The Outsiders Keepers

Known

My head rang until I thought it could ring no longer. Darkness lasted only a second, and when I opened my eyes, my head was pounding but there was no light.

Night time. Xander must've established a base camp around here. His father is asleep, his head thrown back against a tree mouth agape and snoring like a loud hog. It's a wonder we are still alive.

He's still awake though. He had changed from his white t-shirt that had turned brown and red like tie-dye. Now he wears a black and blue striped shirt, and he continues to wear jeans. By the fire, his eyes twinkle as he burns the old fabric in the dancing flames of the woods. The cracks are soothing and almost like a white noise.

"You're awake." He says to me without turning around. He doesn't move. He doesn't lift his head from his hands that is dangerously close to the fire. He taps his feet one against the other, and then he moves his hand and pats the seat beside him, which is really a tree stump.

I take a seat. It feels better to stop standing up and making my head spin. He looks like he's gone through everything in his bag already.

"What did you do?"

"Well," he shifts upward, keeping a straight posture once more to explain. "After you passed out, my father took Betsy out. The group that was following us made a retreat, except for a few that he had finished off."

I swallow a hard lump in my throat that he notices, and I struggle to say it, "What about my father?"

His eyes cast downward. He doesn't even have to sigh out in a massive dramatic exhale. The silence is enough to let me know. I close my eyes to hold the tears in, and when I open them, my eyes are dry. I shouldn't feel as bad as I do. He tried to kill us, or help us, or hurt us. I didn't know.

"Xander." I didn't know I said anything until he turned and looked at me.

Then I press on. "If we're going to be around each other, shouldn't we get to know each other?"

"You already know everything you need to know about me."

I shrug my shoulders, "All I know is you have a fake name, you saved my life and you have a father. I don't even know his name."

"Andrew." Alexander replies, without even looking at me.

"Come on Xander." I sit myself up properly, and the shifting of my movement seems to grab his attention. "Please?"

He rubs his temples and sits up slowly, "What do you want to know?"

I can't help but smile. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen, what about you?"

"Almost sixteen."

He grins at me like he did the first day. "You'll just have to tell me when your birthday is."

I smile and nod my head in agreement. "Tell me about your family."

His smile falters. "Dead."

"No, I meant-" I realize I made him upset, and he turns his head sharply away from me. "I'm sorry."

He takes the blanket curled around his feet and wraps it around his shoulders, and then he lays down, using his clothes as a pillow. "Goodnight, Ella."

I can't help but feel my heart breaking inside as I say, "goodnight" and I watch the sadness glaze cast over his eyes as he falls asleep. I feel guilt eating inside of me from that point on.