauge. It was already getting dark out and my grandpa still wasn't in from the shed. My grandma walked in from her room and smiled "Hey sweetie, when did you get in?" I smiled back "probably about 30 minutes ago," I said. "Can you go and get Grandpa from the shed?" She asked, stirring something. I nodded and walked out with Gauge once again. I ran to the small shed and looked in it, he wasn't in it so I went to the tractor shed. I opened up the workshop door and walked in. There he was. "Grandma wants you inside now," I said. "I'll be up in a second," he said, looking down at his toolbench. I smiled and turned around to go to the house.