If He Loved Her

Chapter One: Alone

The winter wind was harsh, gusts of strong cold air flew across the park, dragging leaves as they passed. Mini tornadoes formed on the ground, pulling dust and dirt to create a speckled swirl beneath Everett's feet. The light creak of the chain against the metal bar and the rush of air passing as he swung being the only sounds to penetrate the silence. He bit repeatedly at the flimsy piece of nail left on his index finger until he broke it off at the base. The jagged material his body had made now only seemed to cover half of the area it was supposed to and blood began to pool at the wound.

He wiped the puddle on his jeans to remove it, he knew better than to try and lick it off. The metallic, tangy flavour made his stomach squeeze and he desired not to leave yet. However, when he did so, sharp pain rocketed from his finger and he decided to once again rest it around the chain he'd previously been holding before the anxious solitude affected his reason.

His nose began to run now, the clear fluid trailing to his mouth but it was nothing compared to the salty taste of his tears. It was only a light stream from his eyes, for now. Upon tasting the mixture of familiar flavours, he quickly brought his other hand to wipe his face roughly with the sleeve on his jacket. He must have looked insane.

Swinging incessantly on a child's swing in a child's park. Back and forth. Back and forth. A thin grey jacket and pair of black jeans covering the majority of his body. Back and forth. Back and forth. A muddy brown mess of hair wafting uncontrollably in the wind and dull green eyes, truly the colour of excrement-filled pond water, surrounded by deep bags. Back and forth. Back and forth. And of course, no shoes to complete the look. Stop.

He knew exactly how he looked. A little like a homeless drug addict but mainly like a paedophile. The fact that he was eighteen and that he was absently staring at two young boys playing tag around a small climbing frame did not help his case in the slightest. The boys mentioned were no two he knew but they were a prominent reminder of why he was sitting alone on a now stationary swing. He was waiting for a friend. A friend he knew wouldn't show up.

He must have been sat there for at least two hours already and as the seconds passed, the realisation no one involved with the 'popular group' would ever communicate with him. He wasn't smart. He wasn't attractive. He was strong. Even his dead personality was a major negative factor in who he was. For lack of a better word, he was truly a loser and his lack of friends can attest to that fact. He had absolutely no redeeming qualities, not even a bully could be bothered with such a guy.

Daniel had been his best friend and only friend for approximately four years now. They met a few months after the transition from middle to high school, shortly after Everett's fourteenth birthday. It had been a fluke; they wouldn't have met if Everett hadn't fallen down a flight of stairs and broke his arm only to find himself at Daniel's feet. Everett had always called it fate and since then his left arm had always been his favourite, oh, and Daniel and Everett have been two peas in a pod. Everett relied on him for everything and had thought they'd be friends forever, move out to a small apartment together and buy a dog to care for as their child.

Evidently, Daniel didn't feel the same way. The day before had been Daniels birthday and they'd spent the whole day together until at exactly nineteen-fifty-three (Everett swears he wasn't constantly checking his watch and he did actually enjoy his time with Daniel- it was a habit) a knock came at the door. Sophia Rosary, the girl with a fierce glare and a constant surrounding of devoted followers, had stood there with her lackey, Rolland, trailing behind. She had claimed she just wanted to talk and Daniel followed aimlessly. Daniel hadn't come back.

In fact, Daniel didn't even show up the next morning so they could walk to school in a comfortable silence. When Everett had arrived in the main hall, Daniel was with Sophia and her group. Not once throughout the entirety of the day did the supposedly best friends even make eye contact. Everett definitely couldn't have just walked up to him with all the 'protection'. Sophia's minions crowed her and Daniel like unbreakable armour and Everett found it extremely difficult to ignore the hatred-filled glances he received for them. Their looks didn't anger him, in fact he was more curious then he'd ever felt before.

Well that was exaggerated because he once noted that somehow his sock began to lose their pair and that made him incredibly curious. He never did figure an answer to that mystery.

So, there he was, waiting for his best friend that wouldn't appear and watching a pair of children chase each other until they both fell to the floor in fits of laughter. He'd never had that, a childhood bestie. Some could argue that Daniel was his first ever friend but Everett believed that the girl he'd braved talking to in nursey had earned that title.

Sighing deeply, he stood from the swing to wander over to the gate of the park, shoving it open roughly. The loud clash that sounded for his actions alerted the boys and they stared at him like they'd seen a ghost. They stared at him like he hadn't been perched on the swing just opposite the climbing frame for two hours watching them intently. They stared at him like there was something wrong, something missing, out of place.

 Clearly, Everett knew that there most definitely was.