The Lost Ones

Chapter 1: A Simple Hello

Warm sunlight of midsummer showered across the grass around her, broken apart by the trees dotted about carelessly as though God had just dropped a handful of them into the large park in the heart of the town. Katherine wasn't religious, and didn't believe in a God as such, but she did imagine that if he existed he wouldn't have time to carefully place each tree where he wanted it, so the random patches of shade made sense.

Although it was warmer, the world edging slowly into late spring, there was still the slight chill of a cool breeze and the dark-haired girl pulled her coat around her tighter.
She had nowhere to be, and was more than happy for a stroll through the park, and it was as she looked around at the shadows interrupting the harsh sunlight, shielding her eyes with her hand, that she noticed someone close by. He couldn't have been much older than her, perhaps a year or so, and seemed to be alone. From what she could see, a book lay in his lap and his eyes were closed.

Although the park appeared empty, glancing over her shoulder to check, she couldn't help feeling uneasy for him. The area wasn't the safest, and thefts and disappearances were commonplace.
"Um, sorry, excuse me?" Her voice came out nervous as she approached, and looked down at him. The other had seemed to simply be relaxing from a distance, but when he opened his eyes to look at her, fatigue seemed to show in his gaze. "Shit I'm sorry were you sleeping? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up!" Her usually-pale cheeks flared up a bright raspberry pink, as she continued to apologise, hurriedly explaining in between apologies that she simply wanted to let him know that he should watch his things so they weren't taken. A confused look spread across his features, before he straightened them back to nonchalance
"You didn't wake me, I wasn't asleep" Although his words were innocent, his tone was unreadable and somewhat bored, and Katherine found herself backing away slightly, made uncomfortable by the idea that she was bothering him. He must have noticed, as he quickly added "Would you like to sit?" And sat up to make space for her under the narrow trunk of the birch tree. Surprised, she sat down beside him and shuffled herself into a comfortable position, anxiously tearing up the grass at her feet.

"So, um..." She scrabbled desperately for a conversation topic, eager for the meeting to be over so she could return to her solitary walk. "Why're you sitting here all by yourself?"
"Enjoying the peace and warmth" She watched as he kept his gaze away from her, studying their surroundings much like she had been moments before, and felt some relief that he couldn't see her hands nervously playing with a string on the hem of her jacket. "Besides, I have nothing better to do anyway." As he added to the end of his sentence something sparked in her, making her chest ache with sympathy.
"Oh... Do you have nobody to talk to? No friends? Siblings? Anyone?" Nerves were no longer prevalent in her voice, instead, pity. Yet as she continued her voice lowered to a mutter "If you need a friend I'm happy to offer" with a shrug she looked down, picking at the grass at her feet. She saw him stiffen slightly, and his already-pale cheeks somehow faded even whiter than he was before. He didn't seem nervous, frightened or anxious when he spoke, instead his tone was apathetic and also somewhat bitter
"I don't need friends, but thanks for the offer." His gaze remained distracted, elsewhere, even as Katherine felt frustration boil in her chest. He was obviously alone, but he didn't even seem to be trying to make it better. He was simply letting life wear him down, take everyone from him, without putting up a fight.
"Oh shut up," He glanced up, surprise in his expression at her harsh tone and even more surprised to find himself listening "don't you dare say that. Everyone needs friends, everyone needs people they can talk to and cling to if something goes wrong. Especially when they are otherwise alone. If you have nobody else then you don't just pretend you can do fine on your own when in reality you're desperate for someone to share something with, anything with! You can't tell me you don't need friends or family because you damn well do, and you have a right to fight back against whatever's making you feel that way!" She paused for breath, and looked up at him with the frustration in her eyes contrasting the shock in his. She held out her hand with about as much determination as that simple action can contain and said
"My name's Katherine, now shake my damn hand." Utter silence stretched over what felt like decades, then a small smile pulled at the corner of the other's lips as he looked at her hand with resignation and something else. Relief? Happiness? Excitement? She couldn't quite tell, yet soon she felt his hand slip into hers, colder than she'd expected, and a small shake.
"I'm Mark. It's nice to meet you Katherine."

After another hour or so of talking, Katherine found herself pointing at the book on his lap curiously.
"Watcha reading?"
"Twilight," he was going to continue but stopped at a raised eyebrow from her and simply returned the gesture "Yeah, I know, I decided to read that book that was cool like, five years ago. I'm almost finished with it, it's trash" Although he sounded annoyed, she couldn't help laughing and nodding.
"Tell me about it, it's a load of crap"
"Exactly, and the way the author portrays vampires and werewolves is terrible. It's all wrong" He seemed so much more relaxed than before, and Katherine couldn't help teasing.
"And how would you know. Are you a vampire or something?" She asked the question seriously, but broke into laughter at his slightly mortified expression, to which he found himself laughing too, even if it was anxiously.
"Of course not! I just think they're different to how the writer portrays them" Mark picked at some grass, feeling it come out of the ground with a sharp tug and wishing it was that easy for him to leave this conversation.

Of course Katherine picked up on this nervousness, but didn't ask about it. Maybe it had just been a while since he was able to have a laugh and enjoy himself like this?
"Yeah, me too. And the vampire-human-werewolf love triangle was the stupidest thing. I mean, I can just about believe vampire but werewolf? Really? It's an animal!"
"Well I don't know. I mean, let's say werewolves were real, I feel like they'd be more likely to date humans, especially since werewolves are always portrayed to be less evil than vampires. Werewolves are simply victims of a curse or whatever but vampires are just... Evil" Mark shrugged and crossed his arms. He seemed more miserable than before and it set Katherine on edge. Had she done something wrong? She looked thoughtfully up at the sky before her mouth began to a form words, just random thoughts spilling out of her.
"Well I mean, I feel like vampires wouldn't really want a girlfriend anyway so I suppose you're right. And maybe then they wouldn't need friends either, they'd just stay by themselves forever." She shrugged "but they're fictional anyway so I don't suppose it matters." Glancing back down, she caught sight of the time and sighed "I need to head home, do you want my number so we can keep talking though. I want to get to know you more Mark..."
"Tucker. My last name's Tucker."
"Well it was nice meeting you Mark Tucker. I'm Katherine Lewis"

She found herself walking back the way she'd come, the warm sunlight of mid-afternoon having faded into a slightly colder evening glow. The shadows of the trees stretched out further across the grass, and Katherine put away her phone with Mark's number newly saved to the limited amount of contacts in it. As she zipped up her jacket around her, she knew she'd have been regretting wearing shorts if her mind hadn't been occupied. She felt like something had changed, other than the time of day or the appearance of the park around her. Or maybe not even changed, it was a fresher feeling than that and it sparked anticipation in her heart. Maybe something hadn't changed, but instead, something had begun.