the him of hers

6

I wasn't even thinking about my best friend in the moment. I wasn't thinking at all.

I had left her behind, but she of course caught up to me. Always understanding me and trying to calm me down in her very own way. With jokes.

She had ran up to me with a chicken leg and we just started walking. Far away from the house.

We ended up on the side of Wisconsin near the areas she always skated.

Now we were walking on some abandoned train tracks and just goofing around. My best friend always made me forget all of my problems.

"So what now? Wanna reset the earth?" She looked up to the sky and examined the orange, cloudy evening above us.

"I don't think...can't even think right right now. So much happened. I just-"

"Can't process?"

"Yeah..."

"I get it bubble butts." She teased me with this corny ass name. She always had the weirdest shit at the top of her head.

"I should stop being so dramatic. You've seen worse."

Her family wasn't perfect. Both of her parents were together, but from the things I experienced myself, the household was toxic.

Amera started telling me about the abusive relationship between her father and mother not even weeks after we first became friends when we were younger. 

About how it started getting worse over the years too. Her father started hurting her as she got older. Which is why she always stayed over ours as much as she could.

We tried several times to tell the police, to call someone. Or my mom would even try to confront her father about it. But he was a gaslighter. 

I remembered those nights clearly.

When she'd appear at midnight outside our door. With bruises covering her body, her dark pretty eyes filled with tears.

Through all of her trauma, she kept that bright, humorous personality of hers.

She was an only child. So she didn't really have anyone there with her in that environment. She was all alone. 

We never ever kept a secret from each other. Knowing every detail of one's life, with no shame.

"Fuck that. Any problem is a problem. Everyone's been through shit. It's just a token in life, to remind us of reality. There's no such thing as worse in this case, bestie."

"Are we soulmates? I love you, love."

"I love you, love."

The four terms that we would forever use. That were so easy to come off our tongues, yet had so much meaning behind them.

She laughs as we walk, throwing one of her arms around my shoulder. "We should really go back. I don't mind dying but...just not here. The scenery is a little dramatic."

"I like dramatic."

"Come on. I'm staying over. Just please have a baggy pair of pants in your closet."

"Braylen's got you."

                                          ~

The door was locked when we got home.

Of course this was what I came to. Angelica played the same cards back that I gave her. But I was tired and I didn't feel like getting into the game tonight.