Steps

1

    Once upon a time, there was a young boy. He was a good child, always following his parent's orders and respecting the Elders. He never looked a girl in the eyes, of course, as expected. No, no. Boys who were soon to be men would never have contact with girls who would soon be woman. They would walk past each other on opposite sides of the street, never even mumble a greeting until they reached the age of 18 years.
   The boy who was soon to be a man had been walking home from school. He was running the last arithmetic lesson through his mind. Unlike most children his age, he loved the maths. It made him excited to go to the class, to answer questions correctly. It was the one class where the instructor had favorites - and the boy who was soon to be a man was the favorite.
   The boy did not pay attention to his surroundings, as one of the many adolescent behaviors he had acquired since his 13th birthday. He blamed it on hormones - the reason girls and boys were separated until adulthood. Horrible hormones. Most people said he acted more mature than normal children his age. He prided himself on that.
   Then, a shout.
   The boy looked up, surprised. No one shouted in this neighborhood. He fixed his uniform's collar, looking around. What neighborhood was he in, anyway? The warm yellow houses didn't look familiar. Neither did the mailboxes.
   Another shout, this time closer.
   If he didn't know what neighborhood he was in, he couldn't get home. He started to panic. What would happen to him? Would he be dragged home by the Scouts? He remembered his best friend Quince, who often times got in trouble for coming home late. The Scouts knew him by name, which was never good.
   The shouting persisted, and only then had the boy thought to look up.
   A pair of green eyes stared at him from the fence to his left.
   He yelped, moving away. The eyes were staring through the peeps of the fence, the white uniform wood. He edged forward, hoping to run away from whoever stood at the other side.
   "Hello!" The voice was unusually high, with an undertone of something the boy felt he should recognize, but couldn't. He frowned slightly, edging away once more.
   "Don't try hiding. I can seeeeeeee you!" The voice was filled with amusement and teasing. It was unnaturally friendly and warm, and the boy found himself moving and looking through the peephole of the fence.
   A green eye stared back into his blue one.
   "Uh....hiya." The boy said awkwardly.
   "Hello! What're you doing here? It's almost 5!"
    5 o'clock! He was late! He gasped and looked around. "Do you know what neighborhood this is? I'm a bit lost..."
   "Yeah, you are."
   The boy gave the eyes a quizzical look.
   "I can't tell you." Now the voice sounded uncomfortable. "But I can tell you how to get back home, if you can tell me what neighborhood you're from."
   "Oh." The boy shook his head, feeling a little confused.
   "Oh? I've never heard of a neighborhood called Oh."
   "You know that's not - " He stopped himself. He must be polite to strangers. "I live in Elevenfoe." He said instead of what he really wanted to say.
   "Ah, I thought as much."
   "How?" He frowned.
   "Well," the voice sounded almost lazy. "You have an arithmetic book. It's green, which means you're pretty good, but not the best. It also has the name of your neighborhood and your name on the band on the side."
   The boy quickly covered his name part with his hand.
   "Oh, don't worry. The name part is too smudged to read from here. Your name could be anything from Uriah to Sander."
   "Oh. Alright." The boy awkwardly loosened his hold and blinked. "But if you knew where I lived, why didn't you just tell - "
   "It's much more fun to ask. That way you can tell who's honest and has good intentions and who not to trust."
   The boy wasn't so sure whether he could trust this person yet. But the warmth in their voice drew him near, and he couldn't help but feel at home.
   Speaking of home. "Now, can you give me those directions?"
   "On one condition."
   "Okay."
   "You come back here. Don't tell anyone or let anyone come with you. Just follow the directions backwards."
   "Alright." He wasn't sure if he'd be able to come back, but he didn't care. He just wanted to go home.
   Suddenly, a hand darted through the eyehole. The boy stood, surprised. He stared at it, the softness and pinkness of it. The fingers held a scrap of paper that had recently been ripped from the pad it came from.
   "Take it." The voice sounded amused again. "So you don't forget half way back."
   The boy took the scrap of paper, feeling the warmth of the hand as it brushed against his own. He shivered slightly, feeling odd. He stared at the paper, at the scrawled handwriting across it.
   "Thank you." He said in his most respectful voice.
    Laughter emitted from behind the fence. "You don't have to tell me. I can see your face."
    "I can't see yours, though." He frowned, peeking in.
    "Really?" The voice was off now, not as bright. "I thought - " A pause. "You know what, never mind. It doesn't matter. You don't have to see my face to be my friend."
   "Friend?" He echoed.
   "Friend."  The warmth was back, and the boy found himself smiling.
   "I'll try to come back." And he would. This person was great. He was just sad that he'd never get to see their face. Or maybe he would. Maybe he'd get to see whoever was behind that fence, then they'd be real friends.
   "Goodbye, Darwin."
   The boy turned, surprised. The voice started laughing. "Don't bother asking. I have my ways."
   "What should I call you, then?"
    A pause.
    "Call me E."
    "Alright, E." He nodded and peeked in one last time. "I will come back."
    "Promise?"
    "Yeah."

⚪⚪⚪

    "You sure I don't look stupid?" Darwin adjusted the hem of the new navy uniform, the deep blue spotless from his carefulness coming up here.
    "You always look stupid." Darwin looked up sharply, a playful glare on his features. He knew E was just joking. E always joked around like this, poking him funny.
   "Oh, you look fine. Stop worrying. You don't see me worrying about my finishing school."
   "Because I never see you, let alone see you worrying. Are you even medically able to worry?"
   "Oh, yeah. Like that one time I thought I broke my leg when I jumped off that one tree."
    "Ugh, forget it." Darwin waved his hands in disdain. "You'll never get it."
    "Yeah, I won't," E agreed.
    "Where are you being finished to?" Darwin asked out of pure curiosity. He hadn't really thought of this much, but now that he had, he couldn't stop. Now, he really wanted to know. What if they were going to the same school?
   A pause.
   "I can't tell you."
   "There are lots of things you can't tell me." Darwin was proud of his voice. At the age of 16, it had matured a lot. E's voice seemed the same though, high and soft but still filled with energy. It made Darwin feel like he was growing up, and E wasn't. At least not in the same way.
   "Lots of secrets." E agreed.
   "Why can't you tell me, though?" Darwin peeked through the hole. The same hole he had looked through so long ago. "It would be simple, really, to come out from behind the fence. There's a door, right?"
   "Yeah,"
   "So, come out!"
   "Nope," E's voice was teasing now, lit with something softer Darwin couldn't define. "Can't do that."
   "Why?" He was frustrated now. Here was this great person he had been able to bond with, and he couldn't even meet them. "I don't care if your ugly, E." He said quickly.
   Laughter. "I'm not ugly. At least I hope I'm not."
   "No one is ugly." He said, just like he was taught to.
   "No one is ugly," E agreed.
    "So why won't you come out?" He said.
    "Have you ever...." E paused, their words slow. "Have you ever felt like you're not what people expect?"
    He couldn't say yes, so he chose to say nothing.
   "If you had a choice, you would be exactly what that person wanted. If you had a choice about it. Have you ever worried that if you showed yourself, your - the person," They corrected them self. "The person," Now E was talking oddly, in a hushed and quick voice that had a serious note Darwin never heard in their voice. "That person means more to you than they think. And..." A sigh. "And you think that if you don't meet their expectations you'll just die."
    "Oh." Darwin said after a long time. "E, I don't have any expectations. I only want to see you for who you are."
    This time E's sigh sounded frustrated. "You still don't understand!"
   "I don't understand why you'd be afraid of someone who wants to meet you. Who wants to know. I wouldn't be disappointed about what I asked for."
   "You don't know what you want." E said quietly. "What you want I can't give. I'm sorry, Darwin."
   "You don't have to give anything, though! It makes no sense!" He peered into the hole, feeling his emotions boil up in him. "I just want to know who this amazing person is!" He breathed in, out, in. He stepped back until HD calmed down. "Is that too much to ask, E?" He said quietly.
   "Yes, Darwin. I'm sorry."
   Silence.
   "Well then," he said, fixing his collar. "I have to go, E. The finishing ceremony starts in a little bit."
   No answer.
   "I won't forget you. This...sour note won't make me forget all the good times we had together. I hope you won't forget either."
   Still no answer.
   Darwin turned. "Farewell, friend."
   "Wait."
   He stopped at the voice, the voice that was filled with so much hurt it made his heart break to hear it. He turned back around, feeling so horrible. He hadn't meant to look so cold, so....so heartless. Like those preppy boys at the school.
   "Darwin," E said. "I...I'll show you who I am. But you have to make a another promise to me."
   Promises. This friendship started in one, and was ending with one. He nodded. It was fitting. "Okay."
   "Come to the park of your neighborhood after dark. You'll see a figure with a backpack. That will be me. I have...." E trailed off. "I have something to tell you there."
   "Alright." Even though his mouth was dry at the thought of breaking the Rules and going out after dark. He had known it was against the Rules to be talking to E. From a different neighborhood! He would have been dragged away from the streets by the Scouts. But he had still done it. If he hadn't, he never would have met E, never would have met this beautiful soul.
   He would do it. He would go.
   "I promise." He said.
   A hand poked out of the hole. "Shake on it?"
   The hand was a bigger version of the hand three years ago. When he shook it, his own hand fit perfectly into it. The curves of the fingers felt made for his own hand to fall into them, for his own hand to hold it up.
   "See you soon, my friend." Darwin smiled a bitter smile, knowing that this would be the last time they would speak with this fence between them. He had gotten attached to it.
   "See you soon," E's voice was airy and had a property similar to light. He was amazed at how such a small thing could make him feel so much.
   He turned and walked away.