Spartan "Freedom"

Ch.72

I miss him, I miss Jeff, and most of all I miss the way things were...

I smiled at the memories of warm sun and innocent play, he was like a brother to me, but also so much more

In fact, I'm pretty sure he spent more time with me then his actual brother Liu

Liu was Jeff's younger brother, but despite being so much younger, (and smaller for that matter)
He had this habit of teasing Jeff every chance he got, not just Jeff, me too

He was always making jokes about how Jeff and I used to hang out

"You two sure are cozy, since you're hugging Sophie like that, does it mean you're screwing her?" Liu said snidely

Jeff's face flushed bright red, whereas I was just kinda confused

"What does screwing mean?" I asked innocently

Jeff stammered looking for the words

"Um, well uh-the thing is, it's like when... Um- when two people who really like each other spend time alone"

He seemed satisfied, not lying, but not telling me the whole truth as to spoil my innocence

But I misunderstood

"Oh I think I get it"

"I doubt that-" Liu said sarcastically
"-you aren't exactly the sharpest knife in the droor" he added with a sly smile

"I'm not an idiot!" I shouted trying to defend myself

"Oh really? Then prove it" Liu said patronizingly

"I will!" I said loudly

"Well Jeff and I screw all the time! When he's reading and when we're at school! We screw all the time because he's just great! Unlike you ya' big dummy"

Liu blinked twice before he lost it laughing, rolling around on the floor and just howling, there were even tears as he laid there laughing

Jeff's face was a brighter shade of red then I have ever seen it

"We should go" he said quietly, he was stiff from embarrassment

*end of flashback*

I gripped my checks and laughed at my own youthful ignorance from back then

Little did Liu know, a few years (and a lot of tears) later, and we actually have screwed a few times.

I thought to myself that I wondered where he was now.

One day we just stopped seeing him, that was around the time of... The accident, shortly before I moved, I never really thought much of it, I never cared too much about him anyway. But it was peculiar

I looked over in the snow in front of me and saw a large red cooler

I opened it up and looked inside, there was a sandwich, a few thermoses, and a card

... There was a bite taken out of my sandwich...

I opened up the card

'From Sally and Ben
And Dad I guess because we took his cooler to give this to you,
Merry Christmas Mom'

I was nearly in tears

Those two didn't hate me at least

Although I was wrecked with guilt for not getting them anything.

I quickly devoured the food and put the card in my pocket

I should at least return the cooler, what kind of role-model would I be if I told them it was ok to keep someone else's property right?

I'd found quite a bit of my strength now, so I began walking

Until I came across a park bench,

A little nap wouldn't hurt anyone right?

Or at least that's what I thought, because when I woke up, the sky was already fading from orange to black