The sun's already high when I finally get home from the airport. My cheeks sting with dry tears and my contacts hurt from the sun, despite my sunglasses. I turn off the engine and sit, finishing my cigarette, unsure of what to do next. The summer I've waited so long for is now ending and in just a week I'll be starting college. I sit in quiet reflection, yearning to remember all the details of the events that have recently expired. I long to have Tawny next to me, laughing her big laugh, teasing me the way she always does. I knew from the moment I left the airport I would never have her in my life the way she's always been. We've spent nearly every day for the past two years together, inseparable, but I no longer have the security of that controlled environment. The reality of the world around me started to haunt me as I drove those busy freeways home, alone. - from "Before September Falls"
