The Trail (johnten)

2.6

"do you want to talk about it?"

"talk about what?"

"the reason you were crying on the trail?"

ten was silent, he knew johnny was going to ask him eventually but he honestly didn't know what to say, so he simply shook his head.

the two boys were now at johnny's house, sitting in his cozy living room. 

"well, why do you like sunsets so much?" johnny didn't want to pressure the boy, but he did want to know what was going on, so he tried to ease him into the conversation.

"wh-what do you mean?"

"on the trail, you calmed down when i pointed it out." 

ten looked blankly at johnny, not knowing whether or not to tell the older the truth. before ten could make up his mind johnny spoke up again.

"you know, i only pointed it out because they calm me down too."

"really?"

"yeah."

"why?"

johnny chuckled after hearing ten's question, "if i tell you, will you tell me?"

ten thought for a moment, "you've got yourself a deal."

johnny smiled, "alright then. there's no real deep meaning to it honestly. just the way the colours slowly fade away is really calming to me. plus, when i was younger i used to watch the sunset out of my window every evening. reminds me of home i guess, chicago i mean." johnny looked sheepish while saying the last sentence. "how about you?"

"umm, well i guess i'll just tell you." ten took a breath, "when i was little me and my mom used to have picnics in the park during the summer. it was just the two of us, eating dinner on a blanket whilst watching the sunset. she used to love it so much, she said that spending those evenings with me was always the best part of living. i miss them." ten teared up but quickly wiped the tears before they could fall.

"why don't you do them anymore?"

"she's gone."

johnny's heart dropped at that, he pulled ten into a comforting hug.

"oh ten, i'm so sorry. what happened to her?"

ten had been able to compose himself thus far, not anymore. he began to cry once more, some of the tears spilling out of anger at the fact that he was crying so much today. johnny shouldn't have to deal with this.

"im sorry ten, i shouldn't have asked. that was very stupid of me. i'm so so sorry." johnny said.

"n-no i-it's okay." ten took a few deep breaths to try and pull himself together. "it's just, sh-she didn't die. she just decided one day that i wasn't the best part of living anymore."

and with that, ten cried with all his might, yelling through the tears. 

"she left! she left and didn't even say goodbye! she left me all alone with him!" ten then looked into johnny's eyes with a look of pure desperation. 

"why wasn't i enough for her anymore?"