I walked down the stairs in tight black jeans and a black based tank with bright, green, thorn vines weaving around in various patterns. Chris was sitting on my brown couch, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands.
"You okay?" I asked, sitting next to him. I curled my arm around his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, you know I can't help it." he quietly sobbed.
"I know you can't, but it was your idea to stay apart."
He lifted up his head, a tear skidded down his cheek. "Well maybe I've changed my mind."
At that moment, I stood up with a shocked expression on my face. I stumbled backwards, my balance weak, but strong enough to keep me up. I wanted to say something, but I just couldn't. My mouth hung open like a puppet gasping for air.
He stood up and walked towards me, now in the center of the pale, peach oval rug in the center of my living room. He looked down into my eyes, his hands grabbing hold to my elbows. "I've been thinking lately."
"Well that's a first!" I rolled my eyes and smiled, trying to lighten up the moment.
"Now is really not the time for jokes, Melody." His face was completely serious. It almost scared me.
"Look Chris," I managed to choke out the first few words. He just starred deeply into my eyes, his expression thoughtful. I swallowed, managing to finish my sentence. "I like you, a lot, but maybe because it's the anniversary of your parents death, you're going crazy. You always get a little dramatic on the tenth of May."
If that couldn't bring him back to reality, nothing could.
He shook his head, dropping his hands to his side. "You're right, sorry. You want to drive?" I followed him as he walked towards my kitchen.
"No, I don't know where we are going." I paused, "Yea, I don't know."
He laughed as he opened up the garage door. A black bug was parked in the center. I followed him curiously. "Remember, we are going to pick up Mask and Julie at Rebecca's house?"
"Uh, sure?" We laughed in unison at that.
He hopped into the drivers seat, slamming it shut. I lazily climbed into the passenger seat. He began backing out into the driveway, closing the garage door as he made the turn towards Rebecca's house.
Rebecca was taller than me -who isn't- and like Chris and me, eighteen and a recent graduate from Drake High School. She owned a bird, a hawk. To my surprise, she managed to tame it. She named her, Talon -so creative, right?-. Anyways, she had long, brown, wavy hair and hazel eyes to match. She was filthy rich and one of my best friends.
Oh, and you should know something. We live in the city called Drake, mostly associated as the city that stopped improving and stayed in the past. Unlike the other cities around us, Drake never advanced past the so called End of the World. Instead of adopting the idea of hovercrafts, we stuck with the ordinary gas powered vehicles. Instead of using relicts, the upgraded school at home, we kept the idea of a large mass of people within one building. And my least favorite part, the idea of hyper tanks. Hyper tanks, are in short, the all time futuristic way to live. Looks like a simple upright hollow cylinder with a door, but so much more complex. Hovercrafts, relicts, and hyper tanks, all things in which we lack. In fact, we are so far behind the rest of the world that people visit Drake to get a taste of life in the past. That's how far behind we are. I see it as pathetic, however, the goverment see's it as a great way to educate the children of America. I call it torture for those of us who live in this great land in which we learn from. Pft, society.
We arrived at a large, white mansion. This is where her and both of her parents lived. They left her to continue her school work while they enjoyed a month long vacation in the Bahamas. By the time we reached her place, the storm had calmed to a gentle drizzle.
We got out of the car, Chris running up the the front door, waiting for me. I noticed when he glanced back at me, he had grabbed hold of his twitching hand, why it was twitching, I don't know. As awkward as that was, I ignored it.
He rang the door bell as I joined him on the step, under the safety of the roof. We just stood there for a few moments utill Chris mumbled something then glanced over at me awkwardly.
"What was that?" I looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Nothing, nothing." he mumbled again.
"Will you stop that?"
"Stop what?" he asked innocently.
"Just tell me what is going on with you! You've acted abnormally before but this is just insane!"
"Why can't we?" he finally blurted out, dropping his hold of his hand, reaching for mine. I pulled away, glaring at him.
"You know the answer."
"And you know people change their minds!"
I couldn't respond to that. At first I thought it was just the day talking, but I was actually starting to believe him, which I've been down that road before and it only lead to a horrible death. Poor Mark Waters. What am I saying, Mark deserved it.
The door finally opened. Rebecca stood at the threshold with a wide smile on her face. Her hawk starred at us cautiously.
"Sorry, I was just talking to Derick." She shrugged cheerfully.
"Are you sure you were talking-" I eyed her playfully.
"-Or making out?" Chris finished my statement.
Rebecca Hail and Derick Linehall were some of the most optimistic people that you will ever meet.
Like Rebecca, he was a joyful soul. He had hazel eyes and short, brown hair. He was random, in a good sort of way. Rebecca was more funny in a common sense where Derick was funny in a random sense. He also was a graduate from Drake High School.
Derick had a special past. It wasn't gruesome, just special. He had loving parents, the kind that never argues with you or each other. They made no mistake in their marriage, and as of now, they are somewhere in Canada.
Derick was sixteen at the time, and he was roaming the woods with his family, searching for a good place to set up camp. This had been a normal Saturday evening. They found a clearing near the center of the woods and as always, while the parents set up camp, Derick would wonder off into the woods to find the perfect materials for the camp fire.
The sun was setting, sending the sky to a peach pink. By this time, the family had collected enough firewood to start a fire. Dad would try to start the fire, mom would set up the tents, then Derick would walk around the woods till his father called for him at dark. Derick had a great life, but he knew it wasn't his, so, he began to daydream of his perfect life.
He knew it involved a girl, -like I said before, or if I forgot, it was implied I meant Rebecca- and a life without a burden. His family had been known to have special standards for their children. In his case, he was to become a general in the military and destroy Greenland for who know's what purpose. If he wasn't, all of Canada would be out to kill his parents for falsely choosing their sons career. Stupid in my opinion, but it's not my place to judge.
Derick was a pacifist, so that didn't quite work out for him and his wants. He knew if he ran away, his parents would be safer -again, really weird- but he couldn't just hurt them like that.
He stopped in front of a weasel about a mile away from the clearing. He wasn't very wise, so he picked up the weasel like it was a cat. The weasel starred at Derick, and then surprisingly, the weasel leaned forward and liked his nose -is it just me or is everything in Canada messed up?- then took its front paws and hugged Derick's cheek.
Derick smiled and put the weasel back on the ground. When he turned to walk back to camp, the weasel ran in front of him. Derick turned to walk around him, but the weasel ran in front of him again.
At that point, Derick picked up the weasel and hugged it. I assume that this was his way to symbolize he was claiming the weasel as his own. He placed the weasel on his shoulder and spoke his new name out cheerfully. "Fix" -I will never understand the ways of Canadians.- The weasel smiled at the name, which I assumed was his way of proclaiming, My name will no longer be the weasel, but Fix!
Then as if on cue, Dericks' father called out to him.
Derick has known he would not be allowed to keep Fix, but in reality -in Canada, or at least in Derick's' mind- a weasel is a boys best friend. Dogs are for buns. Plus, Fix was Derick's only friend, so as if Fix read Derick's mind, the same white light I remember flashed in Derick's spot, the same feeling coming with him as if he was melting with another body, and blank. The next thing he remembers, Bam!, he's in Rebecca's arms in her backyard and it's love at first sight.
He probably really hurt his parents and he knows it, but he knows that it's what he truly wanted, to be happy -which in a sense is all that his parents wanted but, I mean, come on! You raise a boy for sixteen years, love them with your soul, then next thing you know, you call for them at dark and he never comes home. Maybe they'd feel better if they knew he had Fix!- and so far as he claims, it was the best unconscious decision of his life. -Got to love Canadians.-
-As I was saying before I went into yet another big flashback,- Rebecca and Derick are truly some of the most cheerful people you will ever meet.
Rebecca rolled her eyes, smiling guiltily. "Well, we started off talking about pumpkins and batteries,"
Chris and I exchanged confused looks. Not only was that weird, but how can you compare a pumpkin with a battery? -if you were about to try, don't, it was a rhetorical question.-
"Okay, yes." she giggled. She really was a cheerful soul. "But, to the point, you here for Julie and Mask?"
We nodded in silence, our faces still perplexed on the pumpkin battery thing.
"Well, don't just stand there, come in!"
She didn't have to open the door wide for us to know she had thrown a little party made up of all our friends. Trust me, the noise spoke for itself.