Colourblind

A sliver of silver mirror

The anti-emo trinity stood stock still in their room, clutching what appeared to be a money box. Carlos stood with his arms crossed behind Kat who was purple in the face from rage. The whole room seemed to emit a sense of anger.

"WE CAUGHT YOU DIGGING THROUGH MY BOX, YOU FUCKING CUNT. YOU KNOW I DON'T GET ANYMORE MONEY THAN THAT." Kat shouted at the three girls.

"We have been told to check for cigarettes on the orders of Mr. Emric," Yvonne replied, a lot calmer than Kat."If you do not believe us, go and check with him."

"I DO NOT NEED TO CHECK WITH HIM. YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF THIEVES."

Caine flinched at the volume of her voice. Jordan watched Caine from the corner of his eye. He took out his pipe and stuck it in the corner of his mouth, Caine pretended not to notice.

"WHY THE FUCK WOULD I HIDE CIGGYS IN MY GODDAMN MONEY JAR?" Kat screamed. Alex laid a hand on her shoulder but Kat shook it off, glaring at the anti-emo trinity. Much to Caine's surprise, the girls didn't wither under Kat's glare.

"He told us to look in unexpected places." Amna said, coldly. She made a sudden step towards Kat and for a moment Caine thought he was going to hit her. He flinched again at the speed of which Amna had moved.
Alex looked at him as well as Jordan and Carlos.

"Uh..bathroom." Caine muttered, making for the door. He stumbled over his own feet and sped up his pace. You weak shit, he thought to himself. Why had he flinched so hard over Kat shouting? He felt adrenaline flow through his body and as he exited the room, he heard footsteps following after him. Caine sped up his pace but still they followed. His heart was in his throat as he pushed open the doors which led to the grounds. Caine considered looking for Jay but abandoned the idea. Still, the footsteps followed.

"Caine...Caine, dammit. Wait up... Ow fuck." Jordan cursed as he fell and tried keeping up with Caine's fast pace. Unfortunately, Jordan's legs were longer than his and eventually he caught him round the wrist. He turned around and flung Jordan's hand off of him, but his grip was too strong.

"Let me go. " Caine said. He raised his arm up and brought it down fast. Jordan's grip slackened but he still followed after Caine. All he could see was a mop of red beside him.

"Fuck off," Caine muttered as he sat down on a tree stump, facing away from Jordan. "Please." He added.

"Caine..." Jordan panted. "What happened to you? You did another one of your stunts. You keep...disappearing. Will you tell me what's wrong?"

"No. Fucking hell, will you leave me alone for a second?" Caine said, thickly.

Jordan hovered and sat down cross legged a few feet away from Caine. He picked at some grass, and looked at Caine's beaten shoes. "I understand what it's like. You wanna know the reason I'm here?"

Caine didn't respond, but Jordan continued anyway.

"I'm here because my parents couldn't put up with me. My dad was the pastor of a very conservative church and for a long time, I believed that what he preached was right. That what he preached had morals. I believed everything he ever told me. I didn't go to a Christian high school like my parents both wanted me to. It was full, so instead I ended up going to a public school. You know what it's like... You meet some girls... In my case I met a boy. And I kissed him. My parents didn't like that," he said, bitterly. "They screamed and took away everything. They booked me into therapy...'Therapy' and started to preach more and more about how homosexuality is a sin. I got ever more depressed about how completely and utterly hateful they were. What's so wrong about kissing a boy?" Jordan hugged his knees and stopped talking for a few seconds.

"So to please them, I kissed a girl instead. I brought her home and had dinner with her at my parents house. I realised I liked kissing her as much as I liked kissing the boy. I didn't understand myself, and my parents thought they understood me. They were under the impression that it had just been a phase. Yea.. Sure. A phase that lasted 2 years.

"I asked around me, and eventually discovered that I was bisexual,"Jordan spoke softly. "Finally, I knew what I was. What I am. I decided to tell them, thinking that they would be alright with it, since I wasn't gay."
Jordan's expression darkened. "They hit me. They jeered at me. My older brother continuously ridiculed me. Why would you do that for simply loving someone who isn't the same gender as you? I started questioning my father's motives, and after a while realised that there were other explanations as opposed to 'God did it'.

"They sent me away to a camp which supposedly 'cured' you of your disease and made you a proper Christian again. Here's the ironic thing; I came back with a boyfriend. And damn, was he cute. He looked a bit like you, actually." Jordan looked at him and Caine suddenly found the twig he was holding incredibly interesting.

"They couldn't deal with having a son like me, and feared it would ruin their reputation. So they kicked me out." Jordan's voice cracked and Caine sat on the ground, slightly closer to him. "For a while... I stayed in youth hostels and hitch hiked my way around the country. I met Veronica, She took me in and introduced me to everyone. Alex is there for a similar reason, but that's her story to tell.

"I became violent and thought I hit and screamed and lashed out at whoever dared cross me. Including Alex. Oh god, that one time I smacked Alex. That was the worst I've ever felt in my whole entire life. I don't know what it is, her face just crumpled and she walked away without saying anything. I stopped hitting people and when people shouted at me, for doing something I wasn't meant to do, I simply flinched away. I think it was because of... Ps...pt..." Jordan screwed up his face, trying to remember the word.

"Ptss: post traumatic stress syndrome. Kinda understandable, since your parents were shit." Caine reasoned.

"Yea,"Jordan sighed."Well basically, I understand why you're flinching away. I get what it's like. I'm just reminding you that I'm here, Alex is here, Carlos is. Everyone is here because nearly everyone understands."

Caine didn't say anything but was exteremely grateful. He was touched that Jordan would share his story after such a short time knowing him. They sat in silence for a while, until rain started to fall and the smell of the pine trees, which surrounded them, grew stronger. After a couple of minutes, Caine's ears pricked up at the sound of laughter and voices in the distance. He watched as a muscular figure emerged from the trees, high-fiving Andreas. Carlos and Andreas grinned at each other.

"You should've seen Kat," Andrea whooped, miming a punch."Completely thrashed Yvonne. Broken nose."

"Yea, V came running over and started yelling at Kat until she saw the anti-emo trinity holding her money box," Carlos laughed. He mock punched Jordan's arm, and for once, Carlos had no sullenness to his expression. He looked much younger. "Alex is getting ants in her pants Coz you guys keep running off together..."

Carlos and Andreas peered at them. Caine flushed red again and stuck his middle finger up at them. Jordan pretended to thrust his crotch in Caine's direction. The downcast atmosphere had been replaced with one of humour by the two boys' appearance.

"In all seriousness, though, have you been doing the nasty? I mean it's a bit quick since you just arrived here, Caine, and you're outside but I mean, I suppose behind a tree..."

"Oi shut up." Caine grinned. Jordan shook his head vigorously. "Let's get going."

The four boys jogged back up, heads bent and shivering from the rain. Caine glimpsed Jay who was playing with sand in a tray with Kim. He smiled at him and Jay waved back.
Caine walked next to Jordan as they made their way back to Alex's room. When they pushed open the door, revealing her purple and white room, they were met with a scene that looks as though someone had smashed through her bedroom with a baseball bat. Alex stood amongst the mess, holding up a fragment of her broken mirror and examining it.

"Seven years of bad luck,"she said, showing the silver sliver of mirror as they walked in. "Kat isn't coming with us."