Persephone's Garden

My crush gets hit by a car

"But with all my education
I can't seem to command it
and the words are all escaping
coming back all damaged
and I would put them back in poet-"

         The Florence and the Machine music blasting in my ear was inturrupted by the tap on my headphones. I jumped, and slipped the headphones around my neck, looking around anxiously. 

        "W-what?" I blubbered. Ethan rolled his eyes and smirked. 

        "Don't let the boss catch you with those, Ori." he said, "He hates that stuff." 

        "Oh. Right." I frowned, and clicked off the ipod in my backpocket. The honey-like music halted, and all my ears were left to hear was the sizzle of fries in front of me. I sighed, and shuffled the fries around, scooping a spatula-full into a cardboard holder. I handed it to Ethan, who gave it to a cranky looking woman across the counter. Ethan took her money and shoved it into the cash register lazily. 

        "It's a slow day." he said,  glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. I nodded. The restaurant was empty and hollow, besides us. Ethan gave a quick glance around before hoisting himself onto the counter to sit, swinging his long legs. He fingered a scrap of brown hair on the unshaven part of his head, and glared at the menu with his stormy green eyes. 

        I tried to shove down a blush. 

        I'm not usually a very lucky person, but it was a stroke of goodness that both Ethan and I were working at the Hammy's Hut that summer. We were friends in school, and the dreamy, totally impossible part of me was hoping for a summer romance of some sort. 

        It was incredibly stupid. I'm very short, and barely tall enough to reach Ethan's shoulder. That wouldn't be so bad if I was skinnier, but 'stocky' is putting it mildly. I've got mom hips. Don't forget the generous mixture of both acne and freckles. 

        Not to mention that Ethan has a girlfriend.

        The bell of the door clinked, and lo and behind, who was to walk in but the devil herself. Her black, perfect hair was trimmed to her chin in a new cut, and the bellybutton piercing shone in the bland light under her crop-top. She sauntered up to the counter, and placed her manicured hands on the surface with a slap. 

        "Hey, babe." she cooed to Ethan, her voice dripping with syrup. I could've been invisible to her, which was probably a good thing. 

        "Hi, Nic. What're you doing here?" Ethan asked, sliding off the counter to face her. 

        "For you, idiot. Thought I'd pop in." she said, "My dad is taking me to Florida for the next couple of weeks, and we're staying at this yucky hotel by the beach." She groaned very dramatically. "It's awful." 

        "Florida's better than here." Ethan offered, "It's late June and we still have cold fog." Nicole just pouted her big, wet lips and batted her eyelashes. I rolled my eyes and busied myself with fries. 

        "Are you going to text me lots?" she asked, in a high baby voice. 

        "Sure thing." he said, shrugging. Nicole leaned forward and gave him a wet kiss on the lips. 

        "Would you like some fries with that?" I cleared my throat, and the two broke apart. Ethan blushed, as if he had forgotten I was standing only two feet away. Nicole's shark eyes snapped onto me, and her thin nose wrinkled. 

        "Ew, not that disgusting animal fat." she said.

        "Technically it's potato fat and a lot of grease." I shrugged. 

        She smirked, and covered her hand with her mouth. "Sure I was talking about the fries?" she said in a stage whisper. Ethan let out a very uncomfortable sound between a cough and a yelp, and I flinched. Nicole pursed her lips, as if keeping back a smile of satisfaction. 

        "Nic, maybe I should call you later." Ethan said, "Ori and I have work to do." 

        "What work? Nobody is here." she replied calmly, "What harm is staying to keep you company, babe?" 

        "I guess there isn't, but our boss won't like distractions." Ethan said softly, and I could tell he was trying to keep the peace as best he could. 

        "Fine. If you wanna get rid of me, I'll go." she said, straightening. She huffed and stomped out of the restaurant, bracelets clinking together as her arms swung. We watched as her yellow Ferrari peeled away, out of sight. 

        "Sorry about Nicole." Ethan muttered lamely, "She...likes to tease." 

        "Oh yeah, she's a real kidder." I said. We stood in silence, both staring at eachother, waiting for the other to apologize or something. I wanted to say sorry for having such a crappy girlfriend, but I decided to bottle it. 

        The beeping of his watch broke the frost, and we both relaxed into an uneasy contentment. Ethan glanced at his wrist. 

        "Our shifts are over. We can go, I guess." he glanced outside. "Time flew. It's already dark out." I nodded, and took off my apron, hanging it on the ring on the wall. Ethan did the same, and we walked side by side out the door and flipping the OPEN sign to CLOSED. 

        Our houses were right next to each other, so Ethan and I were forced to take the same route. I really liked Ethan, but his stupid girlfriend made me frustrated and that made being around him awkward. Our breath shone in the night, before billowing out into nothing. Even though it was the summer, the temperature was still dragging spring weather. A giant hedge towered over our sidewalk, and a couple of cars would pass us. 

        "I'm sorry, again." Ethan said into the night. He didn't look at me, so at first I thought he was just talking to anything in general. 

        "For what?" I asked, after a pause.

        "For Nicole. She's a jerk, and I've been thinking about dumping her."

        My eyes widened. "Really?" I flinched at the small note of hopefullness in my voice. I felt the movement of Ethan's nod next to me. 

        "I just don't know how to do it. Nicole's my first girlfriend, and I don't really have a lot of experience." he laughed awkwardly. "I'm also kind of scared she'll kill me if I tell her we should break up." I chuckled and nodded. "Even though she's rude, I feel like she's a good person, deep down. I just think we should take a break while she's sorting through her stuff." 

        "So, you'd want to get back together?" I asked. "You think she's a good person?" 

        Ethan shrugged. "I don't really think anybody's a really awful person. We're all here on earth, aren't we? Sorting through the crap life throws at us. Some people are just better at staying nice, or happy." He stepped into the cross walk. "I just hope Nicole-"

        The car came out of nowhere. A flash of awful white light, slamming into Ethan and sending him flying like a speck. Shock froze on his face, and he was flung across the street. My heart stopped, and then felt like it exploded. The car halted, and it seemed to stare at what it had done with surprise. 

        "Ethan!" My scream was guttural and desperate, as I stared at the limp body. His long limbs were sprawled out awkwardly on the pavement, and his head was limp and turned away from me. I forced my legs to move, and I was running toward him. Somebody opened the car and started screaming with fear and shock. I heard them dial 9-1-1, and shout for an ambulance. The world around me was a blur. 

       A man stepped out of the shadows, over Ethan's body. He came out of nothing but darkness, and his suit seemed to be made of the stuff. His eyes were incredibly blue and incredibly annoyed. I fumbled to a stop. We stared at eachother, like two deer caught by two headlights, until the man carefully bent forward, picked up Ethan's body over his shoulder like Ethan weighed nothing, and dissapeared back into darkness, like he was never there. 

I was left standing alone in the orb of light from the car, trying to figure out what had just happened.