SHE

SHE
Clutching the flowers tightly, I followed the path the child had shown me, my head swiveling in all directions for a glimpse of him, my feet slamming on the ground as I chased his scent, there was no sight of his car, and definitely no sight of him, the only things I was left with were the sunflowers and his scent that was fast fading.
 That was yesterday, but I haven’t stopped looking, I had put the flowers in water and placed the vase I had found by the window for the plant to get sunlight, not so that he miraculously turned up here and knew where I was staying by the flowers he had given to me.
 Going for a quick run to clear my head this morning, I asked myself the big questions, did I miss him? I did, but it doesn’t make what he did hurt any less. My parents I thought would come running when they saw me on the big screen, they never did, even with the news of me being orphan going around like wild fire, they never showed, and to be very honest, I waited with baited breath just as I was doing now, I never went out to look for them and hear their reasons, I was the one abandoned, they had to find me. It was turning out to be the same with Abed, I was waiting for him, when I am clearly the one that had been hurt.
 Yet, when I circle back to the short-let I was currently calling home, my heart thumping in my chest from the run, sweaty and nerves screaming for me to take a break and a bath, I do a little stretching in front, my eyes scanning the everywhere, looking for anything that could point to him being here. There were no cars around, the air was silent, save for a few birds chirping and my heart thumping.
 “What do you want? To see him or not?” I murmur to myself as I walk inside finally, shutting the door firmly behind me.
By the time I was out of the bathroom, I was ready for a big meal, and I could not make anything for myself sadly, so dressed in jean shorts, a crop top, and boots, I was ready to leave the house, I had nothing but house hunting planned anyway.
 Pulling the door open, I find a lone sunflower on the welcome mat, a small gasp leaves my mouth as I rush outside to find him, and again, I am met with just his scent. Picking up the lone flower, I wonder if I missed him by chance or he had been waiting for me to leave. I knew the answer even as I return to fix the flower with the others. He found me then, he knew where I lived.
 I didn’t know whether to feel relieved that this was happening, or to be vexed that this was happening, him finding my location did not mean anything, he was hovering, I could pretend he wasn’t real, but he was, and he could hinder my plans of moving on.
 This time when I leave the house, I don’t look around to find him, he could be lurking, I was not going to encourage him, heading straight for the breakfast place I had seen among the many take out menus in the kitchen, this one looked the most promising, Big daddy breakfast was the name.
 It was obviously a local place, it was almost empty, then again, peak breakfast time was almost here, I would leave before that kind of crowd hits. After ordering the biggest breakfast they had on the menu, my eyes roam the place, a section of the wall was covered in graffiti, some of it old, and the rest new.
 “My father loves making memories, he said they were free films to look back on when you were too tired or too old to go to the movies, a fun film made by you he called them.”
I startle as I find the owner of the voice, it was a girl in a shirt with the store logo, a size too small, her face caked with make up, her eyes were rimmed red, and from the slight odor , I knew what it was.
 “People are supposed to have memories, happy ones and sad ones, he says we should make it a habit of making good memories for ourselves, so he let the customers do that, and now it looks kind of cool.”
 Her eyes smile with her as she smiled at the wall before returning them to me,
“Your breakfast.” 
I didn’t even see the tray she was holding until she dropped it in front of me, I thank her mutely, the food smelled delicious and I couldn’t wait to start. Digging in, her words turn over in my head, sure I had different memories from various sets, that sometimes were new countries, but I had only worked there on those beautiful, once in a lifetime opportunities, I didn’t have fun, I worked my ass off, I didn’t care about fun, and now, all I can think of is, I had to regain all that lost time, the beautiful Paris we had shot most of the episodes of The Sixteen ghosts, I didn’t visit anywhere, even as my team asked for it, I stayed in my hotel room, re reading my scripts even when I knew them by heart. I didn’t have a fun film, I only had work films.
 My eyes return to the graffiti covered wall, this time I inched closer to it, peering at it, I see different things people had written, there was no theme they followed, no order, they were writing the script as they went. Plucking a sharpie from the side of the wall, I write, without hesitation, RACHEL GREENE’S FUN FILM BEGINS NOW.
 I turn around, excitement filling my body for some reason, but I was right, my fun film begins now. The girl smiled at me,
 “That would be ten extra dollars.”
“I thought it was free.” I blink,
She snorts, “That was when daddy ran the place, I am no daddy.”
With a sigh, I drop the money for the food and the extra in her palm, she gives me a syrupy smile, that’s how she gets you!
 Just as I was about to leave, I catch myself, and when I turn around, she was eating the remaining of my breakfast.
“You look clean enough, I’m not picky.” she shrugs.
“To be fair a lot of food would have gone to waste.” I laugh, she gives me a broad smile herself.
“These people are mostly tourists, where do they go after they leave here.” I ask, pointing at the wall.
 She gets up and ruffles through a drawer on the side for employees, and she lets out a triumphant chant when she finds what she is looking for, when she hands it to me, it is slightly greasy from the eggs.
 “A travel guide.”
“Paper makes it much more adventurous.”
Makes sense, thanking her for it, she asks for an additional five dollars for the guide, when I narrow my eyes she shrugs,
 “Worth the shot.”
By the time I was outside, I knew where I wanted to go, an art museum not too far from here, my thoughts were interrupted by his scent, my eyes fall on the lone sunflower he had left on an old bicycle that they left in front of the shop.
 Was he going to follow me all day from the shadows? The thought was infuriating, I wanted to live as me for a while, not an actress, this was the one chance I had to make my fun film.
 Suddenly I had an idea, an idea to shake him off my tail.