Amour Doux (Nathan Prescott)

14

Class was already over. Strange. It was Thursday afternoon and everything felt so off. And as I walked towards the dormitory doors, I finally took notice of something I'd somehow missed with my last few passings: a memorial to Kate Marsh, with notes saying 'farewell' and 'forever in our hearts' written neatly on a poster board. I gasped, bringing one hand to my mouth and the other over my heart as it skipped a beat. My eyes began to blur with tears as I kneeled beside the memorial. I take a deep inhale, gently placing my hand over the photo of Kate, wishing I could've made a difference, heartbroken I had to find out this way...
"Que vous reposez en paix..." I spoke quietly, sighing as I stand and slowly walk away, still trying to piece everything together. Nothing felt right anymore, not even the air. It tasted, even smelled different.
But no longer bothering to question the atmosphere any further, I made way to Nathan's dorm only to remember he wasn't there anymore. So... where should I find him? I pull out my phone and turn on 'find friends', feeling a bit lucky Nathan forgot to turn it off. I followed the location which led me to... a barn. To my surprise I found Mr. Jefferson's car. I was confused, but I checked the area out anyways. I walked around back where I heard faint voices growing louder along with footsteps. I sneak back around, hiding behind the corner of the barn as both Jefferson and Nathan walk out, Jefferson locking the doors behind him as he heads to his car.
"You coming?" he questions Nathan, who stood idly across from the car, kicking his shoe at the dirt.
"Nah, i'll... take the bus." he replies, and Jefferson shrugs his shoulders as he starts up the car and drives away. I watch from cover as nathan pulls out a bottle of pills and swallows them, then a joint, covering the fire from the lighter with his hand as he lights it. I finally reveal myself, giving a shock to Nathan, only now noticing Nathan wasn't wearing the jacket he pretty much wore 24/7.
"What the fuck?! W-what're you doing here?!" he steps close to me, frantically glancing around with worry in his eyes. I pull out my phone, showing him the screen.
"Find friends." I smile. Nathan rolls his eyes, taking a step back with the joint clinging between his lips as he looks down to his feet.
"You shouldn't be here. Its dangerous."

"How so? And why were you w—" I suddenly paused as something came to mind, but it disappeared from memory just like that, and suddenly, I felt nauseous. I couldn't explain this feeling, but I was in a way, uncomfortable.
"You good?" Nathan questions.

"Yeah, suddenly feeling a little sick."

"You don't think..." he grows a serious look.

"What?" I question after he pauses.

"Y'know, you and I... we... err..."

"Oh! oh, ha-ha! No! no, no way. Mon Dieu..." I chuckle. "No, I've been on birth control for health reasons, plus my mum is very superstitious. I've just been getting nauseous lately, it's so weird." I curl my lip, waking to the barn door and leaning up against it, Nathan following and passing the joint as I started to think. "Actually, recently a lot of weird shit has been happening. Sometimes I feel like i'm reliving moments at random times, then there's the fact that I missed an entire day and couldn't remember, there's these bruises, and me getting sick... like, what the fuck is happening?" I take a large puff and blow out the smoke, watching as vanished in the air.

"Er, I have no idea. You been popping anything? Sniffing?"

Suddenly as I looked up to Nathan, I felt this overwhelming feeling of... love? I felt all... warm and squishy just standing by him, given our recent past, and he was unbelievably cute to me. It was almost unrealistic. "No." I reply with a smile.
Nathan smiles back. "What?" he questions.

"Nothing, you're just so cute." My smile grows from ear to ear as I push myself to reach for his hand, positioning myself in front of him and giving him a quick kiss. He scoffs as I pull away, leaning against the barn again. "Ooookay..." he laughs, taking another puff and looking out to the woods surrounding the barn.
"Oh, shit!" I yelled. Nathan's smile quickly disappeared as he snapped his head to me.
"What?!"
I covered my face with both hands, squeezing my eyes shut. "I just remembered, I saw a memorial outside of the girls dorm today for that girl Kate Marsh. What the hell was that about, what happened to her?"

"Oh, right..." Nathan pulls his eyes away from mine as he looks out to the distance. "I guess you weren't there for it, but on Tuesday that crazy fucking slut jumped off the girls dorm and offed herself."

"You shouldn't talk about her like that..."

"Well, I mean shit, didn't you see the video?"

"Nathan, I was there! Plus, everyone's seen that video. You can't exactly avoid it with people like Victoria and her little rats gossiping about it all day."

"Yeah, she's kinda annoying, but whatever, that's just how she is. And anyways, i'm not saying the chick deserved to off herself—"

"She took her own life, she didn't 'off' herself... please have a little more respect." I roll my eyes and cross my arms.

"Right... anyways, not like she deserved... that, but she, I guess, wasn't the perfect little choir girl she built herself up to be."

"But... I knew her, I was with her at the party. She didn't really act like herself before you took her to the hospital. She was totally messed up, like drunk maybe."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Anyways." I say with a sigh. "Have you moved out of the dorms yet?"

"No, all my shits still there, but I have to stay with my family. Shit is fucking fucked up. Y'know, i'm gonna kill that Max chick if I get the chance."

I laugh. "Woah there, Ted Bundy. What happened anyways?"

"Bitch lied and said I had something to do with Kate's suicide and ratted me out and told Wells I had a gun." I could see the red beginning to take over his pale skin on his cheeks as he was getting fired up. "What a selfish nosy cunt! What does she know, anyways? She doesn't fucking know who I am, or what i'm capable of. Stupid fucking bitch..."

"Okay, okay, we get it buddy." I place my hand on his arm, attempting to calm him. He looks to me and huffs, gritting his teeth.

"Any-fucking-way, let's get outta here. We'll take the bus back to Blackwell. I got some shit there I need anyways."

And with that, we both follow the trail out of the woods and wait for the bus, taking it back to the school.