give her a side glance.
We continue to flip the coin for the remaining two turns, and then I pull up after our last flip.
We’re in the city.
When I look out my window, we’ve ended up in front of an ax-throwing place.
“Well, well, well… looks like we get to throw sharp objects tonight.” I wink.
Elsie follows my gaze. I’m not sure if she’s happy or sad. Only moments ago, she was smiling and laughing. Now, she’s gone silent.
I reach over and take her hand. She turns toward me with a weak smile on her face. “To be honest, I’m a little scared about throwing axes.”
I squeeze her hand. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure they have safety in place. Take a chance, Elsie. Then, we can grab a bite to eat and maybe go down to the beach.”
“All right, I’ll give it a go.”
I sigh, thankful that she’s giving it a try.
We climb out of the car and head inside. The night has a slight chill to it, and the town is alive with the weekend hustle.
“Is there something going on? This city is busier than usual.”
Elsie takes a moment and looks around at the people walking by. She glances down at her phone, then I see it; there’s a small smile on her face. “It’s the Morning Walkers Festival.”
“What’s that?” I haven’t seen anything about a festival.
“It’s when a heap of people gather on the beach all night. There are markets and stuff, but the highlight of the festival is when the sun starts to rise the following morning. Everyone runs into the ocean and swims as the sun rises over the horizon. It’s like a big party, and it feels kind of spiritual in a way, because you’re basking in the early morning sun… kind of like starting fresh.”
This sounds interesting and fun. “Wow! I’ve never heard about it. Do you want to do it tonight?”
She cocks an eyebrow.
I hold my hands out. “Only if you want to. No pressure.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“You do realize that you need to live a little. Come on, firecracker, do it with me? I’ve not done anything like this before.”
She rolls her eyes and finally nods.
I pull her into my arms and hug her. “Thanks.”
She smells like a breath of fresh air. Something I’ve been needing so badly. The death of Tom was hard for me. When he passed away, his spirit must have decided to take a piece of me with it, because I felt so empty. The kind of empty where you have no idea what you want to do with your life. The kind of empty where you wander aimlessly through the days, not really having any purpose.
“Let’s go throw sharp things and not injure ourselves,” she says against my chest.
I have no idea why I came here. Well, the college was the only place that would take me so late, but it seems like it was meant to be. This place and the people have lifted the heaviness I’ve had resting on my chest for over twelve months now.
Stepping inside, it smells like wood, and I hear the thud of axes hitting boards. There are quite a few people here tonight. I buy us one round each, and the workers set us up and give us all guidelines to keep us safe. There’s mesh between each person’s stall—I guess to make sure no one throws too crazily.
“You wanna go first?” I ask Elsie as she takes a seat, her eyes wide and darting around the rather large room.
“Have you done this before?” She faces me.
“No. It looks like it’s going to be fun, though. I think you should go first; that way I can learn from your mistakes.”
Her lips pull up on one side. I don’t think it would bother me so long as she gave me mouth to mouth and revived me when I passed out because she took my breath away.
“I think you should go. I’d rather watch how you do it.”
I get up and take my first ax. There’s a target board at the end of the wide—yet kind of short—barricade. I give Elsie a wink and take up my position behind the line on the ground.
Don’t make a fool of yourself, Aiden.
“Whoop, whoop, go big boy!”
I turn to Elsie, who’s pissing herself laughing; her arms are hugging her stomach so tightly.
“Stop distracting me, woman.”
“I’m not a woman. I’m a queen.”
I turn to face her and bow. “My apologies, Queen Firecracker.”
“Oh, shut it and take your turn