2021 riverrun Final PDF

you.” When she said nothing in return, Daniel crossed the street to his car and headed
for home.
After work the following day, Daniel went back to his place and packed several
large boxes. A friend of a friend had offered a small studio that accepted pets.
One short phone call later the place was his, and it was move-in ready. At quarter to
eight, he grabbed a jacket and left for the store. He wanted to tell the old woman
about his new apartment, and he wanted to grab a bottle of whiskey to celebrate.
When he got to the bus-stop, he took his spot on the end of the bench and
watched the traffic pass as he waited. His mind wandered and it was not until the
bus arrived that he realized he was alone. Startled, he got hurriedly to his feet and
looked around. The old woman was nowhere to be seen. Daniel had no idea where
she went after their visits at the bus-stop, only the direction she normally headed, so
he jogged a short distance along her usual path, casting his eyes side to side as he
searched for any sign of her. He found nothing.
Back at the bench, he waited for another hour before scratching his head
with concern and returning to his apartment. He went back the next night and the
night after that, returning every evening for the next week, but she never showed.
The night before he was to move into his new place, Daniel made one more
trip to the bus-stop on the corner. He still had the bottle of whiskey he had purchased
as a celebration surprise, but when the last bus had come and gone, and the
old woman still had not made an appearance, Daniel resigned himself to the fact that
she was never coming back. He could not continue to show up hoping that she
would. It saddened him, but he knew there was nothing he could do.
At home that night, as he crawled between the sheets, he thought about the
coming day, and he thought about Jeffrey. He thought about the night of their second
anniversary, after the crowd had left and they were alone in each other’s arms,
drunk with alcohol and dizzy with emotion. He thought about the promise they had
made to each other that night, an oath of love and devotion whispered closely into
each other’s ready ears. No matter how angry they were at each other, no matter
how bad things seemed to be, they would always love each other, and they would
never spend another night apart. A smile on his face, Daniel fell asleep.
The following evening, Daniel loaded Maya and Leonidas into their crates
and carried them to the car. His new apartment was much smaller than the one he
and Jeff had shared, and he had decided to make a new start. Everything he planned
to keep he had loaded into the trunk and the backseat. The shoebox holding Jeff’s
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