Pictures of You: A Love Story by Jane Anthony

Author:Jane Anthony [Anthony, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jane Anthony Author
Published: 2022-07-27T18:30:00+00:00

Our footsteps echo in the empty room. I search the stark white walls for signs of life, but there’s nothing here but desolation. The hardwood floors feel cold on my feet. The bold area rug I begged my mother for no longer warms the space with its splashes of color.

“Wow,” I whisper under my breath. “It’s all gone.”

My gaze slides to the window overlooking the porch. The roof tiles show through its wide eye, but all I see is Ryan. The way the moon shone on his golden hair as he perched on the overhang gently tapping on the glass.

Memories fall from the sky, slow at first, then faster and faster until I find myself crumbling in their presence, clutching my knees to my chest. I feel Ben kneel beside me, but in my head I’m here with Ryan.

Ryan.

Ryan.

Ryan.

His voice, his smell . . . he’s all around me, on me, in me.

“Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars…” Ben’s quiet voice surrounds me like a blanket. He whispers the planets in order, soft and slow. I pick up alongside, mumbling the words I’ve used to calm him since we were kids.

When I rest my head on his shoulder, he doesn’t flinch. “I loved him so much.”

“I know.”

“But I hated him, too.”

“I know.”

“How could I hate and love someone at the same time? What’s wrong with me?”

“Matters of the heart are complicated.”

“I miss the days when everything felt easy. When it was you and me playing Planet Quest and Mom was happy and Dad was sober.”

Ben’s chest rises and falls. He shifts enough to let me know he’s getting up before shuffling to his feet. Without words, he disappears through the doorway, and I’m left alone. The room feels as empty as my heart. I glance around one last time, preparing to leave when Ben returns holding a board game.

I smile. “Where did you find that?”

When he flips open the top, the smell of my childhood wafts up from the ancient box. I still remember the day Mom came home with this second-hand game. One of her clients was closing on their house, and they gave it to her to bring home to her space-obsessed son. Ben and I played it until the sun went down, asking each other questions as we flew through the cardboard galaxy. “It was in the hall closet.” He pulls out the game board and sets it between us on the floor. “You go first,” he says, holding up the pink astronaut.

With the flick of my finger, the arrow spins in a blurry black circle. Round and round, slower and slower until it stops on the number five. I set my astronaut down on Earth and count five steps to Mars.

Ben picks a card from the box and reads aloud. “True or false? One day on Mars is almost equal to one day on Earth.”

He watches as I think about my answer. “True.”

Pride beams on his face. He hands over the card to start my collection. “Right. One day on Mars is twenty-four hours, thirty-seven minutes, and twenty-two seconds.

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