It must be nice... (Jamilton)

Basically Begged Me To Join The Fray...

 ~~~~~~~~

Jefferson took a breath as he walked down the sidewalk, with nowhere to go. He checked to see if he had any messages from James, but still, nothing. Now not only was he worried but also he had no place to crash for a while - and he sure as hell wasn't going back home. 
With a sigh, he looked to the sky. It was now a little past 5PM and the summer caused the sky to remain bright - which just didn't feel right at all.

The boy walked along the familiar path until it narrowed and lead into the nearby forest - Thomas stopped to glance at it. The trees were green and mostly very tall, overlapping eachother and swaying in the warm breeze as if they were dancing to the hum of the air. There was a small entrance situated between two large weeping willow trees, which the leaves draped down over - making it look like some type of whimsical fortune reader shack. There was a water-bank not too far off from the entrance, Thomas remembered. He would play there with Jane when they were rather little, sometimes Elizabeth wold join them - the thought saddened him. He sighed as pursed his lips together in attempt to forget the memory. Instead, he focused on the beautiful over-hanging willow-trees which sloped in an interesting way with sage coloured leaves acting like weak vines. Every aspect of them looked old. 

Thomas found himself drawn to the woods, many of his childhood memories lived there - that was until it got searched by the police and laced with yellow tape. The tape by now had been barged through and withered since that was a few years ago at best, and now teenagers use it as a safe space to smoke. There had been a graphic suicide which closed off the area from the public - Thomas vividly remembered walking past it as a small boy, watching the police sirens wail and flash in the darkening sky. The situation was then graphically showcased on the news the next day. The entire family had crowded around the Tv. Thomas winced and closed his eyes shut tightly as he remembered the horrific image they'd displayed on the screen, it was haunting. Ever since that day he'd felt on edge passing by the area, and every time he'd walk right by he'd get chills - and now he remembered why. 

Despite the fact, he found himself mindlessly inching closer so he was right outside the willow trees, just like a trance. Just as if what they'd seen had faded with time and they weren't so scary as they were when he was 11. 
Just then a voice caused him to Jerk back and turn his head behind him - "Thomas."

His eyes widened for a second and he blinked repeatedly to make sure he was seeing correctly and that his mind wasn't playing any tricks. "Alexander- Alex. What are you doing here?" he asked. "I could ask you the same thing." retorted the shorter boy - who was still in his uniform, much like Thomas. "I live here?" - "Really?" Thomas nodded and pointed into the distance, his house was a few feet away, not close enough to be directly seen though. Alex looked to where Thomas pointed and raised an eyebrow - "I didn't know you lived in such a sketchy neighbourhood" he said. Thomas shrugged at the response, "Well I didn't get to choose it" 
"Well anyways you should probably get away from that woods. There's a few kids in there doing lines I don't think you should interrupt them" Alex said casually -Thomas however, had his eyes widened in concern as he looked back to the woods, then to Alex. "How do you know??" he asked. "I saw them going in there, they walk around here often" stated Alex. 
"Should we like, call the police?" asked Thomas - "Nah. They'll be fine" shrugged Alexander in response - "Oh ho ho since when are you not a little snitch?" Thomas crossed his arms as he looked down at the younger. 

Alexander rolled his eyes in response and turned away. "You come around here often enough to recognise them then?" asked Thomas as he rushed forward to reach Hamilton's side - Alexander begun walking once he did. "Well yeah I come to the store here. It's cheap." muttered Alex. "Yeah that's true..." Thomas nodded as he walked beside the shorter boy, avoiding the impulse to look down at him after he noticed that the other didn't look at the people he talked to. "Uhm... So where are we going?" he asked awkwardly after a moment, the woods slowly passing him by as he walked down the long but straight pathway. "I don't know, you just started following me." groaned Alexander, making it clear with his tone of voice that he was salty but he made no effort to prevent Thomas from calmly walking at his side. Only a month ago they'd be ripping eachother's faces off. Now they can at least pretend not to want to. "Well you're the one who caught my attention first so deal with it" replied Jefferson, continuing to walk. With a heavy and sulky sigh Alexander continued to make his way down the street, turning a corner as he reached a split - Jefferson vaguely recognised the area but hadn't been down it enough times to be confident in his sense of direction. Jefferson looked around the area, examining the darkened trees and the normal houses off in the near-by distance - some where coloured bold colours such as red and yellow. The designs gave the area a light-hearted joyous feel. "So what were you doing by the woods?" asked Alexander in order to break the silence, Thomas's eyes darted back to the small figure as he processed the question. "Huh? Oh. I was going on a walk" he responded calmly, shrugging his shoulders in a casual way as he moved his hands into the pockets of his school blazer, his bag still resting on his shoulder - it's mass beginning to feel heavy and give his shoulder a muted ache. Alexander looked over at the taller boy, raising an eyebrow and scanning his body before looking before himself again - "Did you even go home at all?" he questioned. "Yeah" responded Thomas lightly, taking his bag to sling it over his opposite shoulder. "How come you're not changed? Don't you rich people hate walking around in uniforms?" asked Alex, half curious and half rude - Thomas rolled his eyes at the question, feeling much too exhausted to even begin being mad. "Why do you always stereotype everything?" asked Thomas rhetorically through gritted teeth, almost as a mumble. "Where did you even hear that?" he asked, "That's completely untrue" he shook his head in disbelief. 
"I just assumed" answered Alex, "Ofcourse you did..."