Hexed

Prologue

"So, what do I do now?" I ask.

I'm lying on his bed, holding the old and wrinkled playing cards and staring at him while he's sorting his cards. The cards all have symbols on them, though I'm not entirely sure what they're called. Kasper doesn't even look at me, he just grins. He's sitting cross-legged in front of me with the cards pile in between us. The gentle rain pats on his small window,

"Just lay out your highest cards," he says easily.

I do as he tells me to, I put down a six, eight and a ten. But from what I can tell, it isn't high at all. The room is only lit by a small light on Kasper's nightstand that flickers from time to time, just enough light to see the playing cards.

"It's amazing that you still have these, I mean they basically belong in a museum by now." I say as he continues to sort his cards.

"Yeah, I found them in an old box in the attic yesterday. Marja says they were probably her parents. From before the war."

He puts out what I think is a Jack, a seven and an Ace.

"... and what does this mean?" I ask after he doesn't say anything for a few seconds.

"It means that I won." he says laughing.

I put down the rest of my cards as well. I smile, I couldn't care less that I lost, I love spending time here, with him.

"You know, you could just be making this up as you go 'cause I have no idea how this bloody game works." I say,

I watch as he grabs all the cards to shuffle them. He nods his head to the music playing in the background, his adoptive parents kept all sorts of cool things from their great grandparents, like this cd player. Kasper and I found it while we were digging through the basement a few months ago. The thing was busted but luckily Kasper's dad knew a bit about repairing old technology so he was able to make it usable again. We also found a box of old CDs to come with it so the two of us have just been listening to those for months now. It must've been amazing living back then, I would do almost anything to go to a concert like that, nothing to worry about, just people playing music for other people. Kasper and I dream about that a lot, maybe our lives could have been different, we could have been normal teenagers, doing normal teenage things, in a normal world. It's weird, because everyone just uses the remnants of technology of the world before the war, we live in an in-between state, where nobody had anything new, because we've all been cut off from the rest of the world for over 20 years now.

"Another round?" he asks.

He looks me right in the eyes as he snaps me out of my thoughts. they sparkle in the dim lights.

"sure." I smile, "This time I'm gonna win, you'll see."

He shuffles the cards in a way I could never, my eyes wander around his room. The wallpaper is almost falling off and it's filled with old posters. Things he cut out from papers and old magazines, bands from before we were born, it doesn't all make sense to us, but I find that there's a beauty in that somehow. His floor is a mess of clothes and books, a basketball in the corner. Even though basically everything is old and broken, he makes it feel like a home. My room on the other hand is more like a half empty guest room.

"Wanna come tomorrow to watch the game?" he asks suddenly.

I hesitate, then look down.

"I dunno... I don't think your basketball friends like me all that much." I say quietly.

Then I look up again, and see his saddened expression, slightly forced as he tilts his head. A little smile appears on my face as I put my hand in front of my lips, trying to hide the obvious smile.

"Alright..." I say teasingly, "I'll be there."

He smiles, the reward.

The door slowly opens making a low squeaking noise, we both turn to look that way. Kasper's mom, adoptive mom, comes in. She stops in the doorway. She wears a gentle smile, and her grayish brown hair is tied in a messy bun. She looks tired, exhausted even, but she's still got kind eyes.

"Hey guys," she says, her voice a calming wave but I can hear the tiredness in her voice. "Dinner's just about ready."

I quickly glance at Kasper, he doesn't do anything.

"Alright." He says, "Be down in a minute."

We both give a polite smile as she closes the door behind her. But my smile slowly fades as she leaves, and suddenly the room begins to feel smaller.

"I should be going anyway.." I say, I can feel my face warming up.

Kasper looks at me with a confused look.

"I don't wanna intrude, you know? Lydia will want me to get home soon." I continue.

I get up to get my stuff together, avoiding eye contact with him. I don't know why, but I cannot look at him right now.

"Hey wait, it's okay, you can stay for dinner, the rest really don't mind" He says, I hate how kind his words sound.

"No no, really it's okay, I'll get out of your hair." I pick up my bag and look at him. "I'll see you tomorrow at the game okay?" I say with a smile trying to cover the crushing weight in my chest.

"Alright." he says, "I'll walk you down."

It's not that I don't want to stay here, because honestly, if I could I would stay here forever. I would leave all of this behind in an instance with him, explore the outside world, live our lives. But we're stuck.

He walks me to the bottom of his apartment building, I'm walking slowly down the stairs behind him, dragging each second out as long as possible. Knowing I'll probably see him again tomorrow anyway. Still, just the thought of having to be without him for what seems like so long makes my heart ache. But I don't tell him that part. The part where it almost seems like I can't live without him.

"I'll see you." he says when we reach the bottom, with a friendly smile.

"See ya." I say, my optimistic tone contrasting to the gut wrenching feeling in my stomach.

Ripping off the bandaid, I turn around. Right before walking out the door I look back, and grin. That grin where nothing good or funny is happening but you just smile to make the situation feel less depressing. He does the same. I open the door and walk into the pouring rain.