In The Supernatural

Chapter 27

Pause.

"How old are you, Jules?" 

"Seventeen. You?"

"Eighteen. Your turn."

Pause.

"When is your birthday?"

"July 16th. Yours?"

"December 27th. Your turn."

"Wow, your birthday is in like a week. Happy early birthday."

"Thanks. Your turn."

"Does it ever get annoying having your birthday so close to Christmas?"

"Does it ever get annoying having your birthday so close to the fourth of July? Your turn."

Kayden and I sat across froim one another, playing chess and twenty questions. Although "twenty" wasn't an accurate number. We'd been playing the game for over an hour, but it took each of us at least ten minutes to think of a new question. So far it'd only been like six questions each for us. I moved my knight three spaces and smirked. 

His face scrunched up. "Why is this so hard?"

I burst out laughing. "It is chess."

His eyes rolled and found their way to my face. "I meant the twenty questions game. I don't even know this stuff about my mom."

"You... You don't know when your mom's birthday is?"

"Well I know that..." Then, yelling, "HEY MOM, YOUR BIRTHDAY'S IN NOVEMBER, RIGHT?"

"April 3rd, and i'm right here, you don't need to yell."

He smirked at me. "I know it almost down to the second." 

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "I think we should stop playing 20 questions."

"You think so?"

"I literally just said that's what I think."

"True."

We stared at eachother and burst out laughing. I liked talking to Kayden. We played off eachother's humor very well. Maybe it was the first time I've talked to another kid around my age in a long time, but it was awesome. I felt like I could breathe and pretend like playing chess was something you just did for fun. 

There was several feet of snow outside. It poured snow overnight, and I woke up freezing but peaceful. There was something about snow that just... quieted the world. It made everything seem light, like things wouldn't be loud for a while.

Nancy, who stood across the room at the cash register, said, "Hey, Jules?"

"Yeah?" I responded.

"I know you were supposed to leave tomorrow, but your injuries are more intense than I originally thought. Are you going to be okay if you stay for three more? It'll just be five days total..."

I couldn't decide if I was relieved or irritated. "Uh, yeah, I guess." 

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I just wish I could pause time for like a week and not miss anything."

Kayden laughed. "Sounds like me in high school."

I chuckled. "Man I really should finish that thing."

"Wait, you haven't finished high school?" I shook my head. "Goodness dude, how's that working out for you?"

"It's been awful. There's been like four times where I've had to know the unit circle, and I just didn't." I sighed dramatically.