Sandra

The day was barely over, and already I was already ex—hausted. I found a nice spot outside with a bench, under a tree, to sit down, and settled in with a sigh. The sun was still out, but it was getting on in the evening, so the heat had gone down, and there was a light breeze blowing in that kept me cool.

This was one of the perks of living in a small town. In the city, unless it was at the park, finding a place to relax on your way was pretty much impossible.

I still miss the city.

I readjusted my coat around me, then buried my hands in its pockets. I stretched my legs out and crossed them, then re—laxed my spine against the back of the bench. I took in a deep breath of fresh air and let it out slowly.

Being home is pretty nice, too.

It had been ten years since I'd left my small town to run to the city. It wasn't just me, either, almost everyone I knew back in high school had left our sleepy little town for the city, or other bigger towns. Because of that, coming back had been a bit awkward for me, since all the people I knew were parents of people I knew in high school. But, it wasn't as if I had no good reason for coming back. I just couldn't stay in the city any longer.

The only problem was my job prospect.

When I left for the city, I went to college, and then busi—ness school, and worked my ass off to graduate with honors. I worked a lot of part—time jobs through college and while I hunted for a job. I got lucky to find a good position, and for the next six years, I worked my way up. I didn't get that far, but compared to other people my age that started out at the same time as me, I was successful.

Mom kept telling me everything was okay at home so I would stay in the city, because she cared about me being hap—py. And for a long time, I was, until things completely changed.

Mom was single and alone. Even when I had enough mon—ey to find a suitable apartment for the both of us to live in, she refused to leave our small town, because she was born here, she grew up here, fell in love and had me then raised me, mostly alone, there. To her, it was a home that couldn't be replaced. I understood her feelings and went along with it, but I was still uneasy. I felt bad about leaving her alone. So when the excite—ment of the city finally wore off, I quit my job, packed up and moved back.

It had only been a few weeks, and I wasn't sure if I regret—ted the decision yet or not, but my heart felt more calm, less guilty and restless. Besides, life in the city was pretty exhaust—ing. Now that I was back home, and had some cash in savings, I had a lot of free time while looking for more work. I also had plenty to fill up that 'free time', an online job that helped with bills, so it wasn't like I didn't have any income at all, but I knew soon, the other bills would start to pile up.

No need to worry about that now, I thought with a sigh.

I looked up, because I had no idea how long I'd been sit—ting there lost in thought, but I decided to get up and leave be—fore it got any later. It wasn't the cold season yet, but it still got pretty cold at night, and I was in a dress that only fell to my knees. I hated the cold. Besides, the place I was heading too wasn't too far off.

One of the good things about living in a small town was how simple it could be to walk everywhere you wanted to go. There were places where you'd need a car or something, but even just having a bike made getting around pretty easy, not like in the city.

Still, I thought. Is the store a lot further away than I re—membered or what?

I'd been going back and forth to the store for weeks and never did I feel as tired as I did right now. Then again, I was older at twenty—eight. And, in my old job, I did spend most hours of the day sitting at a desk, so I'd never been athletic, and now I was doing a lot more physical exercise then I'd ever done in the city.

I shook my head at the thought that I was thinking that I'm old. I was nearly thirty, not seventy. It was just the change in scene and having so much stress in my life, something that I hadn't had until now.

When I finally had the store in sight, I breathed a sigh of relief and picked up my pace a little. If I could have gone out earlier, then maybe I wouldn't be so tired. But I spent the time with Mom instead and didn't even realize I needed to make the run until half an hour ago. I could have found some kid on our street to make the run for me, they tended to be helpful as long as you gave them a little something back, but that was just me being lazy, and Mom would complain about me bothering the neighborhood kids.

The store doors slid open automatically when I stepped close enough, and my body relaxed once it closed behind me. I had this ridiculous sense of accomplishment just for making it, and my legs even shook a little bit.

"Sandra, hello!"

I looked up at the call of my name.

"Mrs. Jones, hi."

Margaret Jones wasn't exactly a neighbor of mine, since she lived a few streets from where I did, but she knew my mom. I didn't want to stop and chat, so I gave her a polite smile, one of the things I'd learned from working in an office.

"What a coincidence to run into you here," I said, picking up a basket and loitering.

"I was doing the shopping for the family," she said with an airy wave of her hand. "I'm guessing you too, huh? Oh, I wanted to ask, how your mother's been doing recently. I ha—ven't been by to see her in a while. I've heard that she's not too well, poor thing."