"He was different than anyone else, more rough and less polite in the best aspects. Being with him was like my own personal punishment, and my best gift all at once."
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Most summer nights when the others busied themselves with smoking and philosophical discussions about cheetos, I found myself alone at the Pogue's secret hideout.
JJ liked to call it, "Pogue Narnia," but it was honestly just a tattered hammock, a few crunched beer cans, a worn down cooler that didn't do much cooling anymore and an ancient tree that had been carved much more recently than I had remembered.
"P4L" it read in scratched letters and I let my finger roll against it, almost sad at how different life was now.
My phone buzzed momentarily taking over my attention, and I pulled it out.
Rafe U free tn?
Me kinda busy, why?
Rafe It's important.
I moved my thumb over to begin typing a harsh denial, when my phone buzzed rapidly, showing his name in bright letters.
"Hello?" I asked in an annoyed tone, subconsciously placing my hand on my hip and turning away to lean against the tree.
"Come by the boneyard."
He hung up before I could let anything slip out, leaving me warily confused.
—
"Yo."
I turned around, meeting Rafe who knocked on a tree to signal his presence.
"Hey, so what's this about?"
"There's something that went down, and I need your help."
My help? What could I possibly help with? I stared at Rafe for a brief moment, before coughing out the tension.
"Okay, what is it?"
"It's... some pretty bad shit that went down, K," his face suddenly darkened, "I need you to promise me..." He stepped up to me, looking at me hesitantly.
Rafe was... scared. A face that I had only seen maybe once or twice, back in elementary school when my family had the fortune to afford Kook's paradise life.
"Promise me you won't tell anyone."
I begrudgingly nodded in silence, gulping and looking back to his eyes. "Promise."
"'Kay, come here." He gestured back to his pick up truck that had been recklessly parked on the gravel of the boneyard, humming a calm beat and blowing smoke into the cool summer air.
