Page 128 of Fireworks

“How far are we going that we need the car?”

The corners of his mouth turned up into a smirk as he faced me.

“You’ll see.”

As soon as he parked the car, Isaw a balloon attached to the swings. Making my way over I untied the balloon and opened the next envelope.

You don’t need to go too far; your next clue is by the car.

I picked up my pace as I walked back toward Asher, who was again holding an envelope.

“Did you seriously set up for me to just walk back to you? That shouldn’t even count as one.”

“Hey, I put a lot of thought into these. I just ran out of ideas for some.”

Placing the envelope in my hand, I opened it.

It may be too cold to enjoy this treat, but as kids, it was our favorite place to meet.

Thinking about it, my mind drew a blank for treats we would eat together. It had been years since we had really hung out. Once Asher had started middle school, he was too cool to hang out with me unless our parents forced him to.

“Ummm.”

I tapped my fingers on the edge of the paper.

“Think Katie. Where did we always used to go in the summer? Usually on the hottest days. You used to beg mom to take us.”

The only place I could remember begging my mom to go was the library and bookstore. Neither of which had treats. Wrinkling my nose, I gave my best guess.

“The ice cream place downtown?”

He climbed back into the car and smiled, not saying a word. Driving down the road, I twisted the rubber band that was around my wrist.

“Why did you do this, Asher? You could have just gotten me a book like you do every year. It would have been fine.”

Breaking his concentration from the road, he cleared his throat.

“This isn't like every other year, Katie. You know that as well as I do, even if we don’t say it. You deserve something fun and different this year.”

As we approached the ice cream shop, I could see the balloon tied to the door handle. Opening the envelope, he had written another riddle out on a piece of paper.

Your next clue is easy, as you’ll soon see. Go and find your favorite tree.

Simple enough, there was a tree across from the library that I spent most of my time reading. It was a Utah Juniper, and it was by far my favorite place as a child. The way the trunk twisted around, unlike most of the other trees, it always intrigued me. It was unique and didn’t fit in with all the other trees around it. Much like how I felt right now. Resting against the trunk of the tree was another envelope.

I had to admit that he seemed to put a lot of effort into this. My first thought was how he got all the clues to their locations. The second was that he never seemed to pay attention to me growing up. Nate paid more attention to my habits than Asher ever did. Asher must have just silently noted all my favorite things, like that tree. Snapping the elastic around my wrist, I hated that I couldn't just be happy right now. More than that, I hated how Nate wasn’t here. These places reminded me of him.

Reading the paper, I got a little excited knowing that wherever this was leading me, I wouldn’t have to wait much longer to find out. I wanted this to be done.

Your last clue is coming soon, so be prepared. This place is where you gave us all a scare.

Asher had waited in the car while I grabbed the clue.

“I’m going to assume mom didn’t see these clues”

Waving the clue in his face with disapproval, he made a face back at me.

“Do you really think I could have written that if she had?”