Everything He Whispered

Prologue

The new boy and the heat of summer were the first two things I noticed when I opened my front door. The doorbell must have rung at least four times before I got to the door, giving me a feeling that this new kid was rather impatient. Before either one of us speaks, I notice from behind the new boy a grey truck with a slightly obese man carrying a box up the driveway of the house that used to be for sale. Looking back at the boy, I noticed that his green eyes are still locked on me, making me feel slightly uneasy.

"Um," I say, not knowing how else to greet him. I awkwardly stick out my hand for him to shake. "Hi, I'm Colton. You must have, um, moved into our neighborhood. It's nice to meet you."

Barely altering his facial expression, he grasps my hand firmly and shakes, which I noticed seemed to be almost robotic. I become nervous as this emotionless boy lets go of my hand and stares at me again. I think about calling for my mom before he opens his mouth for the first time.

"I'm Aaron," he says to me. Well I at least know his name now. Having this information, his strangeness slowly starts to ebb away as he speaks again. "Yeah, me and my dad just moved in. He told me to go over and see if there's any kids in the neighborhood my age. Honestly, I just wanted to get my room, set up and go to bed, but I couldn't really argue with him after the long drive, where he snapped at everything I opened my mouth at."

I blink at him, letting his words slowly slink in. So he didn't want to make any new friends. He just wanted to settle in and go to bed. Thinking about what he said about his dad, I realize that he's scared to talk back to his father. I bet that his dad doesn't even care about his son making friends or not. He just didn't want his son to bother him.

I start to feel sorry for Aaron as I try to think of more conversation topics, "So, where did you move from?" I ask, not wanting to seem rude.

"Minnesota," is all Aaron replies before he looks off to his side with an annoyed expression.

I start to feel annoyed as well for having to keep continuing the conversation. "What grade are you in?"

Aaron doesn't look at me as he answers, "I'm going to be going into sixth grade by the time school starts again.

My spirits lift as I discover that Aaron and I have something in common. "Hey, me too. I just graduated out of fifth grade. You know, this is actually the first day of summer for kids here in Missouri."

Seeming to catch his interest, Aaron finally looks back at me, and for the first time, his expression changes from complete blandness to slight curiousness. "Really? Hm, I didn't know that. What are the other kids at your school like? Well, technically, our school now."

Seeing that Aaron seems to be starting to enjoy our conversation now, I smile. "Well, if you have time, you could come inside and we could talk about that and other stuff." I suggest happily.

Also for the first time, he smiles back at me. "That sounds alright. Anything to prove to my dad I actually talked to someone."

I laugh as he steps inside. I notice as he moves past me that smells like spearmint, making my nose sniffle for a second. As he looks around my house and into the living room to the right, I hear footsteps coming from the hallway to the left of the door. I turn and see my mom coming towards me and Aaron.

"Colton, who was at the-" She stops as she notices our guest looking into the living room then up at her. "Hello, are you one of Colton's friends? I don't think I've seen you before." My mom stoops on her knees, the same way she does every time I ask her for something. I feel slightly embarrassed as Aaron speaks.

"Well I just met him, so I'm not sure if we're friends yet, but my names Aaron. My dad and I just moved in to the house across the street, and my dad thought I should go find some kids my age." Aaron says to mom, as if he's given this line to countless adults before.

Mom smiles as she stands back up. "Well I'm glad to meet you Aaron. I must say, you are awfully polite for someone your age. I bet if you and Colton became friends, you could really show him a thing or two about manners."

My cheeks heat up as my embarrassment grows."Mooom..."

My mother laughs and rubs my head, another thing I hate that my mom does. "I'm just teasing you, Colly." A third thing I hate is when she calls me Colly, especially around other people. She looks out the window for a second and speaks to Aaron again, who was chuckling after that ordeal.

"Is that your dad across the street, Aaron?" My mother asks him. At the mention of his father, Aaron seemed to shift back into his dull state.

"Yeah, that's him." Aaron replied rather annoyed, looking out the window at his father carrying the last of the bags into the house.

"Do you think that he would appreciate company right now? If you wanted to, I could go over and welcome him to the neighborhood." My mother suggests politely. I look back over at Aaron, who is still glaring at his dad.

"Nah, he doesn't really like talking with people he doesn't know beforehand. Or anyone for that matter." Aaron replies bitterly. I was taken aback by Aaron's description of his father. Did Aaron not even like his dad? Did they get along at all?

"Oh, I see," my mom replies slightly uncomfortably. I could tell my mom was also caught off guard by Aaron's answer. "Well, you two can go play while I make some snacks."

"Mom, please..." I whine as she walks away. I hear Aaron chuckle again. I turn back to see him giving me a smug smile.

"What's so funny?" I ask defensively.

"Nothing, nothing, it's just that," he says, and looks in the direction my mom walked off in, "Your mom is really nice."

I blink at him, half expecting some sort of insult. "Oh, well yeah, I guess. Isn't your mom nice too?"

His expression doesn't alter as he speaks again. "I wouldn't know, I never knew her. She died while she was giving birth to me, and I can never get dad to talk to about her to me."

"Oh," I say, not knowing how I should respond. If he did miss his mom, he clearly didn't show it at all. "Well, you and I are kinda the same, " I said, "My mom told me that my dad died years ago too. Sometimes, if I remember really hard, I can just hear a man laughing, and if that's my dad, then that's the only thing that I can remember of him."

He stares at me for a couple of awkward seconds before he says, "Huh, interesting."

Before I can think of what I could say next, he steps on the bottom step of the stairs. "Hey, is your room upstairs?"

"Um," I say, "Yeah, it is. You wanna check it out?"

"Better than just standing and talking in your foyer." He says as he starts moving up the stairs. I smile as I follow him up and lead him towards my room down the hall. As I tell him which room is mine, I notice for the first time that he is about half a head taller than me. His brown hair is also shorter and wavier than my longer and straighter black hair. He also has a bit of muscle, something I haven't seen from any other eleven year old. I asked him if he played any sports, and he told me that he likes basketball, track, and football, all things that I completely suck at.

The rest of my memory from that evening is blurry, but I seem to remember us playing on my PS3, talking about things I can't even recall now, and the whole night ending with my mom ending up inviting Aaron over for dinner, as well as to stay the night. I scarcely remember him coming back from his new house shortly after mom's invitation with a blanket and a pillowcase stuffed with his pajamas and clothes for tomorrow, telling us that it's okay if he stays that night. The absolute last thing I could recall from that night is him telling me, "Night, Colton," the first time that he actually called me by my first name. I don't know what made that moment of him saying my name before we fell asleep in my room with him on a cot on the floor and me in my bed stand out, but hearing my name out of his mouth, with his voice, it made me fall asleep happy.

"Night, Aaron."

The next five years that we grew apart was one gigantic blur.