10
Raine
"Are you in trouble?" I ask Haven as she hoists herself into my truck.
"Nah, Paula won't say anything if she assumes something. I'll be okay," she tells me. "Let's leave."
I put the truck in drive and ease away from the curb. "You sure about this?”
"Yes. Go now, before someone else pulls into my driveway." She waves her hands around, urging me to go faster.
"Okay, okay. Geez, girl, where do you want to go?"
"Um, I guess somewhere we don't have to worry about flooding." With a cute little smirk, she glances over at me with a gentle smile.
I drive us to the same spot we went to over a month ago, to the edge of the woods that lead to the secluded lake. The land is elevated over here, and the water level on the unmarked path won't make it hard to get to the dock. Now that the rain has stopped and the sun has come out, the humidity level is higher than normal and moderately uncomfortable. "You sure you're not going to be in trouble later?" I ask her.
"I won't be in trouble," she promises. "I think I remember how to get to the dock." She takes the lead through the woods and heads in the exact the direction I took her the one other time we came here.Good memory. It takes us less than ten minutes to descend the hill near the dock, which is elevated about a foot higher than normal, but it is clear from the runoff. As I roll my freshly dried pants up to my knees, I glance over at Haven, finding the very same smile on her face that she had the first time I brought her here.
"You really like this place, huh?"
"I like the peacefulness," Looking over at her, I see contentment shining through her eyes, highlighting exactly what she just said.
Haven walks to the end of the dock and sits down on the wet boards without concern. Slipping her tall, teal rain boots off one at a time, she places them off to the side. I take the spot beside her and remove my boots as well. There's a slight breeze from the water here, and it's minimizing the humidity a touch.
"Have you ever felt so trapped, you couldn't think of more than one way to solve your problem?" Each of her words slowly melts into an understanding I would never want to have about her.
"What do you mean?"I don't want you to say what I think you mean. Your life isn't as bad as you think it is.
She shrugs, "I don't know. I just don't like to feel so stuck all of the time."
"You're not stuck," I argue.
"I am stuck until I’m done with school."
"Then what? How will you become unstuck at that point?"
She peers over at me, cupping her hand over her forehead to hide the sun from her hazel eyes. "I'm getting the hell away from here. As far as I can go, that's where I'll be."
I lean back into the palms of my hands, alleviating some of the stress from my shoulders. "I've thought about that too."
"You can do it now," she tells me.
Instead of giving her a list of reasons as to why I'm stuck here, I give her a slight nod with a matching smile. "Sure."
"Where do you sleep every night?" she asks. Her question comes out of left field, and I wish we could drop the homeless conversation for good, but I know she won't give this up until she has a full understanding of my situation.
"I find different places," I tell her.
"Do you ever sleep here on the dock?" she replies.
"I have."
"That must be soothing...sleeping under the stars, listening to the frogs and crickets sing together." It is nice. It's as great as my life can get right now. "I'd like to sleep here."
"I don't know. Sleeping outside isn't all it's cracked up to be," I tell Haven. It was freeing the first night, but every night following, it felt like…it feels like…I’m homeless.
Haven lays back, resting her arms beneath her head, basking in the abundant heat from the sun. She closes her eyes, and a smile pinches on both sides of her mouth.
