Stray Story - 014

With Caroline agreeing to return home with Elis, everything was sorted.

Everything was resolved.

Caroline didn't really have all that much that she needed to pack up. After all, she'd come here with only the clothes on her back, and nothing else. She'd gotten by the past week, wearing clothes that Tayla had loaned her.

As they were about to leave Elis pulled me aside to speak to me.

She said, 'thanks for looking after my sister. I still don't like you, and I don't think I ever will, but I guess you can be nice enough some of the time. Keep looking after Tayla too, okay?'

That was by far the nicest thing she's ever said to me.

I guess even if we still don't get along, I've finally earned her approval. That's great. I mean, she is Tayla's best friend after all. It's important to me that even if she doesn't like me, at least she accepts that me and Tayla are going out.

Even though she had been so against it before, Caroline now seemed happy to be returning home with her sister. She thanked me and Tayla for all of our help, and then apologised for all the trouble she'd caused. Somehow, she seemed a bit more mature all of a sudden. I guess that's what you call personal growth? Going through a rough time, and coming out of it a better person. Yeah, that must be what this is.

I'm glad that this chapter of our lives is coming to its' conclusion, however. It's good that Caroline and Elis are moving forward. And also, the strain on my wallet that Caroline was causing is all gone now. Maybe I'll finally be able to buy a phone.

We said our goodbyes, and then the two of them were off, headed for the bus back to their home. Me and Tayla watched them walk down the street from the entranceway until they disappeared out of sight.

Tayla squeezed my hand as she held it.

She rested her head on my shoulder and said, "you know, you don't have to do it all by myself anymore, Alexander. I'm not saying you need to rely on other people more, but at least let me help you."

"I know. But you did help this time, didn't you? You gave Caroline clothes and food, you told me where to find Elis yesterday… if it wasn't for you it would've taken longer to work all of this out."

"If you'd relied on me more, it would've been over quicker. I could've told Elis anytime about Caroline, and unlike you I probably would've convinced her the first time, because I know her too well."

I thought about what Tayla was saying. Yeah, she was probably right. It might've worked out faster if I'd relied on her more than tried to work it all out by myself. I could've asked her for advice on Elis, given how close the two of them are. Her parents might even have agreed to take care of Caroline for the time being. Perhaps the adults could've worked this out between them better than us kids ever could. But then again, it's also possible they would've forced Caroline to return home without anything being solved.

Whatever the case, there were definitely a lot more ways that I could've relied on Tayla this time around. Why didn't I then? Why didn't I rely on her more?

"Sorry. If it's like this time and it isn't dangerous, I'll try to rely on you more from now on."

"If it's dangerous, I don't want you to be involved either."

"I'll try not to be."

Why? I think I know why I didn't let Tayla get too involved this time.

True, it ended up not being dangerous, but there was something that had been bugging me this whole time.

The letter.

This all started when I found that letter nailed to my door, asking me to meet AJ at the park by the mall. And that's when I found Caroline, sleeping on the park bench there. The next day, I found out that the letter wasn't even from AJ. That it was someone else who nailed it to my door.

I had been keeping it in the back of my mind this whole time, and just telling myself I was being paranoid, but for some reason I had the feeling there was something bigger going on. Perhaps neither Elis nor Caroline are even aware of it, but someone out there nailed that letter to my door. They wanted me to go to the park for some reason.

Whoever did that, and whatever their reason, it scares me a little. I don't understand the reason they would do that at all.

If they meant to meet me there, why haven't they tried to get my attention again?

And if they wanted me to find Caroline, what exactly did they get out of that?