The Night Everything Lost Sense

2. Mersault

The world was still asleep when Briar left his home.

His sneakers silently patted against the pavement. The sound brought calmness to his mind. He drifted off to solemn seas, carried by his feet down a sidewalk lit by early morning sunshine. The flora was blooming. Lushes green bushes and happy bundles of flowers dotted the neighborhood that he grew up in. Tree tops sleepily swung, dancing peacefully with the wind to a gentle melody of a bird chorus. A playful breeze frizzled Briar's chestnut hair. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with fresh, chilly air, and swung his head back. He let sunlight bathe him in warmth.

A sweet aroma of freshly baked bread reached him, reeling him into a bakery that he visited daily. Like usual, his best friend was there, sitting at a high table and drinking a mocha latte. His dark brown eyes softened as the bell above the bakery door announced Briar's entrance. Briar soon joined him, warming his fingers on a paper bag filled with his favorite baked goods. His friend offered his coffee to him, brightly smiling at Briar as the latter took a sip of the foamy beverage. Dimples decorated his features. His eyes shrunk as he laughed, almost hiding behind his curly bangs of faded purple hair. The joyful melody of his hearty laughter made Briar return the smile as he pushed the coffee cup back to the other boy. He shared his warm croissants with the other, chewing happily on the soft dough that melted in his mouth.

It was a day like any other. Briar's early morning was a mix of calm warm breakfasts with his best friend, Seth, and a crowded hustle of the subway. He hated descending underground. His eyes would always linger on the golden sky before his view got shadowed by concrete. The underground reeked of sweat and tears, anger and bitterness, stress and anxiety. Everybody was always there, and everybody was going everywhere. Briar clung to Seth's arm as the latter led him to their train. The screech of the rails made a chill travel down Briar's spine and he felt himself sinking into the tile floor. He hated being underground. His eyes searched for reassurance in Seth's. The taller boy placed his arm around Briar's shoulders, comforting him like he always would. The two of them rushed to stand in line, in hopes of finding seats so that they could spent the following 30 minutes relaxed.

They got lucky that morning and found two empty seats next to each other. Seth pushed an earbud into Briar's earhole, smiling at the shorter boy as he blinked fast in surprise. He played them relaxing music and exchanged a few words with him. Briar soon opened his bookbag and took out a thick book with a simple paperback cover. Seth knew he lost Briar's attention, so he let him read off yellowy pages in peace. Sitting next to him while both do their own thing was never a problem to him. They were comfortable with each other. After years of knowing each other, they learned to understand when one of them wanted to be alone.

Being a shy child, Briar found it hard to make friends. He would sit alone during recess and quietly munch on bagels that his mom packed for him every morning. Most kids played together. They screamed and laughed as they ran around the playground. Their openness was scary to Briar, he could never bring himself to laugh out loud or run after girls with bugs on sticks or mud in his fists. Frankly, he found his peers to be jerks for chasing them like that. So, he hung out by himself, watching everybody do their thing. His quietness, ironically, ended up getting him attention. A group of bullies found it fun to push him around, shove sand down his shirt or to steal his lunch. Briar wasn't much of a fighter. He tried to be friendly with them, but that didn't make them go easy on him. One day, the meanest bully out of the group began bad-mouthing his family, mocking Briar for being adopted. He cried hard that day. Whilst sitting on a set of stairs and hugging his bruised knees, a boy found him and sat down next to him. Briar didn't know him, yet the boy patted his back and comforted him like they were friends. That boy was Seth. His new best friend of Korean-descent, and a tiny angel in his tearful eyes.