Chapter Five, Part Two: Between Idea and Reality
It is the weekend. He has no business being awake this early on a Saturday, but he can't go back to sleep. After about an hour he gives up on sleep and gets dressed. Downstairs he make breakfast for himself, his parents are already at work. Five eggs, scrambled with cheese and tobasco. Two pieces of toast with butter. Six strips of crispy bacon. A large glass of milk. It takes him approximately five minutes to polish everything off, another ten to clean the pan and put things in the dishwasher, and then he is out the door. He knows, at least subconsciously, where he is going. He is going to the place he should not go, trying to find the girl that he should not talk to. The woods are cool, a reminder that winter will soon be there. He walks quickly, hoping to see the silent girl with coppery brown hair, surrounded by dogs. He wants to ask her who she is, tell her about the Ghost Girl in his school. He wants to hear her speak, he wants to know what class she is in, if she goes to his school. He wants to know why he has only seen her the one time and why he can't get her out of his mind. His feet move quicker as the questions build in his mind, imaginary conversation playing out and ending and starting again. He can see paw prints frozen in the mud, and he thinks he will see her again before the reality hits him. Disappointment, for something he hadn't know he was looking forward to, makes his breakfast sit like lead in his stomach. She is not here. He has combed the woods almost daily since he saw her, looking for her, wanting to see her again. He has neither seen nor heard a trace of her or her mismatched pack. He keeps coming back here in hopes that she will be there again one day. It will be two and a half more years before that day comes.
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