Tales of a Vagabond

I.

In the moments after itinerant teen Kaori Sullivan had broken up with her long term boyfriend, Charles Durbin for the second time, she went for a walk. Kaori had always went walking when she was down.

The soles of her worn down vans sullenly rubbed on the smooth pavement, the humid April air taking over her. The sky above was a pale shade of grey, as if it were about to rain.

She trailed aimlessly for a while, until finally deciding to go to Oakburn park. What had once been the wonderful playground that fulfilled her childhood was now a deserted, rusty mess. Kaori sat down on the swing set, rocking herself ever so slightly, ignoring the rain of red rust that fell on her shoulders.

She sat in peace for a moment, the only noises around were the screeching of the neglected swing and the warm air that blanked her body. She though to herself, how could I be so stupid?

Then, in the distance, the sound of heavy panting and pounding could be heard. Someone was coming this way! But who was it? Kaori looked over her shoulder to see a tall, slender body with ginger hair hurtling toward her.

"Yves?" She said, startled. "Is that you?"

The green eyes boy leaned on the swing set beside her, exhausted.

-

"My parents *wheeze* They *wheeze* I-I've fucked up" he said.

"Wait, slow down," I said, standing up. Yves had chronic asthma, he shouldn't be running like this.

Taking out his inhaler, he began to calm down.

"I k-killed my father," he wept, body trembling.

"What?!" I said in disbelief.

"I was in t-the kitchen when I heard my sister screaming so I grabbed a k-knife and went upstairs and..."

"And what?" I said, grasping his shoulders.

"He raped her! S-so I stabbed him and... Kaori what am I gonna do?" He said, crying into my shirt. "I can't go back home!"

My eyes welled up as my broken friend continued to weep into my now tear- sodden shirt. "I don't know, 'Ves, I don't know... This is horrible!" I held him tighter, my body frozen in shock. How are we gonna fix this?