Three Years Later

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah Susannah, I think I'm good from here. But thanks for calling." A lulling sigh bled from Susannah's lips, I could hear the loud hiss of the sink water running in the background.

"No problem. Remember I'm here if you need me."

"I know Susannah, I know." I assured her, glancing at the apartment complex outside my window. My eyes ambled across the thick vines of ivy grappling onto the building's brick surface. Behind the veil of lush green lurked several windows, each one harboring a macabre room beneath the chipped glass. The sun firmly scorched my face, leaving a torrid sensation lingering across my skin. I flicked a strand of sweaty hair from my face and slipped out of my car, my eye twitching as the unbearable street noise flooded my ears. I approached the trunk of my black van and popped it open, revealing an old dusty mattress as well as a black suitcase. I veered the yellow zipper around my bag and took out a small pink shopping bag. It had a white sticky note stuck onto its paper surface, I tore off the slip of parchment and scanned over the words scrawled onto the card.

To my sweet little niece, use these on rainy days

I smirked at the note, my eyes settling on the words 'sweet little niece'. Knowing that I hated that nickname, she must've done that on purpose. I slipped my hand into the delicate paper bag and felt something hard and rectangular touch my skin. When I pulled out my arm, the object revealed itself to be a small packet of cigarettes, there was an orange lighter taped to the side of the box.

"Thanks Susannah." I mumbled, my smirk widening, "But I'm really not in the mood to die from lung cancer." With one flick I sent the packet flying across my car and into the passenger seat. I glanced down at my wrist, my watch read 12:36 and there was supposed to be someone named Katherine showing me around school at 12:51. I took another moment to gaze at the sky scrapers towering above my head and I leapt out of my trunk. I began to stroll down the road, my ears immediately blocking out the bothersome clamor caused by the mass amount of traffic.

"Geez, Manhattan sure is loud."

***********

The school was smaller then I expected. It resembled more of a middle school then a high school. There was a black steel gate rooted into fake green grass, guarding the exterior of the brick building which towered two stories tall. My footsteps sounded hollow against the reflective tiles as I made my way towards the office. The halls were filled with an unsettling silence, which wasn't shocking considering all scholars were attending classes at the moment. I cautiously lifted the doorknob to the office and walked inside. The room was pretty deserted, with only an empty desk in the corner and a few chairs in the back. I searched the room for any signs of life but there was none to be found. I swear I saw a tumbleweed rolling across the floor.

"Hello?" I squeaked, "HELLO?" At the sound of my voice, a series of crashes and screams came from the other room. I raised an eyebrow at the frazzled teenager that emerged from the doors. She nervously giggled and raked her fingers through her tangled blonde hair. Reaching out a pale slender arm, she then swiped a pin off of the abandoned desk and stumbled over to me.

"Hi." She mumbled, her voice wavering.

"Hi?" It came out as more of a question rather then a greeting. She held out her hand for me to shake, I declined and shoved both my fist into my hoody pocket. Her blue eyes twitched from the awkwardness before she at last retracted her arm and cleared her throat.

"I'm Katherine, but everyone calls me Tabby. I'll be showing you around today." She handed me the pin she snatched earlier and instructed me to latch it on the vest of my hoody. I followed her out the office door just as a student was sent  inside. My eyes wavered at him as he strolled through the metal archway, his hands burrowed in his sweater pockets, his slate eyes shackled to the ground.

There was a mysterious aura rippling off his stark white skin, it was bitter and jagged, like a thorn waiting to draw blood. I felt a familiar pang at the back of my skull, maybe he was one of the painful memories I had shoved away into the dark abyss that is my mind. As I passed him, the whole world felt as if it had slowed down, just his very presence put my life in limbo. We met eyes for just a second, before continuing down our separate paths.

*************

"And that concludes our tour of the first floor."

'That's it?' I thought, 'She took me in a straight line and said nothing.'

"I can show you around the second floor if you like." She said. I respectfully denied,

"I think I can find my way around. Thank you though." Katherine nodded and retreated to the office, abandoning me in the halls. The bell rang the minute she closed the door, sending packs of students flooding into the halls. I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

'Even the schools here are loud.' Swiftly, I maneuvered my way back towards the front door. I then creaked them open and started walking the long way back, dreading the boredom that awaited me inside that empty apartment building. It only took me a few hours to reach my destination, considering I was dragging my feet. Instead of heading inside my apartment complex, I opened the trunk of my van and plopped down on my mattress, it was still sitting where the back seats were supposed to be.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, signaling for me to pick it up.

August: How's Manhattan?

My fingers flew across the screen,

Lyn: They have great hats

August: Har har

August: But seriously, you like it?

Lyn: It's loud and the air smells cancerous but I'm okay

August: 😬

Lyn: Yeah, thanks for checking on me big bro, good night <3

August: G'Night shorty

Lyn: Call me that again and I will hitchhike back to Virginia and throw you out the window (again)

I silenced my phone before he could reply and hurled it next to the packet of cigarettes in the front seat. It was nearly impossible to sleep with all the street noise surging down the road. I inhaled a mouthful of toxic air and looked up at the sky, scanning around for the twinkling lights that always greeted me when I closed my eyes. But the stars were all patched away with infinite layers of air pollution.

'What the actual fuck? I'm beginning to regret ever leaving Virginia.'

I focused my gaze on the map plastered against the worn leather of my car seat. I then traced a finger over each one of the X-marks scored across the soft parchment, my eyes halting on the little golden star clinging to the cusp of a road.

"Sakura Orphanage...." I whispered. An excruciatingly silent aura settled over my mind, the same feeling of oblivion I had experienced this morning while encountering that stranger. It sent needles pricking down my spine. The memories locked away into my mind began to resurface, each one more doleful than the last. I sucked in a dense breath of air before reaching into the depths of my suitcase and pulling out a mottled spray paint bottle.

'Considering how sucky this place is I'll probably be leaving soon anyways. So what's the point in waiting?'

I slipped my phone back into my pocket and hurdled over the edge of my trunk, clicking the entrance shut behind me before I bounded down the sidewalk, scanning around for an appropriate spot to leave my signature.

*******

It took me a couple minutes to realize how tedious this task was going to be. The entire block alone was like an eternal maze, I sometimes found myself striding in squares from the sheer frustration of navigating through the city. Eventually, I surrendered to the insufficient solution of just sprinting in a straight line down the sidewalk.

'How ironic....' I thought, 'Despite the simplicity of the situation, I still managed to contemplate a way to run away from my problems.'

I don't even bother to check the time or memorize the route I'm taking until my phone starts to squirm in my pocket, the sudden movement instantly causing me to halt my senseless running.

"August again?" I asked, gliding my thumb across the oily screen.

August: If you keep walking straight from your apartment complex and make a right down the park near Main Street, you'll find a run down train station up on the moor.

"How the hell did h-" My phone rattled in my palm, yet again.

August: Don't try to lie to me kid. I know you hate cities. I can imagine you're already mapping out your next destination.

Lyn: You're telling me there's a moor here? A beautiful, empty, lush, non-polluted, plant infested, moor within this wasteland of toxic fumes they call 'Manhattan'?

August: Yep.

Lyn: HALLELUJAH!!!

August: The moor's roughly five miles away from your designated building. Go by car, it should take you twenty minutes, go by foot (like you always do) it'll take an hour or so.

Lyn: Thanks bro. Now G'Night for real now.

August: 😎

********

My  sprinting began to dwindle bit by bit until I was no longer running, but rather sauntering across the street toward the park. I approached the rusted play structure with great disappointment, sighing as the metallic scent trickled into my lungs.

"Pfft, grimy." I chuckled, flicking a patch of mold away from the cusp of the slide.

The moist soil squirmed and slithered beneath the soles of my shoe, due to the fact that most of the mulch on the ground had already eroded away because of insufficient care and poor weather. I caught sight of the train station perched high on the edge of the moor, its steel walls illuminated by the moon. Goosebumps began to sprout across the surface of my skin and I didn't hesitate to quicken my pace.

******

"Fresh air!" I exclaimed, sucking in mouthfuls of pure oxygen. I struggled against the wind as it violently raked its claws through my hair, gnawing through my skin and drilling down into the marrow of my bones. The scent of lemongrass and mud lingered in the breeze as it sharply nipped at the sweat on my neck, I loved it.

My pale cheeks had tinted red, my bangs clung on to my forehead, I could feel my throat constricting on itself as I stumble into an oak tree, pressing the back of my head to the bark and permitting my knees to buckle beneath me. The wind gently raked its soft fingers through the dandelions riddling the moor, a few swayed against my knees as I shifted my weight over for them to breathe. I lifted my calf to reveal a flower bud bent over to its roots.

"I'm sorry." I said straightening it and getting up altogether. The lumpy silhouette of the train station was still situated near the moor ledge, it was decrepit and kind of resembled a shanty. I pressed my fingers against the door, forcing several chunks of moss to cascade from their hiding places. The floor sunk about six inches into the ground, it was speckled with moss, which paired well with the dewy walls. I retrieved the can of spray paint from my pocket and returned outside. As I did so, something small and argent caught my eye. A small rusted rod, buried beneath layers of grass and rocks. I began to hack away at the rubble with the tip of my shoe until the rod was completely exposed.

"Wow....." I gasped with a chuckle, "The train tracks!" I stretched out my arms and tiptoed across the rusted metal as if it were a balance beam. They just seemed to extend on and on and on before disappearing over the roughish ledge that dropped back towards the ground. It took a little bit of pacing before the thought crept back into my memory again.

"Pft, almost forgot." I said leaping down into the billowing grass. Picking out a flat spot on the train station shack, I gave the paint can a few firm jolts before squirting the liquid onto splintered wood.

Lyn was Here
~Home 15

Fifteen homes in the past three years, that's gotta be some kind of record. There was a sudden jolt near the rim of my pocket, a flash of silver and a gentle clink. When I averted my gaze toward the ground a small chain locket sat nestled in between the strands of grass. I clicked my tongue before picking it up.

"How'd you get here?" I thought stroking the curves of the heart. My finger ambled over the latch, I gulped before coercing my finger down on the lock, causing the cover to burst open. It admitted a trimmed photograph into the shine of the moon. The picture illustrated a nine year old girl, with jet black hair and dark hazel eyes, her arm draped around the shoulders of her companion. The boy whom she embraced had his slate eyes averted from the camera, a microscopic smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, a scarf tugged around his neck. I sighed, a little, trying to release the heavy feeling embedded in my chest. My hands guided the locket up closer to my lips as they parted, whispering the boy's name under my breathe.

"I'm sorry Levi."