“Now will you stop?”
“Come on, let me take a picture of you.”
“Georgia, please.”
“Vera, just this one time.”
“Alright.” She twirls in her periwinkle dress and I tuck my chin in a chuckle. Straws from her floppy beach hat fall onto the ground. I twiddle one piece between my fingers as the sun radiates on my right cheek. The sky has cleared from a recent storm, and we head towards the maze.
“I’ve never been here before,” Vera says “How did you find out about this place?”
“Reggie told me about it. In the end, you’re supposed to find something.”
“Like what?” she asks as her arm links with mine.
"I don’t know.” I take her hand. “I guess we’ll find out.”
The gate creaks “hello” in its faded beige and there is a bush of seven roses. Six try to flirt with us, but one is a little shy. Maybe she is insecure about her wilting skin, so she cowers to the side. Her limp petal reaches out and it is seconds from falling onto the ground. I take a picture of this rose so I can hold a decent memory of her. Click.
I cling on to my camera’s necklace and we continue. We turn left. The sky carries a marigold frame.
“Do you remember the first time we met? We were cutting cookies with play doh?”
“Oh yeah in kindergarten? How do you remember that?”
I raise my eyebrows. “I remember everything.” She laughs and her thin fingers wave a hand and comb through her hair. A piece sheds onto the ground.
We turn right and there is little space between us. The evergreens hang over us and the winds whistles as we pick up our feet. The soil below leaves an earth mark and my Converse feels moist.
“Georgia, you know I’m not really sure about this. Do you just want to turn back?”
“Vera, of course we have to finish.” I place my thumb and forefingers on her shoulder. “You gotta take risks once in a while.”
“Fine.”
I lower my voice. “Do you remember how in elementary school how we had those little parties in our classes for every holiday? Valentine’s Day? Easter?” I skip around her as she only continues to walk. “Thanksgiving? Christmas?” I persist. She is silent as air. “Come on. We used to watch movies too?”
Her eyelashes lace together. “Georgia, I can barely remember that.”
“Alright then.” I give her a smirk.
We continue straight. The sun’s rays stretch out, shielding us from the dark.
“Do you remember in middle school how we played field day?” I ask.
“Was that with Mr. Turner?”
“Yeah! He picked you as captain for Capture the Flag.”
“Right,” she recalls. As we walk Vera trips onto pebbles. Before I can help her, she gets right back up and the blood drips from her knee.
“I’m fine. It’s not a big deal.” She smiles with some adrenaline. She pulls my arm, “Come on. I’m not a baby, and she struts on as her silver flats twinkle in the daylight.
“Alright.” We turn left again as the sun hides behind a cloud and little drizzle begins. Great. I hide my camera in my jacket. Tiny drops fall on my denim as her mascara paints a black watercolor on her face.
“Dang it!” she scratches her frayed cotton sweater. “I should have gotten water-proof.” Her forehead creates a wrinkle and I doubt that will ever change.
“You shouldn’t wear makeup.” I suggest. “You don’t need it.”
“Like you know anything about make-up,” she jokes.
The rain interrupts my thoughts. I pinch my collar and pull it up over my ears. “Hey, do just want to turn back?”
“Well, not now because we made it this far.”
“You’re right.”
We turn right. The path appears to be infinite as the dirt pushes me and collects onto my soles.
“Do you remember Ms. Jane’s class sophomore year when we had to make that DNA project for BioChem?” I ask.
“And how you totally finished yours last minute?” she teases.
“Well not everyone can be so responsible like you.”
“Georgia, it wasn’t that hard.”
“You finished the project a week after she assigned it and you and probably would have finished it sooner if it wasn’t for soccer, student government, Drama Club, Honor Society…”
“Alright I get your point. But you’re acting like I do too much.”
I stop at her comment. “You do.”
She laughs again. “Stop. Either way, our teacher gave everyone enough time to finish that.”
“Maybe, but then came junior year.” Our shadows on the grass are less defined.
“It wouldn’t have been that bad if you studied,” She lifts her eyebrows and looked like a child.
“I miss when times were simple.”
“Really?” she says. “I don’t. Life was easy, but it was complicated too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, back then I never had an exact answer. Whether Santa was real, whether some boy was ‘the one’ or not, or whether the friends I had were really my friends; nothing is real, nothing is fake. You were taught to think that it was just supposed to be a part of your life or that it’s normal. I left cookies under the tree until I was twelve. I dated Zared for way too long. The girls on the soccer team talked to me when I was a striker, but not when I was on crutches. I just do not like… pretending. I know four years doesn’t sound like much, but I’ve learned a lot. I like how my life is now. I am surer of myself.” She picked her French Manicure for too long and broke a nail. “My goodness. I need to fix these soon.”
We turn again. The sky deepens in color and I feel a chill. The drizzle hit like cold, little spikes on my cheek.
“Aren’t we supposed to graduate tomorrow?” she asks. We come at a dead end. “Great.” She says. “Now what are we going to do?”
I don’t know. I stand as time fights me.
Vera responds faster than I ever could. “Well, we’ve got to turn back to finish this.” She grabs my arm and lunges me forward to another opening and we find ourselves at the end. My eyes search and I find a gazebo with an arc pointing towards the clouds with a metal bench underneath.
There should be more.
The sky rips open with a million raindrops and we dash under to be covered from the water. My hand grasps the metal bench’s armrest.
“So, is this it?” Vera faces me as the swinging wind causes the drops to fall against her arm. She smiles and her dimples make two crescent moons.
“Yeah. I guess so.”
She laughs again. “What an adventure. I guess cool things don’t happen anymore like finding a pot of gold.”
“Well maybe there is something and you don’t see it.” I look around everywhere for something. I give her my camera to look for something. A hidden message, money, anything. I look all around me. There should be something besides this empty universe. My breaths grow heavy as I pace around the center. “We should go,” I land on the grass run to escape, but I turn and again I don't know. I don't know what to do with myself. Every possible exit and I peer into is endless darkness. The sun is lost. I begin to wheeze as if my lungs are inhaling through a straw. I turn away from Georgia so she won’t see me.
“Georgia, it's okay," with her voice as delicate as a petunia. Calm down and come back here.” Vera waltzes to the center and shrugs. “I like this. There is nothing to worry about. The world's not ending, girly. We should stay here.” She lays on the metal bench.
To this day, I never understood why she was so comfortable. As the rain flooded, I only wanted to run away, far from where I could be. But I knew I had to keep this inside. I kept this inside so I didn’t drown; she was my life preserver.
Vera waved her arms and we sat on the metal bench together. This was our last summer. I felt her body collapse into my arms. It was as pink and soft as dream. She held the smell of vanilla and the ringlets of her hair warmed my shoulder. I felt at home. We sat there as two birds on a bench. She was ready to fly when I decided to stay.
“Can I take one more picture?” I asked.
She looked at me without a second thought. “Alright child.” She said. She gave me back my camera and grinned with all her might. I wanted to hold onto this moment. I never wanted us to grow apart.
But we did eventually.
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