A Place For August

Chapter 9

Stanley ran down the stairs in disbelief. He tumbled down a step and fell to the ground. He started to get up…his body ached? His brows furrowed in confusion, he hadn’t felt anything since he was alive. He looked down at his hands, they started to form a pale color, he began to panic and ran to the book. Was he dying again? He snatched the book and flipped through the pages. He groaned and threw it back to the ground. Shutting the book's cover, he trapped himself inside the book once again, but this time it was on purpose.
    Later that night, Stanley suddenly got spit out of the book. He tried to silently land back down onto the floor, seeing August asleep. He for some reason started to feel much hatred just looking at him. Maybe it was because he was related to his murderer. He heard faint voices from above and grabbed the book. If he left, August wouldn’t be in any danger anymore. Well that is what he told himself. He sneaked outside, and for the first time in years, he was able to feel everything. He had his color back, his brown hair, green eyes, green shirt, trousers, it was almost like he was human again. He was alive.
    Stanley walked down the streets for a while, he didn’t know where he was going, but he felt that he had to go somewhere. Like he was being led, but he didn’t know where he was being led to. As droplets of water hit his face, he knew that he had to find shelter. Stanley kicked through the puddles as he walked. Cars flew past him, not bothering to even pay attention to the boy.
    “Where the hell am I…” He faintly whispered to himself, something caught his eye as he spun around. Searching the area. There seemed to be a dead animal in the grass, well it must’ve been a deer of some sorts. It was just small enough to be a deer, but not too small to be a smaller animal. He slowly walked over to the animal, curious to see what it actually was. Maybe it was a Raccoon, or a Deer.
    “Oh, uh…” His heart sank looking at what was in front of him. He felt anger rise in him, but most of all, he was concerned. August lied right in front of him, he looked like he was dying. The boy knelt down, picking August’s head up slightly to look at any wounds the other boy might’ve had.
    “Damn you August.” He mumbled, he felt dread just looking at him. He had left to keep him safe, but in reality it just made everything worse. “August?” He shook the boy worriedly, no response in any way. “August!” He scanned the other's face, his face looked pale. He showed no emotion on his face.
    “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh…August!” The boy hugged the other tightly, not like it would make any difference. Stanley wanted their first actual contact to be more sweeter, but this was not what he wanted. August was dead. Stanley knew he was, he was dead once, now their places had switched.
    “Shit.” Stanley stared at the others face in tears, he didn’t know what to do. Cars flew past them, not even caring. Stanley sighed and collected himself. “Right.” He pushed himself upwards to his feet, not wanting to grieve longer. It seemed weak to grieve, according to Stan. He started to walk away, tears filling his eyes. But as he was about to leave, he heard a loud gasp. Stanley's eyes widened, he spun around and ran back to August.
    “August!” He shouted, the boy's eyes fluttered open.
    “Stan?” He muttered back, Stanley hugged August tightly. August winced in pain. “Ow, ow, ow, ow!” August whined, Stanley let go and stared at him.
    “What the hell happened?” August’s eyes softened, realizing the ghost had just hugged him.
    “I…You're alive?” Stanley frowned, not wanting to change the topic.
    “Yes, not what happened August?” Stanley repeated, August was hesitant but ended up telling him everything.
    “Oh, wow…We need to find shelter first.” Stanley noted, August nodded in agreement. He struggled to balance back to his feet but managed. Stanley was worried about him, but he was also mad. August was his murderers family, he felt as though he was not able to trust him any longer. They walked in silence as it poured on the two.
    “We could settle under this bridge for now, I don’t think we have any other choice.” Stanley announced, August nodded and sat back down onto the concrete. It was close to the road, but that was how every bridge was. Cars flying past you. They sat in silence, Stanley sat about 6 feet away from August, not wanting to start a conversation even though he really knew that wouldn’t stop August.
    “Hey Stan?” August muttered, Stanley, not wanting to physically speak to August, just hummed as a response. “Can I ask you something?” August asked, the ghost sighed.
“Sure.” Stanley responded blandly.
“Why did you leave me?” Anger rose in Stanley, he didn’t understand why he felt so mad, but he did.
“You were a traitor, and this isn’t about you, it never was.” Stanley spat, August raised a brow slightly offended.
“I helped you to this point, I didn’t betray you, I did nothing wrong.” August defended, Stanley glared back at August.
“It would’ve been nice if you were there for me at least once, instead of going around kissing girls, Adam.” August’s heart sank hearing the name, Stanley hadn’t called him Adam once.
“I didn’t kiss her!”
“Oh yes you did, you think you're all innocent, I saw you two kissing. That trip to the library was supposed to be for ME.” Stan argued, tears filled August’s eyes.
“Stan, I don't see what I did wrong! Just tell me!” August shouted, Stanley groaned.
“I did! But since your small brain can’t process, I’ll say it again. I was there for you when you needed me, and all I wanted in return was for you to do the same! But now I just found out you're related to my killer, and you know how DNA works, it's in your Genes Adam!” Tears ran down his face.
“I was there for you, when Kesley kissed me, I didn’t want her to. She forced me, Stan! I needed you more than ever and you pushed me away by yelling at me because YOU were angry. My own father hit me! And you're here yelling at me like everything is my fault! And by the way, it’s August! I was actually growing to like the name just because of you.” August snapped, Stanley's face softened. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. August stared back at Stan.
“August I…” Stanley had no words, he didn’t know how to apologize. He knew saying a simple sorry wouldn’t be enough. “August I want-” He was cut off by a loud noise from near August. A Man stood there, banging on the rock wall. August glanced at Stanley and jumped back, still in pain. Stanley stood in front of August. The journey wasn’t even close to over.

A/N

I have been feeling absolutely terrible. But I managed to publish, I hope you enjoyed 😥

Word Count: 1239