They had taken a drive out into the far plains where the distances looked wavy and desolate. Her name was Abigail and though she had once loved him greatly, something had changed down deep. His name was Aaron and he loved her with every bone in his body plus anyone else's bones that were around. In his eyes she sparked a fire that never could go out and it never did. They parked, unbuckled and began to walk down the road towards a large lake that was cuddled by the surrounding hills. Aaron held his Canon Rebel steady at the eye and snapped pictures at Abigail and some crows that flew over head. She walked fifteen yards out in front of him and her blue eyes looked down at the road.
"I wonder if he knows. Or if he can feel it," she thought to herself. Aaron didn't think much else except for how he could get a good shot of her against the sky and the hills.
"Hey! Abby!"
"Yeah!"
"I think I'm gonna get my ear pierced. What do you think?"
"If you get your ear pierced I'll never talk to you again!"
"Fair enough!"
Abigail walked out onto the wood dock, slid her flip flops off and sat on the edge. Aaron approached behind as she drew paths in the water with her toe.
"What happened?" She thought to herself. She didn't understand. She had been so in love with him once. Of course then he had been thinner and his mind seemed deeper. "Perhaps he sold out," she thought.
Aaron took a seat down next to her and put an arm across her. She layed her head against his shoulder and began to cry softly. The tears rolled beautifully from her blue eyes and fell from the cheek onto his shirt.
"Are you crying? What's wrong?"
"I don't know." She collapsed further until her shoulder was down across his thighs. He put both arms around her, a natural response in hopes that he could suck the sadness out.
"What's wrong babe? You know I love you very much right?"
"Yes I know."
"Do you love me?"
"Yes," she lied and then took her hands and wiped her face clean of the tears. She sat there drooped over like a helpless child. Aaron looked out into the distance at several tumble weeds that rolled across the plains on the other side of the lake.
"You know, I know things have been strange. First the accident and then we come out here to see the country. I know things feel off."
"I know."
"When I was a kid I used to cut down trees from the woods in my backyard. Tall, thin ones. I would saw them to appropriate lengths and then nail them to the bigger trees to form a ladder. I must have worked for two months out of one summer on this crazy structure. I bought the nails and I stole the saw and everything. When I was done building it I would climb it everyday and do pull ups and see how high I could get into the other trees. Then one day I just stopped. I lost interest. The structure is still there in the woods. Although I imagine if you tried to climb it the branches would snap or you'd snag yourself on all the rusty nails."
"Don't you have little neighbors? What if they climb it?"
"That's the thing of it. I was too lazy to ever take it down. The best I ever did was tell them not to go near it, but kids will be kids I guess. I should have just taken it down, but I worked so hard on it that it meant something to me."
Abigail looked at her reflection in the water. Her pale face and her dark hair and then she looked over at his. She was proud of him. She was proud of what they had done. The love they had shared. Aaron took her hand and kissed it.
"It's hard to let go of things. Look at those hills. Nothing grows out there. You don't have to worry about taking anything down out there. It's dull though. That's why people come down here and sit on the dock by the water. Shit can change here."
"What can change?"
"Oh I don't know. Maybe this dock falls apart. Maybe they get rid of that sign over there. The people who come change. Even the water level changes."
"I don't want to change."
"Me neither."