Paper Hearts [Brallon-ish]

101 days

The middle of the night proved to be the calmest time of the night, even though the city was still awake and the cars still raced down the avenue closest to the tiny hill Seacoast claimed theirs and used to plant a single tree on. But it was nicer than watching the sky through the window in Brendon's dorm room, where the people next door never stopped partying and the intoxicating alcohol scent lingers and set fire to every sense.

Brendon had figured out how to balance 3 cups of ice cream on his chest and had just taught himself to stand up and lie back down without disturbing them when the sun started to set behind the cluttered skyline.

Ryan had been cheering him on for each ice cream cup he stacked on top of the ones he'd been using. "Dude, Americas Got Talent is literally waiting for you."

Even I had to admit, balancing 6 cups stacked on top of each other was pretty impressive. Although, I wasn't going to admit it, because it would've egged him on to add more and eventually they'd all topple over and smack him in the face.

"It's a yes from me!" Pete yelled, running happily back up the hill with Patrick's hand in his, and a bundle of wilting clovers peeking out from between his fingers.

"You two disgust me." I told them as soon as they were in ear shot. Patrick flopped down on the blanket spread across the grass, but Pete shrugged and started sifting through the clovers he'd brought back, adding them to a pile of ones he'd gone through already. He was persistent on finding a four leafed one so he could get all the luck he needed for his big chemistry test in the morning. He was taking 2 science classes, which I thought was pointless but he'd told me he wanted to do some veterinary stuff so I wasn't about to stop him.

Thankfully I'd opted out of that stupid class and had decided to take an extra year of German, a subject I didn't even know was taught at a school, let alone counted under the much needed language section in the requirements for a graduation diploma. I could never pronounce my words right or even remember how to spell them, but it serves me right for jumping in to the pool without a life vest.

And to the extent of my knowledge, the previous year Pete had taken French with Patrick, who was still enrolled in the course, and he had no idea how to respond to Patrick saying "Je t'aime mille fois" other than the single phrase he'd reminded him of, which was "Tu est beau mon petit chou". I had no idea what the language meant, but I think chou meant cabbage. I couldn't tell you for a fact though, and one life lesson that had been taught multiple times is 'don't ever trust google translate'.

"Patrick doesn't do gross things. He's made up of kittens, Saturdays, 70 degree weather, first kisses, and butterflies. Trust me, I cut that bitch open once to check." [actual Pete quote haaaa]

"Peter, I'm right here. And that's disgusting."

"You're disgusting," Pete shot back, and quickly added "disgustingly cute."

"Now that's disgusting!" Brendon shouted, a cup of ice cream threatening to topple over.

Ryan sighed, exasperated, and said "stop saying disgusting it doesn't even sound like a word anymore", to which Pete responded with 10 seconds worth of "disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting disgusting" before Patrick slapped him on the stomach to make him stop.

I'm glad I didn't choose different friends.

The sun had nearly disappeared over the building tops, the sky turning a deep mix of oranges, pinks, purples, and blues. It was the prettiest sunset I've ever seen by a long shot.

Brendon sat up, hugging his knees to his chest and pushing aside the ice cream cups. They tumbled into Ryan's lap, tapping against his knees and rolling bumpily down the hill. I made a mental note to grab them later.

"Sunsets are fuckin' weird." He grinned and squinted up at the colors fading to the night sky. The stars were nowhere to be found, however. My best guess was light pollution at this point, due to the decent sized city right next to us. I wished we'd gone to the forest instead of just the hill Seacoast included in their territory. Then maybe, we would be able to see the stars, and the deafening car horns wouldn't be interrupting the serene lack of noise every 4 seconds. I'd counted.

The sky grew completely dark, the city lights burning bright and casting shadows on our faces through the trees. It looked like the Fourth of July, when the fireworks exploded and the light from them make the sky burst and get replaced with the next ones.

Brendon had his eyes shut, absorbing the colors and breathing in the air like it was the last fresh breath he'd ever get. He was propped up on his elbows, legs dangling down the slope of the hill and his head upturned towards the sky.

Peaceful and calm, serene in the midst of a city that never sleeps.

Small and insignificant next to the bustling buzzing streets and speeding cars, busses engrossed in their jobs and secrets the buildings would keep until they fell to pieces.

A city within a county within a state huddled near other states in a country in a continent miles away from other continents and a couple months expedition away to the moon and years worth to the nearest star.

Nothing really matters, does it?

"There was once an invisible man who had grown tired of being unseen," he whispered airily and out of the blue, his breath twisting into smoke up towards the stars "It was not that he was actually invisible. It was that people had become used to not seeing him." Brendon sat up and instead of resting on his elbows, he held himself up on the palms of his hands and tilted back at an angle, turning his head in my direction without actually looking at me and I could've sworn he was grinning maliciously with all his teeth shining white in the darkness.

"And if no one sees you, are you really there at all?"

Ryan coughed and got to his feet, scratching the back of his neck and frowning. "Brendon, that's like, depressing. I'm going home."

"I second that." Patrick said, pulling Pete up and draping his arm around his shoulder. They waved to us as they walked down the hill and back to the dorm room, lights glittering behind them.

So it was just me and Brendon again, left alone on the top of an insignificant hill in the outskirts of an insignificant city. He lowered himself down to his back and placed his hands carefully behind his head, closing his eyes and sighing contently.

"I followed the lights." He told the sky.

I glanced back over to him and was met with his unblinking gaze that made him look terrifyingly and absolutely insane. He wasn't smiling anymore though, which worried me. I looked back at him quizzically and he explained.

"The lights guided me home," Brendon frowned as if he just realized how crazy he sounded "I felt it in my bones, like... Like a wildfire. And they took me back to you."

Plausible, I thought, deranged and hallucinatory, but plausible.

"I followed the lights," he repeated up to the stars
"I followed the lights."

--

[1300 words, 9/7/16;
that one paragraph of what Breb said was from the book A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness which you should totally read its one of the best books I've honestly ever read]