Vacant

Chapter Eleven

That night, Luke took me back to the skate park. For some odd reason, in the late fall and early winter, it was surprisingly warm. We crossed the vacant park, and passed the rail where Jesse and I used to sit. He took me farther and farther into the park, until we stopped at a cliff looking out to the night sky and city lights of Peterborough. Yellows, oranges, blues, reds and other colours shined through the night. There were clusters of stars everywhere, and the moon shone bright in the black sky. We sat down on the damp grass and looked at the amazing view. I then thought to myself, I’ve seen this view before, but where?  Then it hit me, I’ve seen this view hundreds of times with Jesse on the rail. I looked up behind me, and there it was, miles up from me. I never knew there was a ledge quite as large as this one below the rail. Luke was full of surprises.

“This view is great.” I said to him. He exhaled softly and lied down next to me. I followed suit and lay down too. He held himself up with one hand, while I lay silently below him.         

“I’m glad you like it,” he said, gazing into my eyes. He hesitated a bit before he started again. “Look, I haven’t been entirely honest with you,” he said looking away before he looked back at me.

“What do you mean?” I asked worriedly. So he hasn’t been honest with me? What could’ve been worse that a black eye?

“When I told you the story about the gang, I kind of left out some parts…” he trailed off, wondering if I would say something, but I didn’t so he continued. “Well, I’ll just let you judge for yourself.” He stopped talking and sat up straight. I did the same, waiting for what he would say to me. But he didn’t say anything; instead he lifted up his white T-shirt to reveal several bloody gashes. They looked like cut marks, like somebody knifed him several times. I gaped, not knowing what to say. I just looked at him, horrified.

He then let his shirt fall back into place, and said nothing.

“Oh, my…” I said not being able to finish off my sentence.

“I know, but I didn’t want you to freak out. I didn’t want to lie to you, but I thought it wasn’t a big deal. I mean there only little cuts-”

“Little? Luke they had weapons and they almost cut you open!” I exclaimed, trying to sound reasonable enough so he would actually listen. We just sat there in silence, taking in everything that just happened. I don’t even know what to think right now. Everything that Luke just told me hit me like a truck coming on full speed on a highway.

“I’m sorry.” Luke said, barely audible to hear. I didn’t mind that he kind of lied to me, but why would he keep knife marks from me? Hat was serious business and it had to be dealt with.

“It’s okay,” I said. He’s already been through a lot, and I don’t want to add more pressure. I lay down first, and then he followed. We gazed at the stars, every cluster coming to life against the pitch black canvas. Luke came closer this time, and I decided it wouldn’t hurt to just lay my head against his chest, right? So I did, and I tried to lay down as lightly as possible so I didn’t do anything to his injuries. He seemed to have noticed, so he whispered an “it doesn’t hurt” and I added more pressure. I could hear the beating of his heart, calm and relaxed like he did this all the time. It was unlike mine, which was beating at an incredibly fast speed. I wished this moment could’ve lasted forever, but right now, I wouldn’t change it for the world.