I slowly went home that day, grumbling to myself how it's so unfair, life that is. I was so engross in my head that I did not notice a girl bent over watering some plants. By the time I noticed her, we were both on the ground fumbling over each other. "Miss, I'm so sorry," I said apologetically. To my pleasant surprise, and to her horror, it was the same girl from earlier.
"Can't you see where you're going?"she snapped. "Ugh! Leave me alone!"
"Okay, okay, please calm down," I tried to reason.
But the flames in her eyes told me no. She quickly composed herself, got up, picked up her watering can and ran off, leaving me no chance to chase after her.
'Okay then, home it is.' I thought to myself, until an idea popped into my head. I ran into the flower shop and looked for the owner or anyone who worked there. But where was everyone?
"Hello?" I called out. "Anyone?" I was about to leave when a girl with braided pig tails comes in with a smile.
"Hi! I'm Sammy, how can I help you today?"she said in a high pitched voice.
"Uh, I was actually wondering who is the girl that was watering your plants a few minutes ago?"
"What girl?" She asks shocked. " We don't have anyone helping us out. This is a family run flower shop! Please leave if you aren't going to buy anything, we have lots of work to do!" With that she shoo's me me away.
Once again, I'm being yelled at. Am I going crazy or what? Ok, I really need to get home and just take a rest , I'll come back later and try again. ' I hum to myself as I stroll to my house.
I never did make it back anywhere other than school once my days were up. My mother was waiting for me as soon as I could see the front door. Her hands were on her hips, which was never a good sign.
I love my mother dearly but she is overbearing.
"Collin James Cotheran!"she exclaims with outstretched arms as she spots me. " you needed to be home thirty minutes ago and in bed resting young man!"
" Yes, mama." I say gently. I knew then that she was not going to let me out of her sight. Mystery girl would have to wait.
Mother had my room all set up for me. There were books, movies, snacks, and even a desk to catch up on missed homework. I smiled at her and crawled into bed. I pretended to close my eyes and fall asleep, not realizing I actually fell asleep until nine o'clock that night.
Wow, just how hard did I hit my head? I looked at the end of the bed and saw a tray of food. Mother must have left it for me, knowing I'd be hungry when I woke up, especially having missed dinner. I was going to turn on something to watch when I decided against it. Instead, I went to the bookshelf and fingered along the tops of the books until I came across my school yearbooks. I picked the most recent one first. I wanted to find her name first. Flipping through the pages, I saw the faces of all my classmates and peers. But still no mystery girl. Maybe she didn't even go to our school!
Finally I came across individual pictures and started scanning all the faces. That's when I found her!
Katerina Ferenz.
Her face was fierce. She did not smile. Just glaring at the camera man. What happened to her to be this way? I looked for more pictures of her but only found one other. She kept a low profile. I scanned my other yearbooks to see if she was in my previous classes but she was not. Okay then, something must have happened last year that made her hate me so much! But what? I cannot remember for the life of me, it's like every memory involving her was wiped away, deleted, forgotten. I was going to make it my mission to find out what happened.
As I think about her, I can't delete the image of her red eyes full of tears. So pained. So hurt. Did I do that? Am I that evil? I lay back in bed and drift off into a dreamless night, tossing and turning.
I endure the next days with a pasted smile on my face. I do as mother bids me and stay in bed the whole time. To say I had my fill of rest was an understatement. Mother made sure I rested well the whole time.
I was finally glad when I was due back at school. I was going to seek out Katerina and make her smile, if but only once. Little did I know how that goal would change my life dramatically.