8 Nov 2011 fiction, "Young, Wild, and Free"

Marina barely made it into her room before the tears started falling.

The irony of the situation was that she had just comforted her best friend out of the same situation. Boys, school, soccer, it all was so stressful for poor Lauren. And finally she had just poured out all her feelings into Marina’s lap. Marina had felt obliged to help her. And she had. Tears had come out, and finally Lauren had smiled, and said “Marina, I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Marina had smiled too. “It’s no problem Lauren, really. I love to help with problems, I feel like I’m good at it.”

Lauren had walked away, headed to her car to go home. Marina had headed off to her own car, ready to go home. When her mom asked her how her day had been, she replied with the usual “fine” and had walked slowly upstairs. When she was at the top, her phone rang, and she picked it up to a sobfest featuring Lauren and Ben and Carly and about three other people who seeked her advice. And she gave it to them. And they hung up.

Marina got to her room, tears, welling in her eyes, and finally burst through the door. She sat down next to her bed, facing the window, and she watched the leaves rustle as tears slid down her cheeks.

She came to a realization that she needed to get away. There was no possible way she could be happy here anymore. She stood up, packed a bag with deodorant, her favorite jeans, sweatpants, and four t-shirts. She threw in a bottle of mouthwash just for kicks.

That night, she snuck out of her house. The trees rustled quietly, and the streetlights made everything seem that much more alone. Marina sighed, breathing in the cool air. She started to run in a random direction. She spread her arms out wide, and laughed as she thought of all the things she was leaving behind. She didn’t even notice when her phone fell onto the ground into a pile of leaves. She just kept running.

When she was tired, she lay down on a bench and slept. This is the life. She thought as she drifted swiftly into dreamland. I’m young, wild, and free…

She woke up the next morning, which was a Saturday, to bright sunshine and a warm breeze. She rubbed her eyes and smiled at the mysteriousness of it all. She didn’t know where she had started and she didn’t know where she wanted to end up. All she knew was that she was happier than she had been before she left.

She hitched a ride on a bus to the end of the line, and ended up in a place she had never been before. It was warm, and the summer sunshine felt good on her face. She walked by a bakery, and the baker saw her smile and smiled back, and gave her a free muffin just because. Marina thanked him and asked him why he was so kind to her. He replied that there weren’t many people walking around with such a bright smile these days, and hers had made him lift his chin a little higher, at least for the day.

“You’re wonderful.” Marina said honestly, and she walked out of the bakery with a smile and a blueberry muffin.

That day she simply walked around, smiling at everyone she met. It worked well for her. She didn’t have any worries, and it showed.

That afternoon, she returned to the bakery, and asked the man where she could go for something to do. “Depends on what you want to do.” He had replied.

“It really doesn’t matter, sir. I just want to do something.”

“All right. Sweep the floor in the kitchen, and then we can have lunch.”

“Yes sir.”

She’d swept the floor expertly, and they had enjoyed a delicious lunch of ham and cheese on authentically baked French bread. The baker had told Marina all about how he aspired to travel to France someday, and bake there. He hadn’t made it so far, but he knew in his heart of hearts that eventually he was going to make it. Marina agreed, his bread was delicious. She refused to give away too much advice lest the baker become accustomed to it. They enjoyed each other’s company, and eventually the baker asked her what she wanted to do next. “Oh, I don’t care sir. I just like it here, it’s so different from what I’m used to.”

The baker smiled, and nodded. I’ll give you twenty dollars for what you did today, but I’m afraid I can’t hire you. I simply don’t have the funds.”

She smiled too. “You’re too kind.” She said simply.

She walked out of the bakery, wondering what she was going to do next. It was only about two-o-clock on this Saturday, and she knew that no one was missing her, not yet.

What she really wanted was to get as far away as she could. She needed to breathe, to live, to learn from mistakes that she would finally be able to make.

She sat down on a bench, and crumpled the twenty dollar bill into a miniscule ball. She put it into her pocket, knowing that money would not make an impact on her adventure, not really. She closed her eyes, letting the sunshine warm her.

~~~~~~~

She wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep when she awoke. The sun was beginning to shift, so she believed the time was about five-o-clock. Her stomach rumbled. Wondering what she was going to do for food that night, she started walking. She wasn’t positively suer where she was going, she just felt like walking.