The Unsure

Chapter Eight

Chapter 8

It's been a month since the beginning of my end began. I should feel rotten, like dirty like socks worn way too long. I should be wallowing in the corner, writing tales about skinny white boys having their worlds torn apart.

Yet I'm here following Kim in the woods. She claims to have "a super rad suprise to show me that's she's never shown anyone." I raised my brows at it but ended up tailing after her down the grassy slope.

Maybe she was going to show me her inner freak. Smirking, I try to think of her that way, just a tad sexy, and end up chuckling. She was just to innocent for that despite having a dirty mouth. She looks back at me with curiosity, but is too focused on getting there to ask.

"So what's this huge surprise? It better not be another photoshoot."

"You'd enjoy that!" she throws out while stretching a branch out of her way. "You can't tell anyone I showed you this, okay?"

"Who would I tell? I don't talk to anyone else."

That makes her red flats stop. She turns around, and this sadness has tinted her face. "Keith, isn't that bad? Not only you but I don't really talk to that many people either. The only other people I talk to at school are the honor students and that's only because of my grades. Do you think that's weird?"

Unprepared for such a question, I lamely responded, "Um, I don't think so."

Her lips press, as if trying to hold her words back. She says them anyway. "Do you think it's odd we don't talk to other people outside of school?"

"Why should I? No one wants to talk to me."

"That's a lie."

I cross my eyes. "How?"

She kicks the toe of her shoe into the leave-littered ground. "You were pretty popular a year ago. Someone who had his name known around school. You used to hang out with those guys before..." her voice drifts, then she looks off at the trees, orange sunlight splashing on her cheeks.

Regaining her thoughts, she continues. "I remember seeing some of them try to talk to you. You chose to stop talking to them. I know why, but...didn't it bother you? Being alone?"

Numbly, I reply," Kim can we please not talk about this."

So she noticed all that. Someone I wasn't friends with then noticed. I wasn't completely alone since I had Sarah but I wasn't about to admit that now.

Instantly Kim's expression drops a level. I could tell she felt guilty for bringing that up. "Sorry, we can stop talking about it. But just so you know, you aren't alone. You have me as a friend."

A friend. Something like flattery should've been there. But something else rises inside me. A small burning sensation in my chest. Maybe it's heartburn or something. I cough, trying to shake it off. "I'm glad too, to be your friend. I'll be even happier if we get to where were going before the sun goes down."

She snorts but agrees and tells me it won't be long. Sure enough, a few yards later, I spot something. A makeshift little shack stands there, barely standing with old wood and rusty nails. Kim grins wildly, spreading her hands in the air calling out in her best show voice, "Introducing item #6, The Isolate!"

"Did you make this yourself?" I ask, seeing the serene wrap taped for windows. I tap the thin wood, amuse at her little invention.

"Nah, I found this shack a few days after we moved in. Wanna go inside?"

"No, I'd rather stay out here where it's safe."

Yanking my wrist, she leads me inside her little space. There was really only enough room for lovechair with a collection of magazines and books coating it's cushions. An electric lantern and a flashlight stands beside it, a few shoeboxes with washed out labels on the ground. A poster of the David Bowie and detailed sketches were the walls' best and only decors.
The old rug that covered most of floor lead covered in dirt.

"This is...nice."

"It's not nice, it's mine. It's my secret hiding place. I got the idea three years ago when I saw this seat thrown out by the complex. I remember once while exploring the woods, seeing this abandoned piece of wonder. So I dragged it back here and claimed this place for myself."

"Why though? And how did you even manage to drag this here?" The image of tiny Kim tugging this old hunk of furinture through the woods amazes me.

"It's just a good spot to think. Nature is my muse."

I throw my tired butt onto the couch. Surprisingly it's pretty comfortable. "It's nice, has that rebellious screw-my-family feel to it."

"Har-har. I love my mom."

I didn't want another touchy feely moment again so I look around the room. Picking up a book I had my ass half on, I read the title. E.T. or Not? "You're into UFOs?"

Her face instantly reddens as she makes a fast snatch for it out of my grip. "You weren't suppose to see that."

I glance around the room, suddenly aware some of the sketches contained odd creatures in them. Aliens. "Scratch that, you're really into them."

"Dude I'm not!"

I make a tsking noise with my tongue press against my teeth. "So that's what you were doing on your laptop the other day."

"How do you know that?" she stammers, quickly tearing her sketches down. "Did you look at my laptop?"

"Hey! don't do that," I frown, pushing her lightly as she leans over me to pull another sketch down. "They're actually really good. So are your other sketches."

She rolls her black eyes. I can smell her flowery yet citrus perfume on her shirt.

"I'm not good at all," she says as she stuffs the papers into a large hardback.

"Yes you are. Anyways, why so secretive about liking aliens? It's not that weird."

"I..." she looks at me, her eyebrows pinched. "I just like drawing them, that's all."

"And learning out them?" I keep teasing, reaching for another book--Aliens or Actual?--across the couch.

Kim fidgets with the edges of her navy cardigan. Shaking her head, she begs, "Keith, drop it please."

I try to hide my smile. Seeing Kim flustered like this always makes me want to tease her more.

"Why? Will it go against your alien race?"

Oddly, she doesn't have a snappy response. Kim looks at her sheets, making my mind think all sorts of things. Her silence starts to make me wonder if I went too far. "Kim, I'm joking, I know—"

"No, I don't think I am."

I breathe out a sight of air. Good, she's not mad. "Yeah, I know you're not an alien silly."

She shakes her head, and her eyes hold that look again meeting mine. "No Keith, I know I am one."