Ivan

When the girl came out of the moving van Ivan wasn't sure if she was pretty or not. The reason he thought she might have been pretty was because of how gracefully she stood, the reason he thought she might not have been pretty was because of the way she was laughing, like if she stopped laughing loudly for even a moment she would never be able to laugh again.

"Ah, I heard from Angie that we were going to have new movers." Ivan's mother's voice caused his body to jolt in surprise before he turned his head to look up at his mother who was standing in the doorway.

When did she get here?

Ivan looked at his mother, for once wanting her to elaborate. His mother's eyes stayed on the new family for a moment before looking back at her son. The misery was back.

"Ivan, honey, what's wrong." His mother looked at him, her eyes looked tired. "I just don't understand this, this isn't...normal."

Ivan's heart dropped just a bit as the sentence escaped his mother's mouth, but she didn't seem to understand the harshness of her statement until Ivan turned his head to look at the street.

"I-I didn't mean it like that." But Ivan was good at spotting lies especially when they were coming from her mother's mouth. She was right this wasn't normal. Lying on your porch for four weeks of summer was not normal. But it felt better than being suffocated by your own thoughts.

"I'll make you lunch." His mother whispered quietly before he heard the screen door open and close, and fading footsteps.

Ivan closed his eyes for a moment, not out of sadness but not out of fatigue either. He wasn't exactly sure why he was closing his eyes, but he only knew in that moment it felt right.

When he opened them the laughing girl was gone, the Phils movers truck was nowhere to be found, and there were stars in the sky.