"It was my pleasure", replied Tom. She smiled. He swore every time she smiled
something good happened in the world. She was just the kind of person that could
cheer anyone up no matter what.
"Can you believe it's been four years since we met? Feels like just yesterday you
were helping me in history," exclaimed Eva.
"Yeah I know it's crazy! And now look, four years later and you're legal!" Tom
pointed out.
"Ehh I'm getting old!" groaned Eva.
"You?! I turned 18 six months ago! I'm the old fart here,” joked Tom. Again she
giggled. Her phone rang and it was her mother telling her it was time to go home.
"I gotta go. Thank you again." They hugged and parted ways.
He remained standing where he was as we watched her trot off. As he stood
watching, an oddly cold breeze blew through the park. He looked down at his shadow
and could swear he saw another behind him. Before he could turn to check, the shadow
moved across the trees, across the park and towards Eva's neighborhood. Tom gazed
up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set, but there was not a cloud in the sky.
Perhaps it was just exhaustion from the long day and he was beginning to see things in
the fading light, but he thought nothing more of it as he turned and set off for his house.
Chapter 2 - A Troubled Past
Tom entered his house, setting his keys on the hook attached to the wall. He
called up to his mother to let her know he was home and she responded telling him that
she was about to get into the shower. He went into the kitchen for a soda and found,
upon searching the fridge, the last can of his favorite soda. After cracking the can open,
his phone rang. It was his father.
"Hey buddy, how's it going?" asked his father.
"Hey Dad, pretty good. Spent the day with Eva. It was her birthday." Tom
informed his father.
“Ohhh, you guys going out yet?” his father asked. Perhaps Tom couldn’t hide his
true feelings from everyone, no matter how hard he tried.
“Dad…” Tom replied with a sigh of annoyance.
"I’m just messing with you,” his father said with a chuckle, but his voice quickly
took on a more serious tone, “so listen I can't take you next weekend. I got called out of
town on business. I'm actually at the airport right now. I'm really sorry." There was
actual sadness in his voice, he didn’t get to see his son as often as he’d liked, and Tom
knew how he felt. He missed his dad just as much as his dad missed him. His parents
divorced six years ago when he was only twelve. He watched as their relationship
slowly deteriorated until things got ugly. Fortunately for Tom however, if you could call
this a bright spot, they had been able to maturely set aside their differences when it
came to their only son. And as a result he had a strong relationship with both his mother
and father, as so many other children of divorced parents are robbed of.
"No it's fine, I understand. I have a paper to get started on anyway so I guess
that works out," said Tom trying to mask his obvious disappointment.
