Stranger Nights

Chapter 1

Henry Baker stomped through the forest. The only thing lighting his path were lanterns randomly stuck on tree's. The path he was using hadn't been used for over three years so the lanterns were flickering on and off and Henry hoped they wouldn't just decide to shut off. Henry was more worried than most would be because he has what people would call bad timing.

Why he was in the woods in the afternoon was rather simple. He was bored. His parents were off at work and the only friend he had didn't seem to want to get out of bed this morning so Henry was left to wander the woods alone. He realizes now that it was a bad idea. The cold air didn't feel great being breathed in and out of his weak lungs. He had to stop soon or else he would pass out. He could hear the river close by just as he was starting get short of breath.

The river was raging and pounding against the rocks covered in frost.

"Same as always." Henry muttered to himself and while he was sitting down on a nearby log he briefly wondered what it might look like calm. He shook the thought out of his head because thoughts like those only made him sad. From the pocket of his green Letterman jacket Henry pulled out his inhaler. This was the reason why Henry was not working.

He took the cap off before inhaling the spray. Taking a deep breath, he put the cap back on and put his inhaler back in his pocket. He then looked up at the dark sky. The stars were out. They had not disappeared like the sun had. They went on like nothing had happened. Like no one had died. Seven of those stars were planets. Those planets were probably doing better then earth was. Well, Henry guessed they were. No one cared enough to find out. This thought also made him sad.

Henry looked back down to the ground at his muddy black rubber boots. Then he looked at his pale fingers. And he just sat there and thought.

That is until a voice yelled at him.

"How long are you just going to sit there!" a unknown voice said to him. Henry jumped up and looked around. The voice seemed to be echoing all around him. Suddenly, he turned around toward a birch tree and came face to face with a young man. Henry jumped at first, but then realized that it wasn't a troll after all. He smiled and his cheeks were tinted with a ever so slight blush.

"I..I'm sorry. I..I didn't realize you had already claimed this spot." Henry said shyly avoiding eye contact and instead stared somewhere to the side. The stranger raised and eyebrow and stuffed his hands into his grey jacket pockets. Henry had time to look at him. His eye's were brown and his brown hair was messy and it looked like he just got out of bed. He was wearing a black fishermans sweater and under that a white shirt. He wore jeans and dirty converse.

"So can you hurry up and leave." the person said. Little did he know that Henry's curiosity was rising because of this stranger and it would be very long before he saw the last of Henry.

"What's your name?" Henry asked smiling and eyes shining. He always loved new things. The stranger was caught off guard at first, but quickly brought himself back to his calm composure.

"That doesn't matter." he said.

"Why not?" Henry asked. Again the boy was caught off guard. Usually that worked when he was trying not to make a new friend (which was every time).

"It just doesn't."

"Well if it's not important then why does it matter if you tell me." Henry said twisting his words around. The boy sighed.

"It's Freddy." Freddy answered, "Now if you can please just-"

"How old are you?" Henry asked cutting him off. At this point Freddy realized that there was no getting around his questions.

"Eighteen." he answered.

"Oh! So you were alive two years before the sun vanished!" Henry said with excitement.

"Yeah. I guess so..." Freddy said.

"Are you new here!" Henry asked wasting no time jumping to the next question.

"No. Been here since I was born..." Freddy sighed then added, "Unfortunately."

To his surprise Henry didn't even blink at his words. He found that surprising since most people think God's Republic is some type of Utopia.

"Then why aren't you at work?"

"I'm ditching." Freddy answered. Henry looked more worried than surprised.

"What if you get caught?''

"They can't touch me." Freddy said itching his cheek absentmindedly.

"Why not?" Henry asked, his blue eye's shining like perfect diamonds. Freddy raised his eyebrows as if pondering whether or not he as going to answer and then with a sigh he did.

"My father is the minister." he said turning away from the boy so he could not see his reaction.

"As in...Minister Elliot." Henry said. If Freddy was turned around he would have seen that Henry wasn't going to say how great that must be or how much pride he must feel like all the others. No instead he was going to say something else entirely.

"That must be the worst." He said. This surprised Freddy more than anything else the boy had done. His eyes were wide. His hands, that were now out of his pockets, fiddled nervously. His heart was racing.

Henry, noticing how silent Freddy had become, spoke again, this time with less confidence in his voice.

"I..um...I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that. He is your father after all and...he just kind of creeps me out you know? I remember when I was eight...he..um..he, well, he said you had to be perfect to go to heaven or something....I.." he let out a nervous laugh and kept staring at the back of his head hoping that he could meet his eye's soon, "I couldn't sleep for days."

Now Freddy's heart was going so fast that it was the only thing he could hear in his ears. He remembered that phrase well, back when he still went to church. He remembered staying up for hours just thinking about whether he was good enough for God.....for his father. That was around the time he stopped caring. Even though deep down he still wonders.

"Let's walk back." Freddy said suddenly interrupting Henry's nervous ramble. He was surprised that he didn't say I. "You can tell me more about yourself on the way."

Freddy then started to walk away from Henry. Sure enough unsure footsteps followed.