I hate my home. My house is in a busy country town, far enough out to be considered rural. But because the houses are so close together, I have no privacy. Especially since I have my three older brothers and two younger siblings. Every day I have to get up at the crack of dawn to help my mom, who has been sick these past few years, with getting the shop and Marie and Tabitha ready. Since my dad, Jeffery, Isaac, and Daniel, were already on the farm, I had some time to myself before I have to start making breakfast. I brushed my long honey colored hair and swept it into a tight braid down the back of my head. Closing my green eyes for a second I took a deep breath and got up to go into the kitchen. I made breakfast and set it on the table then went to go wake up my sisters and bring the food to my mom in her bed. After I made sure the girls were up and at the table, I went to open the doors to the shop. My family owns the grocery store of the town and it is my job to open and man it until 10 o’clock. Once Marie and Tabi came down to take over for me, I take my stash of curds and whey and walk to my tree a few miles down the road. Why do I even eat this…oh yeah because Mom said this will prevent me from getting what she has. Oh the things I do for her. I climb up to one of the branches and take out the curds and whey and begin eating it with a disgusted look on my face.
After a few minutes I could not help but feel like I was being stared at. I looked around, but it was not until I looked up and found myself looking into a pair of dark eyes. Almost as if they could sense the scream bubbling up my throat, they quickly put their hand over my mouth. I looked down at the hand in anger, but my face quickly fell into one of shock because where their pinkie should have been, there were only stubs. The person seeing that I probably would not scream now slowly took their hand away from my mouth and slid down onto the branch next to me. I was not expecting what I saw. What I was expecting was a creepy old pervert, but what sat beside me was an extremely attractive boy around my age. He had pitch black hair and extremely tan skin. The boy looked away sheepishly, seeing that I was analyzing him. He ran a hand through his hair before holding it out as if to shake. On this hand he was missing his middle finger. I wonder what happened? He only has eight fingers! Taking it, I smiled at him. “I’m Alexander, but everyone calls me Spider. You can probably tell why,” he said awkwardly laughing. Oh God! Even his voice is attractive! “I’m Cecilia, but I don’t really have a nickname. So why were you staring at me?”
At this Spider blushed, “Well I was sleeping, when I felt the tree start moving so I decided to see what was going on, and thus you met me.” He ended with a big flourish almost effectively knocking him out the tree. I wrapped an arm around his waist and steadied him, pulling my arm away quickly once he was stable. “Watch what you’re doing you idiot,” I said with a light blush spread across my cheeks. Oh Lord, can this guy get any more perfect? What is this guy’s workout regimen? “Oh sorry, I can be kind of spastic sometimes. So what brings you to this tree?”
“Well I’ve been going to this tree for years. I just like to be surrounded by nature, not having to deal with society. I have all the privacy I could ask. I thought no one knew about it until you showed up.” Spider gave me a smile, “Well I mean when you’re sitting in a car for eight hours, any respite is good. Besides I live right there now,” he said pointing to a house a few minutes further down the road.
I looked towards him with shock on my face for two reasons. First was that no one ever moved into this town, everyone was just born there and if you left you never came back. The second was that the house he had pointed at was the old haunted house that all the little kids would dare each other to go into. “My mom thought she’d buy a fixer upper, but the problem is that she never does any of the work, it’s always me doing the manual labor.” I didn’t notice his hand creeping towards mine until his fingers intertwined themselves with mine. My face can probably be compared to the tomatoes Dad grows. Great, he probably thinks I’m such a weirdo. His hands were rough but they also held this gentleness that I couldn’t describe. His tugging of my hand pulled me out of my thoughts.
“Come on, let’s get out of this tree before it gets any darker,” he explained letting go of my hand and jumping down. Once down there he opened up his arms. “Just jump, I’ll catch you,” Spider said showing off his rows of pearly whites. I just had this feeling to trust him I guessed so I just jumped and I was engulfed in the warmth from his body. He set me down and laughed. He’s like a giant! He has to be at least a good seven inches taller than me! “I guess it’s time for us to part ways but I hope we can see each other tomorrow, maybe I’ll explain my fingers to you,” Spider said as he stepped towards me and hugged me. I closed my eyes and enjoyed how well our bodies seemed to fit together. I was about to respond, but before I could, I was interrupted by a voice.
“Alex, who is your friend?” I could feel him clench up at the feminine voice that somehow sounded like wind chimes in the breeze. “Please don’t open your eyes,” whispered Spider. But I just couldn’t help myself, so I opened my eyes and nothing prepared me for the sight I saw.
The woman standing before me had scars all over her face as if a bear had had a field day all over her face. She was wearing shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt, so I could see that the scars did not just stay on her face. Spider sensing that I had seen the woman took a deep breath and let go of me. “Cecilia, this is my mom. Mom, this is Cecilia. I just met her.” I could see the light smatter of pink across his cheeks, probably not wanting to tell his mom what we were doing. Looking back at Spider’s mom, I saw that she had come closer and had held out her hand. Unlike her son, she was not missing any fingers but instead there were deep scars across the top of her hand. Taking it I smiled at her, and when she smiled back it was like all the scars just disappeared.
“Well I hope you can come over one day, when Alex isn’t running away from his housework.” At this she sent a motherly glare towards Spider. “I’m sure your mom is wondering where you are, so I’ll let you go. How’s about you come over tomorrow and I’ll make you two some lunch. How’s that sound?” At the mention of food, my stomach lightly growled. Blushing, I quickly wrapped an arm around my midsection. “I would love that,” I exclaimed. “I’ll be sure to bring some of my mom’s homemade jam too.”
Seeing that the light was getting darker, I knew that if I didn’t want to get into any trouble I had to leave now. “It was really nice meeting you and I can’t wait for tomorrow. I really have to go so I won’t get in trouble.” Turning I threw a wave over my shoulder and locked eyes with Spider. Feeling a blush coming on again, I began walking faster and faced forwards again with one thought on my mind. Maybe home isn’t that bad after all.