Not so far apart (RE WRITE)

The beginning no. 1

       A tall raven haired man sits at the top of a roof when he hears a door open and close, he dares not to look up, afraid his face may be red or eyes puffy, though he couldn't help it. Losing someone isn't easy, it's like the feeling of mountains falling on top of you, the crushing weight that someone you love will no longer be there, someone you called home, a safe haven even. The realization you won't be able to call, text, or talk to that person ever again, walking into an empty house or apartment.. it's gut-wrenching, especially when you have no one to lean on. Although It might seem that way to the raven haired man, but it's not the case, for the blonde man that walked through the door may be his shield to protect himself from the unforgiving world ahead, and the blonde haired man may not mind to be the raveonettes barrier.

         A small boy walking through the maze of multi-colored trees, sure not to walk too far from his dad sitting on a bench talking to his editor on the phone, keeping an eye on the child from afar.
Walking down the leaf covered path, the little boy stops in his tracks, hearing a sniffle and rustling of leaves in a small clearing. As he walks towards the noise he stops again to see a blonde boy sitting by a big oak tree, the young boy seems to be crying and the curiosity of the ravonette urges him to ask, “Hey!” John shouted, Startling the blonde child who looked up, ocean blue eyes gazing into the other's brown ones, “are you ok?”. The blonde boy, hesitant to speak, shakes his head as the ravonette walks over to him. “Can I sit?” the black haired boy asks. The other nods yes, "What's your name?" The ravonette asks while sitting down, “my name's John.” After a few seconds, the blonde responded.
      “I'm Arlo..” Arlos' head now resting in his arms. John, curious and empathetic towards the boy, asks,
      “Do you want to talk about it? Maybe I can help?”
      “you can’t help me,” Arlo says with a sniffle, his tears flowing down his face as he speaks.
      “Oh.. I'm sorry, um.. do you want a hug?” John says in hopes to cheer the blonde boy up, thinking about his dad stretching his arms wide to engulf John's small form, his warm smile letting john know that everything would be alright. Arlo raises his head to look at John who has his arms open, Arlo felt as though he shouldn't hug a stranger but he knew he needed one, Arlo slowly made his way to John's warm embrace wrapping his arms around John's back, the tension gradually leaving Arlos shoulders, relaxing into the warmth of the smaller boy he felt his eyes start to feel heavy, letting exhaustion take over him.
        As the two boys cuddled close, Arlo asleep, and John questioning how long the hug was going to last, “Arlo?” John asks, shaking him gently. (he fell asleep..) John thought, (hope dad won't get mad) John's eyes soon fluttered closed, laying his head atop of Arlos.

 

      John's dad, starting to get worried as the sun began to set, immediately got up,    “Hey Imma, call you back.” The older gentlemen stated.
        “No- William, this is impor-.” Once William hung up, he hurriedly walked to the small forest, praying his son was ok. He walked through the many trees upon him, now panicking, wondering if his son was even there still.
        “JOHN!!” William had yelled out John's name repeatedly, hoping that John wasn't taken by some stranger or creep. In his panicked state, William couldn't hear the other man who had also rushed into the labyrinth of trees.
        “Hey you!” The other man spoke. William, whose heart was now racing, thought the other man had something to do with John's disappearance. “Are you looking for your son?” The man asked.
      “Why do you ask?” William questioned.
      “I'm looking for my kid too.” The man stated.
Both father's now hurriedly looking for their kids as the setting sun's light started to fade into the darkness.

 

      John woke up with a bit of a fright forgetting about the other young boy whose head is now in John's lap resting. “Hey! Wake up!” John said, shaking Arlo awake.
“hm, wha- What time is it?” Arlo asked groggily.
“It's nighttime!” John states.
Arlo and John quickly get up, Arlo follows John toward the park until John freezes.
“John?” Arlo called out “Jo - -” . John forgot how dark it gets, how the trees can look like hands stretching to grab you, how blind you are when there's hardly any light to guide you. how your mind warps the darkness into the shape of a man.
“John? What's wrong?” Arlo asks worriedly.
     John took a step back, grabbing Arlos' hand, pulling himself closer to the larger boy. Arlo activated his ability, (how come he's not activating his?) Arlo thought, (maybe he has a weak ability) John grabbed a stick to try and be helpful, still clinging to Arlo, staring at whatever he seemed to be afraid of. Once the two heard a snap of a twig, arlo created a long flat, rectangle shaped barrier and slid it across the ground to where the noise was. The two, obviously more afraid when hearing thuds and groaning in front of them, both slowly backed away, getting ready to run the other direction.
“Arlo?” The man said a bit unsure.
“Dad?” Arlo said.
“Yea kiddo, it's me” Arlos dad stated with Arlo running up to him, leaving John.
While Arlo and his dad were speaking to one another, William had made his way towards John, wrapping his arms around him, a wave of tranquility washed over him, knowing his son was ok.
“John I was worried sick about you. Are you hurt? nothing's broken?” William questioned while moving John's arms up and down, looking him over for any signs of injury.
“I'm ok, dad. Arlo fell asleep on me, and then I fell asleep, we barely woke up a little bit before you got here,” John stated, looking down. William looked at John, knowing what his son was thinking. He hugged John once more, this one a little longer than the first, reassuring John he wasn't in trouble.
“I love you, John, I'm not angry at all, pinky promise,” William stated, putting John's puffy sweater on him, rubbing John's arms in hopes of trapping the heat in faster. Arlo and his dads conversation wasn't all that different from the one William and John had had. Except Arlo wasn't brought a sweater, William couldn't help but question and / or criticize Arlos dads parenting since it was quite cold out, although it was probably a part of their abilities now that he thought more on it. “I've been meaning to ask,” William spoke, “what's your name?”
        “Oh, It's Andrew,” Andrew stated,  “And yours?”
      “William,” William said.
        Between the awkward silence, both John and Arlo began to speak to each other, not minding the fact that both William and Andrew were watching them.
     “How come you're not wearing a sweater?” John asked, William perked up at this happy his question was being answered indirectly.
        “It's part of my ability, mine is called barrier and once it starts to develop you start to feel more warm so you're not cold all that much,” Arlo stated, John with stars in his eyes wanted to hear more but it could possibly be for another day. “What's yours?” Arlo asked. Obviously, the question wasn't going to go unasked by the other.
       “Um.. I don't have one..” John said sadly, “is that ok?..”
John didn't necessarily like the look on Arlos face nor did William like the look on Andrew's, who seemed to ponder on the answer John had given, wondering if William didn't have one as well. As Arlo thought more on John's answer debating whether or not it was ok asking himself what would his aunt think? What would his mom think?..
     “Yea, it's ok,” Arlo said with a small smile as John lit up at his response, as did William happy his son had a new friend.

        The small walk to the park was eventful, with John and Arlo excitedly discussing their likes and dislikes. The two older men walking behind them.

       “Hey how Olds Arlo?” William asked, “10?”
      “What? He's 9,” Andrew stated, “how olds yours, 8?”
      “Also 9,” William stated
“he's tiny,” Andrew said.
        “yours is giant,” William replied.
        “won't be the case as he gets older, at least it wasnt with me, well untill i got a growths spurt,” Andrew said, “it's more regular on my side of the family to be short for a while than grow way taller later on,”
      “It's sorta like that with me to I had about two growth spurts one in middle school and one in highschool, it'll most likely be the same for John, or he might just have one, from what I remember his mom only had one as well,” William stated. The absence of the two boys' mothers went unsaid, although both were eager to ask the other.
        The conversations between the four of them flow in and out as the leaves of the trees rustle and change through the seasons, birds singing their afternoon songs, and the sounds of children playing in the park coming into view.

       Days went by, the two happily running off together playing all sorts of games, until Arlo had to go back to Welstone.

       “you’re leaving?..” John asked sadly, “can we still talk to each other? Like our dad's could give each other their numbers.”
       Arlo brightened up at this. The two walked to the older men, who appeared to also be conversing over the matter.
       “Dad!” Arlo shouted, “are you able to give your number to William?”
Andrew looked at the two young boys' hopeful looks.
       “How could I say no to those faces, huh?” Andrew said with a smirk, both Arlo and John excitedly giving Andrew and William  smiles that could brighten up the darkest room.

        The drive to the airport was quiet,  a blonde woman along with two other children not much older than thirteen, resembling the woman in the driver's seat.
         “Aunt Valerie?” asked a teenage boy.
“Elias, you know you can just call me Val,” Valerie stated, “but what is it?”
         “You think Arlo met a few friends in New Boston?” Elias asked.
       “Well if he did, hopefully they're strong enough,” Valerie said with a chuckle, her golden eyes growing dark at the thought of a low tier being friends with her nephew.
      “I wouldn't mind if Arlo made a low tier friend, mom wouldn't have either,” Elias's twin sister said.
       “I agree with Eliot, Mom wouldn't think that way either,” Elias said.

       Valerie's grip on the steering wheel tightens at the thought of her late sister, if you had to ask her she resented how her sister was, always helping the lower classes hardly ever contributing to the hierarchy. Of course, she missed her sister. How couldn't she? Her sister was extremely kind, soft spoken, always smelling of vanilla and flowers.
       Eyes starting to water, she speaks up, telling her niece and nephew how the way their mother thought wasn't right and unbecoming of a hightier to mix themselves up with people other than high tiers, much less low tiers. Elias and Eliot exchanged looks, not wanting to anger or disappoint their aunt solemnly nodding their heads in agreement.