Messed up! The Great Beginning

Page 99

She put her head down on her knees, but I could feel it. Her dispair. How her tears fell down her face. This situation reminds me of personal experiences from the past with my family.

"I also had a brother once." I said while sitting closer to her and looking down at the frozen river.

"We used to be inseparable.. until one day, he just changed." I said.

She looked up at me slightly, wiping her tears.

"Changed?" She asked.

"...Yes. I have no idea to this day what happened, but I can't know anymore. Sure, sometimes the question pops into my head, but I can't turn back time to find out. Things just happen and leave us with unanswered questions and sometimes we just have to move on. We can only assume what happened.." I explained.

"I just wonder what happened to him..." She sighed and leaned against me.

I wasn't sure if I should hug her or put my arm around her or if she wanted to be touched at all. I just sat there.

"There are plenty of reasons why one could change. Maybe he was influenced by bad people around him or maybe he started to get into a lot of trouble that put him into a bad place. Who knows?" I said as she closed her eyes.

I kind of stiffened. Should I at least put my arm around her? I don't want to make her uncomfortable on accident! Usually, before her brother assaulted her, I would give-

"-me a hug?" I only managed to hear through my thoughts.

"Huh?" I turned to her.

"I said, could you give me a hug?" She asked again.

"Oh, well, if you're ok with that." I said and pulled her closer to me.

My arms were wrapped around her as she laid her head against my shoulder and put her arms around my waist. She was shivering slightly. It's gotten quite cold and dark now. Maybe I could warm her a little. I rested my head on hers and let the magic happen. I just have to think of it. Her grip loosened slightly and she sighed. It was a good sigh.

"Is that you?" She asked.

"The warmth? Yeah, you looked cold." I answered.

"That's cool. Feels nice." She mumbled.

"Aye, don't fall asleep on me. You still have to get home." I nagged.

"I'm not, I'm not." She said, slightly annoyed.

"Thank you, though. Thank you for coming here to talk to me. I really needed that." She said and lifted herself off of me.

"Anytime." I smiled.

"Cmon, it's getting late. Let's go back to Travo." She said and got up.

I got up after her and we walked through the snowy forest to the warp pad. It wasn't far away, really. When we arrived, she gave me one more hug as a goodbye. I let her step on the pad first. I don't think multiple people with different destinations can use the warp pads at once.

"See you tomorrow." She smiled and waved.

"Huh?" I questioned, but she warped away.

What do you mean "see you tomorrow?" I guess I'll find out. I warped back home where Scarlet was waiting for me on the couch reading a book. Darkness was eating cat food out of his bowl. I wanna say that's gross, but if he likes it, then who am I to judge.

The next day struck like lightning. I managed to sleep through the night, but it felt like I blinked and now it's day. It's Wednesday. In four days is Laura's birthday! Let's go! I gotta start working on my costume! But that'll come later. I gotta go to school. But today was different. As me and Ray met up to continue to school by ourselves, someone called out to us.

"Hey! Guys, wait up!" It was Laura!

So that's what she meant by "see you tomorrow." We were both surprised of her being here. We thought she wouldn't come to school until the holidays. Oh well, I'm glad she's back. For now, at least.