How Do I Make You Feel

"And you're glasses are broken," Maggie whispered, unsure if she was allowed to interrupt.

"Yes, and that. And I've known it for a while. And I didn't know how to put it into words. But now I can. Something just clicked in me. I came home and I told mom. Mom was okay but dad..."

"Dad's mad at you?" Maggie asked.

"Yeah. Something like that."

Maggie stood there, thinking. "He's mad at you because you like boys?"

Emmitt nodded.

"That's kinda weird. Why isn't he mad at me too? I like boys."

Emmitt looked up at his sister, standing there, shrugging her shoulders and giving a warm smile. He stood up and leaned over, giving her a huge hug. They hugged for a while, Emmitt even letting a small tear fall down his cheek.

"We'll be okay, right?" Maggie asked. 

"Yeah, we will," Emmitt said.

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Emmitt Hendrix started walking across the street. His sneakers were dirty, one shoelace falling out of the hole. He walked up the old worn down steps of Ms. Shepard's house and knocked on the door with his knuckle.

He waited for a minute. He was greeted by Ms. Shepard, who didn't look amused.

"Emmitt."

"Ms. Shepard, I wanted to come over and firstly apologize for getting into this mess with Gavin. We shouldn't have been out so late at night."

"Is Gavin with you right now?" she asked, staring directly into Emmitt's eyes.

"With me... right now?" Emmitt asked, confused. "I thought he was here with you."

"I didn't know that he even went out last night. I was sleeping. He must have snuck out and went somewhere. Did he come home last night with you?"

"Yeah, we both walked home. He dropped me off at my house. And then he..."

But Emmitt couldn't finish his sentence. "I thought he went home."

"I've checked this morning. He's not in his room. Which means he never came home."

Emmitt's mind went a mile a minute. He slowly breathed in. "Where is he?"

"Shit," Ms. Shepard said under her breath, panic spreading all over her face. "Shit, shit, shit."

Emmitt started to panic too. He looked back and forth. And all of a sudden, he started to run. He ran down Ms. Shepard's stairs and he ran down the paved street. He ran down the sidewalks, this time taking a different route than before.

He was out of breath, his sweater flapping in the wind as he moved his legs as fast as had ever moved them. Through twists and turns, he moved his feet along the rocky ground. 

Emmitt finally reached the wide bridge that connected two streets over a large drop, where a rapid river flowed through jagged rocks. He stood on the road, right at the start of the bridge, his stance a mess, breathing heavily. His hair was blowing, his face cold and eaten by the wind. 

Gavin was standing on the edge of the bridge, his feet swaying as they held on to the concrete wall. He was looking out on to the drop below.

"Gavin!" Emmitt yelled out, pain flickering through his call.

You could hear the rapids of the lake making a thundering noise, echoing off the thresholds of the bridge.

"What are you doing?!" Emmitt screamed, so Gavin could hear him.