Unspoken Colours

Chapter 7

Next PE lesson came by quicker than I expected, it was surprising how fast seven whole days could go without you really acknowledging it at all. We bunked off again, duplicating the first time we did: the cupboard, the park, the pool, and then home. Skipping PE lessons and football training became after a few weeks, a normal occurrence and I forgot all about being caught doing it.

One morning before school on the day we bunked off, Alex showed up at my door. Well, at the gate and I had to go and let him in. He knew where I lived because now after the football practices we did go to, we walked home together. There, he showed me the towel in his bag along with all the possible crisps anyone could eat.

"Preparation is the key to success," he grinned.

French now dragged on even more than it used to, because I wanted it to end even more than I did originally. Finally it finished and in no more than a flash, there we were again in the hidden lake, swimming around and diving off rocks.

"This is totally weird, you know," I said.

"What is?"

"This and us in this hidden donut lake that shouldn't even be here because really, this is a city; a city doesn't have random creepy lakes," I argued. "Maybe this is actually someone's property," I wondered.

"I searched this land online and it belongs to the council, it's no one's land. This is why I don't get how the shed got here, because no one's ever owned this. It's like the park, just council land."

"There has to be some explanation,"

"Supernatural,"

"No, I mean logical explanation,"

"Why does it have to be logical?" Alex asked. "Who's to say that shed didn't come from supernatural sources of the dead?"

"I'm to say."

Alex didn't reply, so I continued looking up at the trees and went back to my wondering if any of them could fall on us and kill us. The trees were straight, tall yeah, but straight and very thick and were unlikely to fall even when it was windy. Just after concluding that we were safe from the tree, I saw a sudden grey smudge of smoke in the corner of my eye. And jumping to the worst case scenario that the trees were on fire, I shouted Alex and shot up out of the water, that was, until I saw the source of the smoke.

"I didn't know you smoked."

He shrugged and leant back on a large rock just above the water, the cigarette hanging loosely between his fingers as smoke floated out of his dropped jaw. Despite how unbelievably unhealthy I knew smoking was, I couldn't lie to myself that it didn't look good when someone smoked, even more so when it was someone like Alex.

"You smoke?" he asked.

"No," I said. "Never have,"

"Come here."

I swam up the rock putting my arms on the top of it to hold myself up. He leant down and handed me his half-finished cigarette, which I peered at curiously before placing it on my own lips and breathing it hesitantly, only to be laughed at when I choked to what I felt like would be my death.

"That feels like breathing in dirt," I choked violently and struggled to get my breath back to a steady pace.

"Yeah but once you get past that, it's so good," he said, throwing me the packet. "Here, have your own."

I caught the packet and picked up the lighter, then climbed out the water and sat up on the rock to light it. With my thumb I turned the circle thing slowly at first, but then faster the next time and a tiny hovering orange flame appeared which I lit the cigarette with. For a moment, I sat peering at it; the end of the cigarette caught the flame and turned a gleaming orange colour. I had seen so many times other people holding a cigarette but not once held one myself so it felt weird to do it.