Never grow up.
She missed the warm country air, blowing her hair off to the side. She would stand on top of the hill near her house and smell the apples growing from the apple orchard just a mile away. She would run all the way down and go back to her home, just as warm and comfortable as the season.
But here she was, in the busy, bustling city, where no one has the time to say a “hello!” or a “how are you?”.
She was sitting in an old Volvo her aunt passed on to her mom, who was senselessly talking about school and how she should work hard to become a doctor and get rich, and raise a family, and —
She blocked her mom’s voice from her head. It was not the time to think about such depressing matters. It was another Sunday, another day when she could see her boyfriend, who usually came an hour later than she did, but she didn’t mind waiting. She could have a full hour, contemplating on the meaning of life while sipping a warm vanilla latte from the Starbucks across the street. Sometimes, she would look around Ralph’s to check out the greeting cards, smirking at their silliness or smiling at their cleverness. And she would listen to music the whole time, both earphones plugged in her ears to block out any distracting sound.
When they arrived at the nursing home, her mom wished her a good day and she drove off.
She looked around to make sure no one was looking and pulled out her newly-bought iPod and its earphones that came with it. She bought it with her boyfriend in November and when he dropped the box that it came in, she was going to kill him. But of course, why would she want to kill such an amazing boy?
She slid her earphones into her ears and tapped on “Shuffle.” Need You Nowcame on, and she smiled. She went through the automatically opening doors and dipped her head respectfully at the seniors, most of which were hobbling on their canes making their way to the dining hall for breakfast. She reached the elevator and habitually, pressed the up button.
When the doors opened, she stepped in and pressed “3”. The third floor was her favorite floor. Everything amazing happened there. No staff member ever comes up there — maybe a few times, to clean up the occasional bedwetting or to sanitize the bathrooms.
She walked through the hallway, until she got to the windows and the sofas. The comfy place. The very comfortable place. She threw off her jacket on the chair and slumped down on a cushion. The song changed to What Makes You Beautiful. She sighed and waited.