LIX | Sunset

❦

I don't have
exams
today

but I go to school
to study.

I come through
the back gate

like I usually do
when I'm
skipping
assembly.

Force of habit.

The rowan tree
looks lifeless
without her there,

sitting beneath it
with a book in hand.

I study,

my phone beeping
with messages

from Rowan.

Where are you?
Want to study together?

An interesting thought
that crossed her mind
last night

about the meaning of life.

The heart and the mind,
why do we need both?

Why are they compatible?

Things
I never
used to
care about.

I let my phone light up

and fade away
when it's tired of waiting for me.

I do read
her endless messages
when i'm bored

but I have
nothing to say

in return.

I think of the expressions
only I know

and wonder why
I wanted to see them.

❦

It's evening

when I pull my earphones
from my ears.

My brain is numb.

Rowan has
stopped texting

and I didn't
realise it.

Since noon.

(Ah, i forgot to eat
—no wonder i'm hungry.)

I lose my appetite,
leaving the canteen

the same way I came in.

Under the rowan tree

is (not Rowan)
Nya-Nya.

'Rowan's not here, Eeyore.'

The donkey's ears twitch.
'I know.
'It's you I want to meet.'

I turn to leave.

I'm the only one
who can see this creature
so if I ignore it,

no one will think it's strange.

'There's no one here,' it says.

The crickets sing

but the rowan tree
is silent like the dead.

It's dark.

The streetlights are
not working again.

'What do you want?'

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]