Finding Copeland

Chapter 2.

"Copeland," I opened my eyes. "Copeland!". My head shifted to my left and then back to my right. I looked up into a pair of ice blue eyes. "Tyler?" My voice was weary and uncertain. "Why are you here?" His face showed concern too. "Tyler, you're not supposed to be here" I looked back at my words, What is this place? "Where are we?" I looked around some more realizing we were surrounded by nothing but black, "you're supposed to be dead, Tyler! This can't be real" My chest felt like it was about to explode I was suddenly hit with an impact of pain, I felt as if I couldn't breathe, he placed his hands on my shoulders "Cope, calm down." He pulled me into an embrace and my breathing became steady again. "You know you worry about me too much" He leaned in and whispered into my ear.

I descended away from him. I felt as if he would slip away again, I took more notice of him. His dark brown hair that I always took notice of, this is him. I looked up into his eyes to get his attention "Tyler, why did you leave? What were you even leaving for that night? We saw you on the news, Tyler. We saw you in a body bag. They said you had gotten into a fight or something and someone didn't want to take the blame for hitting you too much. They said-" He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. "I didn't mean to make you worry, Cope".

I was still in the trance of seeing my dead friend hugging me and quickly turned my face up to look at him but when I did I was standing in a short narrow hallway that lead to a kitchen. I looked down at my feet and then at the trail of shards at my feet. A woman was screaming inside the kitchen. Where was I now? My hands grabbing each side of the wall trying to not be so distinct as the chestnut floor boards creaked underneath each of my steps. I looked around for Tyler but he wasn't there anymore, neither was the darkness. My heart sank but my feet kept moving without my knowing of it.

I came into the kitchen, a small boy around the age of twelve was huddled into the corner of a crumbling wall. His fists held above his head and cuts against his arms. The woman was yelling and screaming at the boy. How did I end up here? My gaze turned towards the woman as I tried placing my hand on her to try and stop her. It was as if I was a ghost; my hand passed right through her as if I hadn't even existed in this moment. She was still screaming, didn't even flinch or anything. Slowly turning, the boy let down his fists and ran out of the kitchen almost knocking me over in the process of my surprise. I turned to the mom then back to the boy again and followed him.

He slowed down when he got to the top of the stairs. He turned around. My heart melted as his icy blue eyes stared right through me as if he were a lost puppy dog. The moment felt as though he had made time itself stop. He slowly looked down as if he were ashamed and balled his fists back up. He took a quick turn to his left and up another flight of stairs. My legs shook beneath me, my vision becoming weary again. I stopped for a second and leaned against the wall and calmed my breathe, my heart was thudding against my chest, I didn't know how to cope with this. I thought about the boy I had just saw a minute ago and figured I shouldn't be leaving him, I caught my breathe, and gathered up my strength to carry up the next flight of stairs.

It hitched again by the time I reached a bedroom at the top but I brushed it away. I trailed upwards leading my eyes to a medium sized bed laying up against a big window with a little boy huddled inside a white blanket. He was breathing heavily like I had been. I walked to the bed and sat down at the side of it. The boy wiped his brown strand of hair out of his face making his eyes pop out even more. His eyes were puffy and red, a single tear making it's escape out of the corner of his eye. He quickly wiped that away too. He pushed his arms against the bed and rose up, his form pushing the blanket aside and slowly stepping out of the bed. He walked to the small bathroom that was connected with the bedroom. He looked up into the mirror and saw himself. He was a skinny boy with pale skin. He lifted up the hair on his forehead and saw a little scar above it, almost on his hairline but not quite. He pulled his long sleeves down so that the scars and cuts on him disappeared from the sight.

Tears started falling and falling and soon he couldn't catch them. The boy scrunched up his face and  grasped at his face and continued to do so. I stuck out my hand but it just passed through him.  He screamed but it wasn't at the mirror but at himself. He crumbled onto the floor and hugged himself as if he felt the immediate need for protection. He cried.

I looked down at the boy and then back at the door. The boy was unmoving and wet tears still cascaded his face.

I hadn't yet known this boy but my heart sunk for him all the same.