Boots and the Boy

...

I sat in my usual spot in the hallway, leaning on the concrete pole, always there to bash my head on if needed. Sitting in silence, only listening to Ben's constant footsteps, around and around the ward, only stopping to eat. I was a little scared of Zak, his stare's can stop your heart in 13 seconds, like his pupils contained snake venom. Being in hospital was like a numb nothingness, like a separate world, and if you didn't follow the rules you were put on bed rest (the nothingness of nothingness).

I knew I wasn't allowed back here where I couldn't be seen but I was so desperate to see the outside world through the thick double screen windows. I always searched for new things on the green lush lawn. The most exciting part of my day was searching for new things on the lawn in the morning. Today, a branch had fallen off a tree and had become a new seat for some birds. This filled me with a feeling a hope, known that once I've fallen I was still worth something. I waited back here until Jack walked past. All that mattered was him. He was the moon the sun and the stars, the gravity holding me down. I waited and waited until I decided to go paint. I would paint a picture of Jack, but I don't think I could grasp him.

I walked into the Rec Room and his presence felt magnetizing. I felt like I began to levitate and float towards him, watching senseless ghost hunting shows. I swear there a ghosts in this ward. You can feel them drift past you, they're usually crying along with me. I assumed my usual spot, my head by his, leaning my skull on the side of his, taking in his scent. He turned around and trapped me in his existence and I forgot how to breathe. He looked just like the grim reaper, but he was much more terrifying. He constantly wore a black hoodie, which perfectly contrasted with his pale skin. Touching his face was like touching a porcelain plate, thought the only thing that would crack is me. His eyes, to describe it as accurately as possible, are a black hole. So dark brown you'd think they were black, and they sucked you in. I could be trapped in his sight for a lifetime, it feels like being baptised. Jack is God. His ginger side fringe cradled is face and he was so tall people jumped off of him when they lost all hope. He was the sort of person that would let them jump too.

His mouth changed from tight lipped to a goofy smile. "Hey Jaspar." He said, his words feeling like a head on collision with a truck in the most beautiful way. He grabs my wrist roughly and he digs his fingers in my wrist, his cold skin imitating the feeling of being stabbed by icicles. It felt like our hands where the centre of the universe. He dragged me into the kitchen and made it appear like he was kissing my cheek. Maybe he was. I could feel his lips but I could also every dust particle in the multiverse and every rat crawling on the ground. "We're doing it tomorrow, leaving this hole. When the school doors open we'll bolt." He whispered, his lips lightly moving against my skin. I looked into his eyes for about 2 millenniums until he hooked his arm around my arm and ushered me out of the kitchen. I think I stood at the door and thought about him for a long time because by the time I finally turned around he had gone.

It was 6:12pm and I was mixing my dinner together like paint. I don't even remember what it was to begin with. But now it's a marbled mixture of brown gravy and white potato, with meat chunks through it. I'd already eaten my vegetables. Jack took my appetite and crushed it in his fist. Coincidence or not, Jack bounced his knee to to beat of my heart and I knew in that moment he had some form of ownership of me.

I had decided to go to bed early tonight because of the importance of tomorrow. All I think about is Jack, and all I dream about is Jack.

I wake up at 4am and sit by the window, assessing the lawn. It looks like a green blanket and I'd do anything to touch it. I sit still and watch the sun rise up slowly, like an elongated time lapse. I don't remember what sunlight feels on my back. In the corner of my eye I spot something new on the grass, I look in closer and discover it's a pair of shoes. A pair of withered brown leather books, on a pile of leaves. They were perfectly placed, unzipped and ready to put on. It was a mystery.

After breakfast me and matt loitered at the back of the hallway. I showed him the shoes and he looked at me quizzically. I explained how fascinating they were but he dismissed it as not important. I shook the shoes out of my thoughts and just thought about how the Gods probably mirrored constellations with Jack's freckles.

It was happening. The universe seemed to exist at a slower pace. The teachers drifted through the doors with grins on their face and asked how everyone was going, pausing for each syllable. I looked at Jack, absolutely frightened, but his aura of calmness acted as if it were an anxiety repellent. The teachers reopened the doors and Jack and I stuck to the pack of the group, like sharks hunting a school of fish. Once we were out of the ward, and the doors had shut behind us we ran. Bolted. Faster than I've ever ran before. There was a fork in the hallways above so Jack half whispered and yelled "We're splitting up, meet at the boots." And he was gone. I had to pull it together if I ever wanted to see him again. So I took off, weaving through people and hallways until I spotted a security guard, and another security guard and 3 more. I felt my legs turn to jelly and suddenly I was plummeting. By the time I'd hit the roof after the medium fall, I'd only just realised I'd thrown myself out a window. But before I had time to marvel at my bravery I was off and running on the roof, trying to figure out where I was going to go from here. I could feel blood dripping off my limbs. I scoped the sides and discovered a ladder that reached the ground for the back of the hospital. Yet again, I was gone, down the ladder, never stopped.

It was terrifying but I was propelled by a force. Instead of watching the ground I watched the sky get further away, which was a rookie mistake because by the time I reached the ground there were 2 security guards hurtling towards me. Exhaustion wasn't a variable in my situation and my legs took me round multiple bends and sent me pounding the ground towards the boots and then, emerging from a bush, was the boy. He ran up ahead of me, clearing the way through the university area of the hospital, dodging through startled people. Knowing we'd lost the guards, he jogged back and took my hand. I looked up to the sky and smiled as I processed the best truth, I hadn't lost him.