Those Adrift » Places

         

After a few threats and an angry exchange between an old woman and her Yorkie through an open window, Pascale stopped. With a step backwards, her heel caught in the crack of the sidewalk. She stumbled off the steps, cursing under her breath. Pascale turned away from the building, pulling a cigarette and a lighter from her purse. With a couple flicks of her wrist, she gently nursed the flame as it bit at her cigarette. She watched the world go by her on the sidewalk. It was nearly noon and lifetimes were lived right in front of her. A baby began to cry in its mother's arms as she nursed her coffee. Two children in starched uniforms ran away from their nanny. A young girl collapsed behind a dumpster in an alley with a needle in her hand. A woman screamed out of a window, throwing clothes onto a man on the sidewalk. An old man kept fumbling up the first step, never quite reaching the mark. Pascale hadn't seen a bed in nearly 24 hours.

Maybe she was seeing things. Maybe it was futile. How could she even be sure? For all she knew, she was chasing a stranger. At worst, she was chasing a ghost. She turned back to the apartment building, looking at each window for a spark of familiarity. With a sigh, the years peeled away and she was a child again. Danny was next to her, taller but non-assuming. She was in an empty classroom, digging through a teacher's desk. "No one will find out. The permanent record is a myth," She was full of revolutionary ideas like that but Danny was convinced. "They'll know. Someone will be watching for us," he insisted. She rolled her eyes and turned to the chalkboard. "No, we'll be watching them," she said and took a piece of chalk. She draw an eye on the center of the board and Danny laughed. "They'll still catch us," he said. They didn't. It was Pascale that was sent to detention. But as she sat by the window, head leaning on her arms, she saw Danny draw a large eye on the window, just for her.

She snuffed the cigarette stub beneath her foot and pulled out a tube of lipstick. She twisted the top of We have to talk and draw a large eye above the intercom. If it was Danny, he'd recognize it and maybe he'd seek her out. Pascale reapplied the shade to her lips and decided to head home, wherever that was. Some rest would clear her head.