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“Mmm. I love the smell of his apple pie.”
“You should make more of an effort to come see them.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know. I will.”
“Seriously, Shell. Don’t take them for granted.”
She nodded, understanding where I was coming from.
I lifted the box off the floor. It was fairly light. The contents inside shuffled around as I stepped out into the hallway.
12
Not So Saved by the Bell
“What’s with the box?”
“It’s a symbol of my procrastination and avoidance.”
Chase’s eyebrows lifted. “I can see that. It’s been on the floor for weeks.”
We sat on my couch after another tiresome day at work. His father had completely stopped going to the garage, and spent most of his days at home. I knew Chase was growing more worried by the day, so I tried to occupy him when we weren’t working. Admittedly, he helped occupy my mind, too. With the holidays rapidly approaching, it was going to be a difficult time for the both of us.
“When I realized that my mom was never coming back, I decided to take any and all evidence of her out of sight. My dad couldn’t handle seeing pictures of her, or anything else that reminded him of her.”
“So you put it all in a box.”
“Yup. So this is where it sits until I decide what to do with it.”
“What are your thoughts?”
“Choice A, I can throw the whole thing out and forget all about it. Choice B, I open it and go through it, dealing with whatever emotions come about. I feel like Pandora.”
He chuckled. “Pandora unleashed a lot of evil by opening that box. But that box also contained hope inside of it. Maybe if you go through everything in there, you will find some hope, and peace.”
He always found a way of looking at things from a different perspective. It was something I admired about him. It made me want to look at everything through his lens, and see the world in a way I had never seen it before.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
I sat up straight, unaware of the look on my face. “No reason.”
“So, what do you think you want to do? I can bring it right outside to the trash, or you can open it up and deal with it. Either way, it’s not good for you to sit here staring at it. You need to make a choice.”
I took a deep breath. “I guess I’ll go through it.”
He stood and brought the box over to me, placing it on the floor in front of the couch. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”
I reached out and grabbed his arm. “Don’t.”
His eyebrows raised. “You want me to go through it with you?”
“Would you mind? I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want–”
He sat down on the floor next to the box. “I’m ready when you are.”
I scooted off the couch and sat on the floor, with the box in between us. My hand trembled slightly as I reached out to peel the tape back. Before the top flaps had even opened, I smelled a familiar scent wafting out. I picked up the blue glass perfume bottle that was lying on top of the pile, and set it on the floor. “This will be the garbage pile.”
He nodded. “Garbage. Got it.”
