Ｒｏｓｅｓ

Ａｒｅ Ｙｏｕ ？

"Y'know this isn't the best place to hang out and talk about things like this." 

The raven-haired boy gave a short hum in response, his dark green irises barely prying away from the view of the still, crystal clear lake to look at his more fair-haired companion. "How so? It's empty and unless you think fish can hear then we're fine." The fair-haired one groaned, rolling his sapphire eyes at his rather dense Irish companion. "You know about the.." He lowered his voice to the pitch of a whisper. "..the government, Walsh." The blue eyed boy had a habit of calling his friend his last name.

His warning though, was met by a snicker from his companion. "God damn your worrywart ass, Caden, calm down. There aren't any satellites here for them to track our records like they normally did back at home in Springwood." Caden paused. "You mentioned earlier how--" "Geez, you take everything too seriously. You couldn't tell sarcasm from seriousness from a mile away." Caden felt his face redden as he hissed like a burning kettle, plopping down besides Nolan, punching him on the shoulder-not in a violent way, more like in a friendly aggravated way. "Ow, rude." "Shut up."

 Nolan snickered at Caden's distress, before lying down, folding his arms under his head and closed his eyes, staring up at the bright sunlight through his closed eyelids. Caden merely watched him, still in his sitting position as he snorted at the sight.

The boys spent a small and peaceful moment staring over at the still and clear lake on a crisp and airy August day-the fact that it was so crisp and airy after the incident last week in Springwood distressed Caden a tad bit, which was evident in his sudden and very nervous hum.("HNNNNNNNN.") Nolan jumped at that, blinking at his companion in surprise. "Dude. You good-?" "Wha? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just, thinking I guess. Y'know, about last week." Caden swallowed dryly, licking his lips before croaking out in a cracking voice,

"About Aedan."

Nolan cringed a little, wincing as the thoughts went fresh, back into his head.

Last week. 

Last week in Springwood, when Aedan Walsh, 18 years, elder brother of 16 year old Nolan Walsh, was tracked down by the Constitution for showing signs similar to what everyone referred to as the Demented--strange human beings with uncanny abilities. The Demented, if banded together had the capacity and prowess to overthrow the twisted democracy of Cilantic, the country where the town of Springwood was located. It was a seemingly normal town, with rather friendly citizens but deeper into it's history, it was a dystopian-like place full of people obsessed with 'perfection'. 

Nolan was snapped out of his thoughts by Caden poking him in the arm repeatedly. "Nolan. I'm sorry." The ravenette male blinked, cocking his head at his blonde companion. "Sorry for bringing Aedan up." Caden muttered, his voice meek and shallow sounding. Nolan rolled his eyes. 

His best friend's infatuation with his brother was so clear it was painful for Nolan to see Aedan act so dense towards it. Then again, Aedan was gone. On the run from the Constitution.

"Caden, it's fine. I'm okay." "Hn. I know, I just get worried sometimes." "Sometimes?" "Okay, a lot." Nolan gave a small snicker at Caden's response.

It took a few painful moments before Caden spoke again, in a serious tone. "Something's been terrorizing my psyche to get even with my thoughts," Nolan gave a small hum in response, as if he understood a word Caden said. He merely waited for him to explain what he was trying to say. "It's...weird. I don't feel like things are real anymore, y'know-? You're the only person I even believe is real in this twisted version of reality anymore." 

"What makes you think that?" Nolan said in a remiss tone, slowly propping himself up by his elbows, raising an eyebrow at Caden's strange words. "I don't know, Nolan," The blonde male hissed in a strained tone.  "I feel like everything I see isn't real. There's an almost plastic quality to everything and I can't..." He shook his head miserably, burying his face in his hands. "It's so stupid but I don't feel like it's real anymore. And when I say 'it' I mean everything." He paused for a second, before opening his mouth to speak once more. 

"I feel like everything we see now is just a figment of my imagination, fake, plastic. Kind of like the Matrix." He added that last part in an attempt for serious humour, only half-meaning it. 

"I'm trying my absolute best to understand the Constitution's logic, but it's just...there'e nothing there for me to analyze, nothing for me to think about." Nolan nodded slowly, the meaning of Caden's entire rant sinking in. He gave a small breath of air before giving Caden a clap on the back. "Oi. Chin up, don't act so down. Even if everything is fake I'll give you the assurance that I'm real. I mean, could a fake Nolan do....THIS?" He then proceeded to throw water right into Caden's face, who promptly fell back with a shriek.

After getting up though however, Caden retaliated by pushing the younger boy into the lake, laughing.

When Caden's laughter reached Nolan's field of hearing he relaxed a little, knowing that Caden had forgotten about it-at least for a while. 

As much as he tried to forget though, Caden's words were plastered onto his thoughts like a fly caught in a flytrap-and the more he thought about it the more speculation came, attracted to his negative thinking like moths to a candle.

No matter how hard Nolan tried to convince himself, the thoughts stuck with him throughout the whole day-he couldn't help but worry.

He laughed, rather bitterly at that.

He felt rather hypocritical for calling Caden a worry wart earlier.

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Lmao hey. this was mostly for writing practice, i doubt i'll continue rip.