The Suburbs

two

There is no real me, only an entity, something illusory.

[Bret Easton Ellis]

• • •

On Monday morning, the corridors were strangely quiet.

There wasn't the usual static buzz of electricity in the air; there was no chatter, and more noticeably, no laughter. People were huddled close together, murmuring amongst themselves, as if for the first time, they actually cared about being overheard.

Kody spared a glance at his sister as they walked through the hallways, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion, clearly just as puzzled as he was. "What's going on?" Sophia asked under her breath, wary about not breaking the thick silence they were slowly wading through.

"I don't know." Kody replied, stopping at his locker, where Rhea stood leant up against the wall. Her dark eyes were rapidly darting up and down the corridor, examining the scene before her. "I'll catch up with you later, Soph." Kody waved his sister goodbye, watching her leave before turning to his new friend, "I'm not crazy, right? There's a weird atmosphere." He stated cautiously.

"You're not the crazy one, Kody." She smiled, though he could tell it was forced. She adverted her attention across the corridor, jerking her head in that direction. She was gesturing towards a boy Kody hadn't seen before.

He was short and slim, wearing a baggy jumper that fell past the tips of his fingers, and a pair of navy dr marten boots. Kody used to have a pair just like them, but they fell apart from overuse. Seeing them again made him want to smile. The stranger's pretty face also made him want to smile; he had big emerald eyes bordered by thick dark lashes, freckles which kissed his flushed cheeks, and shaggy blond hair pinned out of his face with a yellow hair clip. "Who is that?" Kody asked, his eyes still trained on the stranger.

"That's Arlo Middleton." Rhea replied, continuing to stare him down. In fact, it seemed that the whole school was looking at him.

"Is he new or something? Oh my god, is this how everyone looked at me on my first day?" He asked, starting to panic slightly. It was a pretty small town, what if they weren't so welcoming to newcomers? What if he had been so nervous on his first day that he hadn't even noticed the looks he was receiving?

Rhea shook her head. "He's not new."

"So, what's his deal?"

Rhea finally ripped her eyes off of Arlo, and focussed on Kody's amber irises instead. "Four months ago, he tried to kill himself." She said simply, as if that fact alone didn't have the power to ruin lives. "He's been locked up in some mental asylum ever since." She shrugged, "No one knew he was back."

Kody's chest was heavy and his heart was numb. Rhea would never fully understand the impact her words had on him, but right now, he tried to push his emotions aside. "I'm gonna introduce myself."

Rhea grabbed his elbow and held him in place, "Are you stupid?" She rose her brows questioningly, then rolled her eyes when he stared back blankly. "You can't befriend a psycho. Leave him be."

He tilted his head to the side and examined her incredulously, "He looks lonely. Wouldn't you want someone to talk to if you were in his position?"

She shook her head, "I wouldn't be in his position, Kody. He chose to die. Do you know how fucked up you have to be to even try doing that to yourself?"

"He's not fucked up, he's ill." He corrected her politely. As easy as it would be to lose his patience with Rhea, he had to give her the benefit of the doubt. In almost every respect, this town was a few decades behind in terms of destigmatisation. Things like mental illness and suicide weren't discussed in the same progressive ways as they were back in London; old views and expired ways of thinking were clear just from the students' expressions.