Free On the Fringe by Courtney King Walker

saving again.
    But as it turned out, things didn’t really work the way I’d planned.

Claire
    After seeing Daniel in the fog that night, the grief I had absorbed since his death started oozing out like a radiation leak. I felt myself unraveling. The only logical explanation was that I was losing my mind.
    But I knew I wasn’t
    There was no question I saw Daniel that night beneath the tree, but why ? Why had he come back? Why, of all the whys had he looked at me like a war had been lost, before disappearing?
    The only certainty was when I looked into his familiar eyes, my whole world changed. Again. The strange feelings, the grief, the confusion all merged together into one sense, fueling a determination to somehow see him again. I started wondering if Daniel was somewhere out in the dark every night, watching me.
    As soon as the sun would disappear, I’d postpone sleep night after night, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Meaningless distractions such as homework or television completely failed as my thoughts got tangled up in plans to lure him back to me. There had to be a reason he returned more than once. But no matter how many nights I sat out on the front porch or wandered alone down by the lake, he didn’t come back. After countless days of hoping and waiting, I finally admitted to myself that it was time to give up. The sane part of me concluded that it was a lost cause.
    But I was about to learn that forgetting Daniel was not meant to be.
    Two weeks after seeing him under the tree, I went on a date with a guy from school, named Drew. The idea was to get my mind off of Daniel, which was surprising, considering I had lived as such a recluse for so long.
    Drew’s idea of flirting was sneaking up behind me as I walked across the school parking lot to find Addie for a ride home. I jumped, and he laughed while running his fingers through his curly blond hair. Then he asked me out, and I surprised myself by saying yes.
    When he picked me up on Friday at seven o’clock, he seemed much more nervous than I was. He was good-looking (in a tan and beefy sort-of way), friendly and popular, I still didn’t “like” him enough to be nervous.
    After saying our goodbyes to my overly excited mother, Drew drove us to a seafood restaurant out on an old wooden pier by the bay. As we devoured a basket of fish and chips, the sun settled down behind us into a salmon-colored horizon over the water. When we finished, he drove us up a winding road into the hills for a ride on a little black steam train beneath the stars. The scent of redwood fused with woody eucalyptus created a calming, almost medicinal fragrance. I inhaled the aromatic breeze and fought off the chilly air as we huddled together in an open box on the train chugging along through a moonlit forest tour.
    Just as we rounded a corner, the steam engine whistled. I looked out to my right as the sparkling bay and distant lights flooded into view. At that dramatic moment I felt Drew shift and subtly put his arm around me. Although I liked the warmth he radiated into my freezing body, I was not exactly sure about this move so soon. But, I’d always shied away from awkward confrontation, and even though I didn’t lean into him, I didn’t move away, either.
    When the train came to a stop, I hopped out, perhaps a little too quickly, and waited for Drew as he exited along with everyone else. But instead of heading back to the car, he wanted to take a walk up a small, grassy hill. I was starting to think the date would never end, and made sure to keep my hands busy the whole time by wrapping them around myself as we walked side by side.
    I could hear music before we reached the top of the hill, and admittedly was curious. I looked over at Drew, but he just shrugged innocently. As we crested the hill to find a kaleidoscope of spinning lights, I gasped. An old-style carousel, housing a dozen brightly painted horses, spun around and around. The entire platform lit up beneath