meet me at twilight

i

Karl swung his legs in the air, eyes dead as he stared at cotton candy clouds and intoxicatingly green grass. The bark of a tree branch dug into his jeans as he sat there, well above the ground with his fingers rapping a random tune. His brown hair moved from gentle wind. The boy ran two fingers to wedge between thick, rough rope and the tender skin of his neck. Breathing, he was breathing as he sat there. He wished he wasn't. Karl smirked to himself with five fingernails dug into the crevices of natural wood and stalks of gorgeous lavender swaying below his perch.

Slowly, the boy moved from sitting to standing. His mismatched socks, one lime green and one cobalt blue, ran against the uneven tree bark. With steady, calm eyes and hands, Karl tied the other end of the rope to the branch tight. The room for error slowly shrunk as he gazed back at the empty field. If you knew him well, you'd be familiar with the incisive way gray irises conveyed his woes. His cheekbones were sharper than usual, his brow as knit as you would expect from what he was doing.

Lavender swayed and danced with a twirling beat as Karl turned on the way he faced. Sunset hit his face and he stared at it, irritated tears came to his eyes from the burn, not from his emotions. Things didn't hurt anymore. That's all this was, Karl convinced himself, just a chance to feel something. He sighed, cringing again at how full his lungs were with life, and put one foot in front of the other. Walking a tightrope with his arms out to balance, Karl prowled. He bothered to watch his paces, making sure he didn't fall.

When the tree expressed its agony with a dull, sobbing crack, Karl stopped. The noose, previously loose and useless, now pressed against his windpipe like a calm, doting mother. Karl glared into the sun, bringing his arms back to his sides with his eyes still lifeless. He watched time bleed into night, stars becoming visible and clouds moving from fluffy pink to seductive indigo. The last rays of sun disappeared, turning everything into ink, coal, and chasmic black as Karl realized going home was better than this. This, Karl liked doing this.

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Sapnap stared at the spines of Dream and George, lips turning up into a grin as he stood behind them in line at a local movie theater. Popcorn snapped and drinks fizzed, chatter from the people waiting turning to background noise.

"What candy are we getting?" Dream prodded, looking to his right at George and behind at Sapnap.

The youngest boy shrugged while George took an almost tired expression, "Sour Patch Kids, Milk Duds, and an Icee. I'm the one buying anyway, I know what you two want," he turned back to facing forward. "You two are mutts, you always want to follow me around. I get some flipping popcorn and candy by myself."

"We just want to make sure you're not flirting with the people pouring drinks," Sapnap stuck his tongue out the second he thought George wouldn't see him.

Dream smirked with a glint in his eye when he saw the boy do it, "That soda causes people to do crazy things."

"Sapnap is the only one getting a drink!" George turned back to them, playful frustration on his face as it flushed a muted crimson.

Sapnap quirked an eyebrow, "So you admit you'd flirt to get a free drink?"

George looked at him for a second, the lightheartedness draining the smallest bit from his features, "You're insufferable." With that, he turned back to facing forward, took a step when the group in front of them moved, and left Sapnap wondering what he did that made the fun drain from the situation.

"It's fine," Dream tried, "Sapnap and I will just go get seats, okay?" George nodded in response, looking grateful. A small wound twisted itself onto Sapnap's skin, bitterness surrounding the cut as he still didn't understand what he did. "Come on, Sapnap," the blond looked down at the shorter boy, reaching his hand out with poorly hidden frustration written on his demeanor.