Overwhelming Quiet

Chapter Seven: Evil

Once their eyes met and Kenji stopped struggling, Leo released him and crouched beside him with one knee on the orange, leaf-covered ground. His chin pointed down at an angle and his gaze focused on nothing in particular. Whether he was shy or embarrassed, Kenji couldn't quite tell. But it was definitely one of the two.

Something about his appearance was particularly striking that day, not unlikely because it had been a while since Kenji had seen him. His mind must have wiped from his memory just how truly beautiful this guy was. The sun hit the lining of his jaw and the slimness of his nose just right. Long strands of black hair covered Leo's right eye. He had a suspicion that if he ran his fingers through a chunk of his hair, some type of gel residue would rub off on his skin. He was wearing a snug-fitting, gray-and-black-striped turtleneck sweater that hugged his narrow waist and broad shoulders. It was clear he had tried to present himself nicely, and it worked. He looked preternaturally handsome.

There needed to be a rule that if a person was going to be athletically inclined then they were not allowed to be attractive, Kenji thought. It was really obnoxious. And just unfair enough to distract him from the pain that stretched from his abdomen to his clavicle.

Leo frowned at him. "You're hurt."

Kenji sat up in a more dignified position. "I'm fine," he replied defensively. There was gonna be dirt stains on his ass. Ugh.

Leo gazed out in the direction Mika had run off. "That girl," he noted softly.

"Don't go after her, please," said Kenji quickly.

His troubled expression intensified, but after a few seconds, Leo nodded. "I'll take you to the hospital," he said, extending a hand out to help him up.

Kenji ignored his hand and rose to his feet on his own. "I hate hospitals. I'm just gonna go home."

He shook his head. "I'm taking you with me."

Kenji opened his mouth to object, but before he could, his phone rang at a startling volume.

It was Gunslinger. "I thought you said you had to pee. Where are you? Peeing into oblivion?" A faint chuckle sounded through the phone.

"I ran into Leo. We were just chatting. I'm on my way over."

Before they left the woods, Leo began slipping out of his turtleneck. Kenji looked at the ground nervously, not wanting to be caught watching another dude strip.

"What are you doing?" When he raised his eyes, he found Leo dressed in a fitted plain black shirt. He handed Kenji his discarded clothing.

"You want me to hold it for you?" Kenji said semi-mockingly.

Leo shot a look at his bloodied chest, and Kenji quickly understood. The others would ask questions if they saw him like that.

It was hard pretending like Kenji hadn't just watched the life leave a woman's body. Pretending he hadn't dug a knife into a teenage girl's side. But facades weren't exactly new territory for him.

While he had been occupied "peeing," Alyssa had made pumpkin-carving arrangements with Gunn and his little sister that evening. Kenji and Leo were invited too, but neither made any promises. Alyssa, Gunn, and Charlie had picked an assortment of pumpkins and gourds; eight total. The amount of cash Gunn pulled out of his wallet at the checkstand was atrocious.

As they were collecting their pumpkins, Charlie said to Kenji excitedly, "We picked out one for you!" Despite everything that had happened, Kenji felt a small smile creep at the corner of his mouth when Gunslinger's little sister presented him with a lumpy, yellow-green Cinderella pumpkin that looked like the top had been stomped in. Guilt quickly followed.