Standing from my bed, I grab my camera case and go to the kitchen. Dad’s left a note on the counter saying he’s had to run a few errands and he’ll be home before lunch. Turning the page over, I scribble down that I’m headed into the city to take photos and will be home before dinner.
Grabbing an apple and a bottle of water, I swing my camera case over my shoulder, and walk toward the bus stop. As I approach, I notice Miss Jessica is sitting on the bench, staring straight ahead.
“Miss Jessica,” I say as I sit beside her.
“Hello, Ivy.” She turns and smiles at me. “We have to stop meeting like this, people will start to talk.” She laughs at her own joke. “Are you taking pictures again, dear?”
“I am. I’m heading into the city to the library. Where are you off to?”
“I’m going to see Albert today. I miss him, and I want to talk to him about a few things.”
“We’re catching the bus together again.”
“It’s such a lovely day. The weather’s changing.” She looks up to the sky and smiles.
“We’re lucky; the weather is always nice here. The joys of living on the West Coast.” I smile. I’ve never been a fan of snow, or extremely hot days. Neither are appealing for different reasons. Snow is pretty to look at, but then it becomes sludgy but it’s a bitch to shovel. But extreme heat means I wear shorts, so I have to be careful how far down my leg I cut.
Ugh.
I hate both. Obviously.
The bus arrives and I help Miss Jessica up the steps. We sit together, me on the inside, and her on the outer seat because her stop is before mine.
“You know, I always wanted to travel when I was younger. I always wanted to go to Australia.”
“You never went?” I ask. The bus ride becomes bumpier as we round the corners.
“No, dear. Albert was terrified of planes. And then when he finally overcame his fear, life got in the way.”
“You could always go now.”
She giggles while she looks outside. “Oh no. I’m way too old to get on a plane. And, besides, who would I go with? Being in a foreign country is scary for an old lady like me.” She smiles.
“You’re young at heart,” I say trying to make her feel better.
Her frail hand reaches over and squeezes mine. “Make sure you travel the world before you’re old and sitting next to a beautiful young lady telling her the same thing.”
“I’ve never really thought about traveling,” I admit.
“I hear once you start going to different parts of the world, you get the travel bug and you want to reach every corner. See everything and try everything. I also wanted to travel to Paris to see the Louvre and the Eiffel tower.”
“Sounds more like an adventure than anything else. It could be fun.” I shrug with a smile.
“You should see where that camera will lead you. Being a professional photographer has its perks, especially if you’re any good. Which, I suspect you are.”
“I’m okay.”
“Now you’re being modest. I bet you’re wonderful. Have you got a portfolio? Would you show it to me?”
“I have some photos at home. I can bring them around if you like.”
“I’m surprised you’re not taking pictures on your phone. That seems to be all the rage. I hear about what some young people are doing. What are they called? The ones they take of themselves?”
“Selfies?”
“Yes, that’s it. Oh, I can only imagine the terrible things young kids are doing with those selfies. I hear it’s an epidemic.”
The bus takes a corner a little too fast, and Miss Jessica grabs me so she doesn’t slide off the seat. “Are you okay?” I ask.
“Oh yes, I’m more than fine.” Miss Jessica is very well-spoken. It’s a sign of the era in which she grew up, when young ladies were proper and pronounced everything correctly.
The bus stops, and Miss Jessica stands. “Do you need help getting off the bus?” I ask.
“Not at all, Ivy. You have a nice day, okay?” She winks at me, as her small frame shuffles forward and eventually steps onto the sidewalk.
The bus leaves once the doors close, and we head into the city.
It’s another fifteen minutes before we reach my destination, so I put my headphones on, and listen to music.
But Miss Jessica’s words of advice have stuck, and are resonating with me. Maybe I should look at doing something with my photography, travel the world. Who knows, maybe my demon is petrified of planes like Jessica’s Albert and won’t follow me.
When the bus reaches my destination, I grab my camera case and head outside. The city is small, but still bustling. The library services a few surrounding towns so it’s a good size, and two stories high. The upstairs houses non-fiction books, my favorites. There’s something intimate about reading a book based on someone’s life, especially when it comes to tales of survival against all odds.
The library itself is old. The building is made of stone, and I think I read on a plaque outside that it was originally built to be a church, but was bought and converted to the library nearly eighty years ago. Some of the windows still feature the original stained glass.
Sitting on a bench across the street from the library, I take my camera out of the bag. I change the lens to one that can zoom up close, look through it, and adjust some of the settings to compensate for the sunlight.
I watch as people mill around. Mothers with their children. Fathers with theirs. Teenagers. Old people. Even a stray cat skulks across the idle street.
Lifting my camera, I watch the cat through the display on the back, and laugh at how he sneaks across the street, slowing down when he reaches his destination. As if he knows I’m here, he stops and turns to look at me, suddenly lion-like in his composure. A blatant look of disgust flashes on his face, as if to tell me I’m beneath him and not worthy of taking his photo.
I snap the photo, and quickly look at the picture.
His obvious look of revulsion is captured. His scruffy fur and glaringly evident of lack of food does nothing to dull his attitude.
He’s looking at the camera like he’s royalty, and I’m nothing.
I can’t help but laugh.
“Wow,” I whisper and chuckle again.
He disappears into the sewer and I look around to see a travel agency just down the street.
It must be new, because I don’t remember it being there. I quickly tuck my camera back in the bag, and jog over to it. When I get to the storefront, I look at the posters in the windows.
There’s one of the Eiffel Tower, and one of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and a full window photo of the Great Pyramid of Giza. “Wow,” I say as I look in awe at the pictures.
I drag myself away from the window, and head inside. There are three people working. Two are on the phone with clients, and one is free.
“Hi, can I help you?” A guy, maybe in his early twenties, smiles at me.
“I was looking… um…” God, I can’t even form a sentence. Instead, I turn to look at the pictures, as if they can speak for me and tell the guy what I want.
“You saw our display?” he eagerly prompts.
“I did. Until today, I never really thought about going anywhere.” I must sound like a total loser.
He laughs, which instantly puts me at ease.
“The travel bug bit, eh? I’m kind of new here, but I’ve already traveled to Australia,” he says. “I can’t wait to take another vacation somewhere exciting.”
“Oh really?” My shoulders sink with jealousy. A part of me wants to ask a million questions, another part is screaming at me that I’m a loser. “Was Australia beautiful?” I turn to look at the picture of the Harbor Bridge. The water below it is so blue and vivid, and the image easily captures my attention.
“Better than beautiful. And the weather is like it is here, so you don’t have to acclimatize. The people are genuinely so nice. But everywhere we went, they wanted us to try Vegemite.” He screws his nose
up and shakes his head. “Not good.”
“Would you recommend Australia to someone like me, who’s young?”
“The night life is out of this world. If you stay in Sydney, it’s really expensive, but it’s so worth it. It really is beautiful. Do you want to go?”
“I had never really thought of traveling, but I was talking to a friend today and she said she wanted to travel when she was younger. She encouraged me to think about it. Maybe it’s something I can do when I finish college.”
“What are you studying?” he asks with interest.
“Oh, I’m not in college yet. Final year of high school.”
He takes a small step back. “Wow, I thought you were older.”
Awkward. “Anyway, thanks for talking to me. I’m sure you’ve got other stuff to do.”
“Wait, I’ll get you my card, if you want any information on anything, please feel free to call me.” He walks over to his desk, grabs a card from the holder and writes something on the back. “Here, you go. My cell number on the back, in case you have any off-hours questions or anything,” he stutters a bit.
How weird. Is he hitting on me? “Um, thanks.” I shove the card in my back pocket, and leave the agency. I head back to the bench, and take my camera out of the bag again. I start clicking away at random things. I’m careful not to take any images of people’s faces. Instead, I find it more interesting to look at the shadows dancing on the building. I’m always intrigued by them, wondering what others see when they look at them.
I spend the next few hours catching some amazing images with my camera. I manage to get a great series of pictures of a hummingbird as it flies through the flowerbed to the left of my bench. It’s remarkable to see the speed of its wings, the colors of its feathers, and the perfection of its form.
By midafternoon, I’m hungry and tired, and want to get home to load all the images on my computer and go through them.
I head to the bus stop, and wait.
A car pulls up in front of me, and the passenger window rolls down. “Hey,” the person calls out.
I duck down to see it’s the guy from the travel agency. “Hi,” I reply. An uneasy feeling bubbles inside of me.
“I’m on my way home, would you like a ride?” he asks, and offers me a smile.
The guy is kind of cute, but I don’t even know his name.
“It’s okay, I’ll wait for the bus,” I say and step back.
“Are you sure? My car’s a lot more comfortable than a stinky bus. And, I can tell you a lot more about Sydney.”
The knot in my throat tightens. Something’s not right here. Edginess takes over. Discreetly I slide my hand into my pocket, and press my finger on the circular button of my phone. Hoping it has registered my finger print, I quickly take my phone out. “Sorry, my boyfriend’s calling. Thanks anyway.” I quickly dial Tobias’s number via speed dial.
I hope and pray it doesn’t go to voicemail and he picks it up quickly. The guy in the car waits. And this freaks me out even more.
“Hey,” Tobias answers.
“I’m great, how are you?” I say, my voice is uneasy.
“What’s wrong? Where are you? I’m coming to get you.”
The guy doesn’t leave. He stays. “I’m at the bus stop, on my way home. I should be there soon.” The guy in the car glares at me. The smile he had melts and it becomes a look of annoyance.
“Who’s with you?” Tobias asks, I can tell just by his tone, he’s worried.
My heart thumps inside my chest and my pulse pounds so loudly I can hear it. There’s a person walking toward the bus stop, but they’re too young to help. Looking around, I search for anyone who can help me.
Suddenly, the car peels out and the tires squeal as it rounds the corner, leaving me. My heart beats wildly, because something about him was unnerving. But just because he’s left, doesn’t mean he isn’t going to come back. I talk as fast as I can, telling Tobias about the guy. Each word is blending into the next, and my voice cracks as I’m on the verge of tears.
“Go into the library and stay there. I’ll be there soon. Run, okay?” he asks.
I’m in no state to think for myself. My brain is filled with fog and trembling fear. “Okay,” I say as I turn and run toward the library. “I’ll see you when you get here.”
“Don’t hang up!” Tobias shouts into the phone.
I was going to do exactly that. Hang up. But the urgency in Tobias’s voice tells me not to. “Okay,” I answer. Although breathless, I get to the library and enter the building. “I’m here,” I say quietly as I head upstairs and find somewhere to sit.
“Are there people around?”
Looking around me, I huff as I try and catch my breath. “Yeah, there are a couple of people sitting over at the tables.”
“Stay close to them. I’m on my way.”
“Okay.” I look around me, worried the guy from the travel agency will find me here. I slink away behind a row of books. I can’t explain it, he did nothing overtly wrong, but something about the situation unnerved me.
“You okay, Ivy?” Tobias asks. The rumble of his car engine sounds in the background.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I take time to gather my thoughts. “It’s probably nothing, but he creeped me out.”
“What happened? Who creeped you out?”
“I should’ve listened to my gut when I went into the travel office.” I shake my head at my own stupidity. “I thought it was weird how he wrote his phone number down and gave it to me.”
“Who is he? And he did what?” Tobias says sharply.
I recoil, upset at myself for angering Tobias. “I’m sorry,” I plead.
“What are you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“If I didn’t go into the travel…”
“Stop it, Ivy. Stop making excuses. You should be able to go anywhere you want and not have some pervert hitting on you.”
He’s right, we all should be able to walk freely without the risk of being stalked. “I know,” I say in a small voice.
“Say it. Tell me it’s not your fault.”
“It’s not my fault,” I whisper.
“Little bit louder.”
“I know it’s not my fault. But I feel like if I didn’t go in there, then it wouldn’t have happened.”
“It wouldn’t have happened to you, but it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen to anyone else.”
“I suppose,” I mumble. “And it could’ve been worse.” I take his card out of my back pocket and flip it over to see he’s written ‘Call me anytime’ followed by his number. “I should go to the police and tell them what happened.”
“What can they charge him on? Being a creep?”
Tobias is right, there’s nothing they can charge him on. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“I’m nearly there.”
“I can meet you outside,” I say. Although my heart is still pounding like crazy in my chest, I’ll push myself and wait outside for Tobias.
“Nope. Just wait where you are. I’ll come and find you. I don’t want you to go outside until I’m there.”
The more I think about it, I could have read into the situation wrong. “Maybe he didn’t mean anything by it. Maybe, I misinterpreted things.”
“Why did you call me in a panic?”
“Something wasn’t quite right about it.”
“Then you didn’t misread the signs. Your gut knew something was off about him, which made you call me.”
“Yeah.” He’s right. “I guess I never thought anything like that can happen to me.”
“Thankfully, nothing actually happened. But it could’ve.”
I huff in frustration, a part of me wants to curl up in a little ball and rock back and forth. But another part of me is angry and I want to call this bastard and tell him off.
“Ivy, are you okay?” Tobias asks.
The angry part is winning over the back away part, and the more I think about it, the more I want
to hang up and call this jackass. “I’m gonna call him, and tell him what I think,” I say, the tone of my voice increasing with annoyance.
“No, you’re not. You’re not going to have anything to do with him.”
“What? Why?”
“Because that would be opening the door for worse things to happen. And you don’t want to put yourself in a dangerous position.”
Ugh. “I hate your logic,” I snap.
Tobias chuckles, and this gives me the reprieve I need to step back from the anger and fear coursing through me. “No, you don’t,” he says in a lighter tone.
“How long do you think until you’re here?”
“Five minutes.”
“Okay, I’ll see you when you get here. I’m on the second floor.”
“Don’t hang up. Keep talking to me. Do you regret not going to Chloe’s party last night?”
Him mentioning last night makes me break out into a huge smile. “Nope. I had way more fun with you. I’m not big on the party scene.”
“I liked how the night turned out, too.” I smile coyly into the phone. Giddiness floats through me. My pulse spikes with memories of how perfect we were together. “I’m just putting it out there, but my favorite part was kissing you.”
I giggle like a damn schoolgirl. I don’t remember the last time I actually giggled. “It might have been my favorite part too,” I snarkily emphasis ‘might.’
“Oh really?” he teases. “Just might?”
I smile again, and feel my cheeks burning with awkwardness. “Yeah, it was okay.” Rolling my eyes, I can’t contain the wide and cheeky smile.
“Hmm,” he huffs. “Looks like I have to try harder next time.”
“Yeah, it does.” I cock an eyebrow in a flirtatious way. It’s lost on him though, because he’s not here yet.
Black shoes appear in front of me, and I follow the denim clad legs up to the tight, black t-shirt. My heart immediately skips; I already know it’s him. My pulse eases when my gaze reaches the staggering good looks of Tobias.
I drop my phone to the ground, and jump up into his arms.
The sheer emotion of seeing him, and the travel guy… everything has compounded. Tears well in my eyes as my body responds by shaking. The tears break, and flow down my cheeks. “Hey,” Tobias says as he gently pets my hair, holding me tight against his body. “It’s okay.” He moves his hands so his palms encase my cheeks. “Don’t cry, beautiful.” Tenderly he moves forward, and places a kiss to my forehead. “It’s okay,” he says again.
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