Nicole

He looked down on the main street of his small town, standing barefoot on the corner edge of his rooftop, smoking a cigarette. Completely lost in the labyrinth of his own thoughts, he didn't hear her approach until she was right behind him.

"Hi Noah!" It was Nicole, his neighbor from across the hall. Nicole had grown accustomed to finding her idiosyncratic neighbor standing on the edge of the roof like he was about to jump off.

Noah took one last drag from his cigarette before flicking off the cherry and pocketing the butt, and smiled "Hello Nicole, how are you?"

"You know you don't have to put those out around me just because I don't smoke."

"I know," Noah shrugged his broad shoulders, "Manners, I suppose."

Nicole handed Noah a chocolate bar. She liked having a cohort whenever she cheated on her diet. Not that she needed it; Nicole was one of the most physically fit people Noah had ever met. "It looked like you were pretty lost in the moment up there. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah... I just ran into someone I haven't seen since high school and it reminded me of something that happened my junior year. It's not a happy story."

"Few of your stories actually are." Nicole indicated the lounge chair next to hers, "C'mon, spill! I'll buy you dinner."

Noah couldn't understand why, but for some reason he had no problem opening up and telling her all of his deepest, darkest secrets. After only being neighbors for two months, Nicole knew more about Noah than most of his closest friends did. Noah smiled in spite of himself and sat down.

"Well, before I can tell you this story, I need to give you a little back up: When I was 14, I used to play Pop-Warner football. In the championship game, I came in on a blitz and paralyzed the other team's quarterback when I tackled him. The hit was clean; it was just one of those things that just happen. His head snapped back a little too suddenly and he broke his neck. As soon as I hit him, I knew something terrible had happened so I called for help, signaling his coach and the EMS guys on duty. As they rushed him to the hospital, I took off my jersey, helmet and pads and dropped them in front of my coach and quit. I haven't played football since."

Nicole was very sympathetic and listened patiently as Noah squirmed and fidgeted while he talked. He usually did whenever he would tell her something about his past. She wasn't sure what, but something had happened to him a long time ago that made Noah think that everything bad that ever happened to him was his fault. Nicole guessed that his parents had been abusive but never pressed him on the subject. Nicole didn't know why Noah opened up so easily to her, either, but she was glad he did. Nicole loved to listen to him talk; it was almost as if she were right there as all of those things happened.

"I'm so sorry."

Noah almost smiled, "Thanks. Anyway, one of my old teammates took my leaving as a sign of weakness and made it his life's ambition to get under my skin. He was about 5' 10" with a wiry build, but acted like he was ten feet tall and bullet-proof. One day at school he and his friends corner me at my locker. It starts off with the usual verbal abuse. I'm a fairy, faggot, blah, blah, blah... Then, like clockwork, I pull a book out of my locker and it gets slapped out of my hand to boisterous laughter and high-fives all around. I crouch down to pick it up and I get knocked over and kicked several times. This time, however, a girl sees this and comes over, yelling..."