by T Nisbet
Unlocking the front door and closing it behind me, I made my way through the darkened house to the kitchen, and turned on a light. Looking at my watch, I was heartened to find it was only 12:50. I took out my phone and turned it off without looking at the messages, pulled a Gatorade out of the refrigerator, and downed the entire thing. I noticed a message from my mother on our dry erase board near the refrigerator, and moved closer to read it.
“Dear Jake, your father and I are so proud of you! What a game! If you’re hungry, there’s some pot roast in the Tupperware on the second shelf. You should sleep in tomorrow; I know you’re going to be sore. Your Father and I are going to Aunt Trisha’s at 7:00am, we should be back for dinner, if not we’ll call. There is twenty dollars on the counter if you want to go out with your friends for lunch.
Love, Mom”
I sighed. I hadn’t been looking forward to going to Aunt Trisha’s. Cleaning my great Aunt’s rain gutters wasn’t my idea of a fun Saturday. I got out the pot roast and ate it cold, willing myself to forget about the party and the old man, but thoughts of Ivy’s smile wouldn’t let me. I stood at the kitchen counter eating the roast and wondered if that was the only thing real that had happened that night. I laughed to myself. Immortality. Living forever. Who on earth would want to live forever? Seeing your friends and family all grow old and die while you remained young. I shook my head, and concentrated on Ivy.
How could I have missed her becoming so beautiful? It was true that she did absolutely nothing to accentuate it, but she had been so pretty tonight. Could removing someone’s braces really change them so dramatically? A better explanation was that I was suffering from a concussion. It would explain a lot.
I yawned, and put the remains of the roast back in the refrigerator. I turned out the light and headed down the hall to my room. I closed my bedroom door behind me, and fell into bed utterly exhausted.