Everything is Broken (Dentoan/Dlivetoan/Dliventoan)

Chapter 2

There was still no shortage of silence as the elevator doors opened and Dave lead Entoan down the hall. His father stood near the end, staring blankly out a window. "Dad?" Dave asked warily. "Where's Mom?"

Their father blinked. "Visiting hours' done." he replied. He paused before adding, "Gunner, can you stay at your friend's house for the night?" Entoan blinked at him in confusion. "O-okay..." he agreed. "If you want me to."

"You're joking." Minx's face was twisted with disbelief as Entoan recounted the evening before. "So, your dad fucking told you to get to the hospital ASAP, and then you got there just for him to ask you to go back to Wade's."

"That's the gist." Entoan replied, noting the crack of Minx's knuckles. He chuckled to himself inwardly. Oh, Minx, don't do something you'll regret...

Eventually Minx sighs. "You got a weird family, Entoan, I'll say that much."

"Look at you." Entoan retorted. "At least my family knows you exist."

Minx stared at him. Then, in almost a murmur, she replied, "Entoan, you and I both know that you don't want to cross me. So you do yourself a favor and never mention my family again." Without waiting for a reply, Minx spun around and marched away.

"Is there a problem?" One of the girls, Beatrice teased. "Guess a beggar isn't lucky enough to get the girls."

Entoan smirked. "You know, Beatrice, Minx is always watching. I wonder how she'd feel after I told her about your little quip."

Beatrice stared at Entoan, who smiled. Beatrice looked right she was ready to run away screaming. Instead, regaining her composure, she gave a loud hmph before turning around and strutting off.

Entoan smiled. Minx was a lot less dangerous than most people thought. She was just quiet, cold and manipulative sometimes. And other times sentimental and empathetic, although that was rare.

Maybe he was like her in a sense. Maybe he wasn't.

Entoan shook his head. Foolish thoughts, he told himself. Simply foolish thoughts.

-Next Day-

An unbearable silence fell that day. The sound of wind whipping through weeds; the sound of crows cawing and squirrels stirring leaves; the sound of loss.

Entoan stood, looking down at the weeds, the crows, and the squirrels. The wind whistled through the leaves towering above, and the faint sound of water trickling could be heard. Entoan sighed emotionlessly, closed his eyes, and breathed in his hideout.

His hideout.

He had only named in that way once-twice, now. A move, and a death now. A final death, it seemed. So many things jumbled in his mind-relatives, funerals, and a speech of sorts. Entoan liked none of it. He knew his mother wouldn't want so much fuss over herself.

Every Friday, Entoan came to this place. Where things felt calm, orderly, peaceful. Where the world didn't seem like such an evil place. To remind himself he had made it yet another week. To remind himself that perhaps he didn't have many left.

Entoan smiled bitterly. A vignette effect swirled through his mind, pulsing at the back of his brain. The trees and fields, the sounds of the stream and the birds, flowed in and out of focus.

How funny that a crunch of a leaf made him freeze with fear.

"Hello?" A voice. A male voice. A shoe poking out from behind a corner.

Dlive.

"Fuck off!" Entoan yelled, putting on his hood. Dlive rounded the corner, his hands up. His expression was simple, weary. An expression Entoan knew all too well.

"It's just me. Entoan, was it?" he asked. Entoan nodded, letting some tension leave him. "Yeah." He sighed. "How do you know about this place, anyway?"

Dlive shrugged, picking at his cuticles. "Don't really remember. I think I was mad that my dad wanted me to learn polo or whatever, so I ran off and found this place. Normal things."

"Normal things." Entoan grumbled. "What're you doing here today?"

Dlive shrugged again. "I could ask you the same thing. Looks like something's on your mind." Entoan sighed. "And here I thought that maybe you rich kids weren't all about gossip."

Dlive gave him an offended look. "You think I want all of those girls surrounding me 24/7? And here I thought you really were the smartest around here."
Entoan smiled. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not." He was starting to like this guy. Maybe he wasn't as modest as he seemed. "If you ever want to hang out, just look for Minx."

Entoan laughed as Dlive looked around wildly, as if expecting a demon-version of Minx to just form from thin air. Dlive looked back at Entoan and sighed. "I guess I'll consider it. See you around, Entoan."

"Yeah." Entoan muttered, looking down at his shoelaces as Dlive walked away. Once the sound of shoes crunching grass blades was out of earshot, Entoan looked up and sighed. As okay as he was with Dlive's personality, he still hated being around him. It was something about the causality of his outfit despite what also must adorn his closet; something about the wit that he displayed despite the IQ of his companions; something about that longing gaze as his eyes momentarily swept across the scenery.

As if had troubles.

Have I been biased this whole time? Entoan wondered. Maybe the people around the wealthy community were alright. Entoan's goal was always to be unbiased. Maybe I've failed, Entoan thought bitterly, turning around to face the path.

Entoan shook his head. Of course he wasn't being biased; he'd witnessed the acts of the other wealthy children himself. He made judgements based on raw observations, not on how haughty their appearances were.

Dlive was strange. He was some sort of exception, at least in the intellect sense. "What am I thinking?" Entoan hissed to himself. There were other matters to attend to. He could only stay here for so long, no matter how much he didn't want to return to the gloomy, mourning feel of his home.

I know this should've probably been split into two chapters, but if I did that I would feel bad, since I haven't updated in so long cuz of Europe. SO THERE YA GO! DLERVE AND ANTOAN MEET!

E