The Horizons Series - Prologue

Fixer-Upper

August 28, 2019 - 5:00 PM
[DAVID VARDO]

I've walked along this path more times than anyone in our friend group, meaning that I've been through every single "era" of what Wynn liked to call us: "the squad."

In grade seven, I walked with Ashur. In grade eight, I walked with Shiloh, Brianna, Lith, sometimes Calvin, and sometimes Wynn. Grade nine was just Shiloh, Lith, and me, sometimes Calvin or Wynn, and the same for grades ten and eleven. This year, in the first year of the sixth form, I'm walking with Lith and Howin.

I don't like to be the one to complain about things, despite what Howin might say. Cause that's what he'd say, you know? He'd say, "Maaan, David just a bitch for real". But if anything, he's the bitch for real.

Anyways, I'm not a bitch or anything, but things weren't always like this.

If I had to choose which year I enjoyed the most, it would be when I was walking with Lith and Shiloh back in grades nine and ten, before everything that happened in the friend group: Adrian's death, Lith's change, Lith and Shiloh's relationship, and Mercedes.

I guess it's just weird, in a way, that despite everything that has changed between us, I'm still walking down the same path I walked in grade seven. If time is an illusion, then every step I take is also being taken by a younger David, a happier David.

'Maybe I should cancel it?'

From what I heard so far, it seemed like everyone would at least be there this time, but who knows what would happen if all of them were in one place? Who would be killed first, me or one of them?

I groaned internally. 'Why can't life be more straightforward, like computers?'

'Maybe if I enjoyed those days just a bit more, I wouldn't feel so bad that they're gone now.'

I made plans for everything that came to my mind, which was a lot. Shiloh and I were chronic overthinkers, so nothing slipped by us. Only divine intervention could make this go wrong.

If I had to count the number of times optimism has helped me, I would never have learned to count.

But if I were to be. I would be thinking this: 'Shiloh and Brianna become friends again, Lith and Ashur resolve their issues, Howin gets a girlfriend somehow (probably too hopeful even for a best-case scenario), Wynn gets cured of his "Kool Kid Syndrome," Calvin develops a shred of empathy for other people, Rashidi's parents don't come to find him at the park and kill him for being around Lith, and then I get to sleep tonight.'

I used to pride myself on being the rope holding us together, but I was just too stupid to notice myself being unravelled.

The unravelling was complete when we broke apart. They felt some things were too big for the friend group to tackle. I, on the other hand, never thought that way.

It all started with Lith and Adrian.

Funny, I know, but if you asked me what I thought of my best friend, I would say, "Lith has always been there for me. Not once has he ever let me down."

In my head, however, I would think, "If I put everyone I've ever heard of into a room and order them from best to worse. You'd find him a few spots down from Hitler."

Okay, maybe that was an understatement, but you get the idea.

When I first met him, I knew that something was off. Even before Adrian died, he was the epitome of the word 'loner.'

Before grade seven, he had zero friends. We lived in the same neighbourhood, but after knowing him for more than four years, I never heard him speak to anyone.