Annaka

Nan from dragging him to church often.
“What do you think?” Tia asked. “You think there’s something after all of this?”
“If we’re lucky then maybe it’s a bottomless ball pit in a burger joint,” I joked to break the tension.
Tia giggled. “You always had weird thoughts.”
“What do you mean, weird thoughts?”
“I mean, dude, you were the only kid who had an imaginary friend when we were young. What was his name? Clay?”
I hadn’t heard anyone say his name out loud in years. I was surprised Tia remembered.
“Yeah, Clay. How do you remember that?”
“This is super dorky,” she said with a chuckle. “Be right back.” She left the room.
I waited, unsure what she was doing. I took another sip and Tia returned with a dusty shoebox. She blew the dust into the air around us.
“This,” she whispered, “contains secrets from the past.”
Tia placed the shoebox on the table and opened it up. She began taking things out of the box:
A rubber band ball.
“Wow, I always wanted one of these,” I said, reaching for it.
“Too bad, it’s mine,” she said, moving it away.
A piece of paper with a heart on it.
“Ooohhh, what’s that?” I asked swiping it out of her hand.
“Hey! Give that back!”
I opened it up before she could grab it.
All it read was: Bee Mine. It was a Valentine with a heart-shaped beehive in the background. It was signed by Bobby Noah.
“Ooohhh, Bobby from elementary!” I teased. “You had such a crush on him.”
Tia swiped the Valentine from my hands and threw it back in the shoebox.
“Yeah, before I realized that all men are trash.”
“What’s he up to nowadays?”
“Just being a douchebag on the football team. We, well…actually, we went to a dance together recently.”
I glanced at her. “Juicy.”
She snorted. “It really wasn’t. He only went with me to make his ex feel jealous. It was bad enough he asked me how many guys ‘I’ve been with.’” She rolled her eyes. “Which is none of his business. I just felt super used. And I caught him making out with his ex outside later that night.”
“Oh, dude. I’m so sorry.” I lowered my shoulders. Why are teenage guys such disappointments?
“Don’t be,” she cut in. “I made sure he got his.”
There was the Tia I knew and loved. “Oh yeah? What did you do?”
“Well, I walked away in a mood. He followed me like, ‘Wait, wait, Tia, it meant nothing!’ He grabbed my arm then I turned around. Kicked him in the nuts in front of everyone and yelled, ‘I hope you get kidney stones, douchebag!’”
I couldn’t contain my laughter. God, I had missed Tia. She started laughing too.
“You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met,” I told her.
“I’m all right,” she replied with a shrug and a grin. She took a sip of her drink. “But that story is besides the point.” She reached into the shoebox and took out a piece of loose-leaf and showed me.
“You drew this the week you left. I held on to it.”
She handed me the piece of paper. I unfolded it to see it was drawing of Tia, Clay, and I standing in front of my tree house.
I had drawn myself with long braids and brown skin with goggles; Tia had long black hair, brown skin, and a cape. Clay was bald and grey. I had totally forgotten I drew that for her.
“Wow,” I said, looking at her. “I can’t believe you held on to this.”
“Yeah, I’m one of those sentimental people. I like to hold on to the past as much as I can.”
I smiled. “I’m really glad I ran into you today.”
Tia smiled back, turned up the music, and poured me another drink.
The drinks led to laughter and memories. It was exactly what I needed. I needed a friend that day—someone who remembered me. I’m glad it was Tia. I just wanted to feel connected somehow, after all the years that had passed. I guess someone did remember me.
“You can crash here tonight if you like,” Tia offered. “The sofa is all yours—my bedroom is down the hall.”
“Thanks, but with the funeral tomorrow I think I should be home tonight. I’m def down to hang out again soon, though.”
“That makes sense. I’ll be there tomorrow. You okay getting home?”
“Yeah, it’s only a short walk. I got this.” I stood up and stretched, and Taz did the same. I bent down and scratched behind his ears. “See you tomorrow, Tia. And thank you for tonight. I appreciate this a lot.”
“Any time.” She walked me to the basement door. “Oh! Also, don’t forget your phone.” She handed it to me.
“Why’d you have my phone?”
“So I could put my number in it, of course,” she said with a smile. “Text me when you’re safe.”
We hugged, and then I started down her driveway.
I took a breath of the night air and heard a car driving slowly down the dirt road. I followed the moon to my grandparents’ place and counted street lights glowing through the trees. Some Yarmouth side streets didn’t have crosswalks, so I walked as close to the side as I could; local traffic was smart enough to drive closer to the middle of the road. I could feel the alcohol make its way through my veins and I had a smile on my face from spending time with Tia. I still couldn’t believe she’d held on to that drawing. It was nice to connect with her, and it was even better to just…get away from everything else. As I got closer, I was sad knowing how broken my childhood home felt.
But broken or not, this was our home for the next little bit.
I found the road towards Nan’s place, and when I got close, I finally checked my phone. Two missed calls, and three texts from Mom.
Mom: Where are you?
Mom: Anna, you just ran off. I need you to come back.
Mom: Call me.
I’m usually fast at texting back, but my phone had been on silent. I hope Mom would understand.
All the lights inside were