Britney was at the club like any other night. She practically lived there. As usual, she was trying to hook up with another guy. It was the same routine she usually did. Go to the bar and sit next to a cute guy she has never met. Order some strong alcohol that will get his attention. Normally, he will think she will be an easy lay since she orders a lot of alcohol. She starts to flirt with the guy. She switches their drinks so she won't get drunk, but he will. She claims she has to leave. He says he'll take her home. Sometimes, they'll make it to her apartment, other times if the guy is extremely drunk she won't let him drive and just have sex in her car. But this night is different.
She gets to the bar, to see only women there. She looks around the club to see all of the men occupied. She thinks she might be able to get the bar tender drunk, then she sees that he's in his late sixities. Not her type. She doesn't order anything. Instead she just leaves. She walks out of the club and into the alley. She's almost home when she sees a man leaning against a wall. He looks up and smiles at her. She stops dead in her tracks. He begins to approach her. Her heart is pounding in her slightly revealed chest. He puts his arms around her waist. Then he pulls out a knife.
"If you move at all, well, I think you know what's going to happen," he laughed darkly.
Even though her heart was pounding, her breathing was slow and calm. She noticed, as he was about to take her shirt off that he had put the knife back in his pocket. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then ran. Ran for her life. She could hear him swearing and following her. She ran past her apartment building in fear that he will break in and rape her there. She didn't know where to go. She hardly knew the city. She moved a lot over the past few years. She didn't hear the man following her anymore. She looked back and saw an empty alley. She stopped to collect her breath. She was too scared to go back to her apartment. She walked out of the alley and onto a main street. She just walked mindlessly for hours. She reached a park bench at about three in the morning. She could barely see the sun begin to rise. Then she remembered how when she was little, her parents took her to the park early in the morning to see the sun rise. She smiled at that thought. She knew her parents had died a few years ago, but she never bothered to go to their funeral or to visit their grave. She could barely remember anything about her childhood. She remembered her old home. It was a small tan house. It looked a bit depressing with the dead lawn and big tree in the front yard. When Britney had turned seven, she had a interest in flowers. She convinced her mom to plant flowers. They remved the dead bushes and replaced them with a variety of flowers; lavender, roses, daisies, sweet peas. They had put some bird feeders in the tree and some lanterns to make it look less depressing. Late at night, her dad would turn off the lanterns and show her the different constellations. Britney realized she was crying. She wiped her tears away and knew where she needed to go. She walked around town looking for the local cemetery.
She spent about an hour walking before she found it. She thought it would be impossible to find her parent's grave. Maybe her parent's weren't even barried in the same state. She still entered the cemetery. She saw a sign saying that some of the graves had been moved or been cremated. Her parents had been cremated and given to someone she didn't know in her family. She sighed and put her hands behind her head. She turned around and began walking out of the cemetery. Then she rembered her old address. Somewhere on Walnut Ave.
"That's all the way in the country part of town," she said to herself.
She began walking to a bus stop. She payed the driver with her remaining money from the bar. She knew she only had enough money to get there, not back. She took an hour bus drive to the corner of Walnut Ave. When she got off, she could see that the old lampost was still there. All of the houses looked the same. Except for one. Her's. She ran down to the other corner. She stood in front of her childhood home. The bird feeders had been removed, but the lanterns remained. The flowers were dead as well as the lawn. She saw the door open a little. She went in not thinking about dangerous it could be. She saw that her living room had been painted white instead of it's usual pale yellow. All of the furniture had been removed. She entered the dinning room. Again, white and no furniture. The kitchen had absolutely nothing in it. No tile, sink, or stove. She could feel the tears fall downher cheeks. She entered the hallway, expecting the cheerful red paint and the family photos to be hanging. Instead it was white and empty. She checked every room to see them empty and white. Then she entered her old room. She hesitated at the door. Did she really want to see her pale purple walls white and her colorful furniture missing? She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and opened the door.
She stood there with her eyes closed for five minutes. She opened her eyes to see the pale purple walls and her old bed and desk. Now she was crying with tears of joy. Her old bedding was still there. She turned around to see a shelf full of photos, jars, and letters. She saw photos of her as a child and some photos her parents had secretly taken while she was a teenager. She saw photos of her parents that she had nver seen before. Like their funeral. She grabbed the first letter she saw.
Dear Britney,
Over the years, your father and I haven't been close to you as we used to be. We know you are leaving soon, we aren't sure if you have decided to go to college or not, but we will miss you. We believe that you haven't fully changed. You still are the nice girl who loved the flower garden in the front yard, and the exotic birds that came to the bird feeders your father built. In case you decided you don't want to be with us, then come back, we have left pictures and letters for you to see everything while you have been away. We have asked the rest of our family to also send photos and letters for you.
We love you so much,
Mom
She could feel the tears coming back. Her parents had wanted to see everything that was going on in their life. She laid down on her bed and cried. She eventually fell asleep. When she woke up, it was dark outside. She felt around her room and found the shelf. She felt a candle and a match. She lit the match and the candle. The candle smelled like watermelon; her favorite scent even as an adult. She smiled at the memory where whenever she ate watermelon, she got it all over her face. She looked at all of the jars on the shelf. One had a lable that said 'Wishes' in her dad's writing. She opened the jar and began laughing when she pulled out a pink paper and read it. "I wish I could have purple hair" She remebered when she was younger she always wanted purple hair because it was her favorite color. She pulled out a yellow piece of paper and read it. "I wish you would come back and visit. ~Tom" Her breathing slowed. Tom had been her best friend as a child. She could barely recongnize his writing. It must be a recent letter because of how clean and unfaded the paper is. She took out more papers and saw the same thing written on them. She spun around when the door creaked open.
"Who are you?" the man asked.
"Who are you?" she responded.
He raised his eye brows then gave a small smile.
"I actually own this house and you are?"
"You don't own this house!" she felt so much anger. "I grew up here! You can't possibly own this house. Even my old furniture is still here!"
He froze. It looked like he had even stopped breathing.
"You....grew up here?" he muttered. She nodded as a response. He started shaking his head back and forth as tears cam in his eyes and he started to smile. She looked at him like he was crazy.
"You're Britney aren't you?"
"Yes. How do you..." she paused noticing the bottle cap pin on his shirt. She had made that and given it to him. Now it was her turn to smile and cry. She ran to him and hugged him. He hugged he back.
"Tom," was all she could manage to say. They broke the hug and sat on her old bed.
"How did you get the house?"
"Well, after your parents died, they gave me the house.," he looked at the shelf,"They actually asked me, if I decided to remodel, that in case you ever came back that I keep only that shelf. I...uh...actually decided to keep your whole room," he laughed sheepishly. She smiled at him.
"How have you been?" she asked.
"Lonely. Till now," he looked at her with a dreamy look in his eyes. He looked down and saw she was still holding the 'Wishes' jar.
"You've been looking through that?" She nodded. He looked back up at her.
"Did you read all of them?"
"Most of them. I had some really odd wishes as a child. I actually saw yours," when she said that part, his face lit up. "You really must have missed me. You put the same wish in," she smiled, looking at the jar.
"Actually, there's one wish of mine that isn't the same as the others," he gently took the jar from her hands and pulled out a pale blue piece of paper. She took it and folded it. It read "I wish she knew how much I loved her and how much I still love her." He studied her as she read this. She looked back at him. They stared in each other's eyes for a long time. Then she leaned in and kissed him.
