Under The Bridge

Chapter 1: Under The Bridge

Chapter 1: Under The Bridge

It was warm evening in the middle of fall, and I lay on the roof of the Addison Apartments in the small town of Nockfell. I was a new resident of the shabby, somewhat run down apartment building, and I already hated it here. I had turned eighteen over the past winter, so I was well past the age of making friends easily, which meant I had found nothing but loneliness in the weeks since my mother had moved us here in the wake of divorcing my father.

It was the end of August, two weeks into living here, and I was starting my senior year come January. In the middle of the school year. My mom thought it would be best if I waited to jump into classes until the start of the new semester, and she was probably right, but I still dreaded it.

With an emotionally drained and painful sigh, I took a long, deep breath, practically sinking into the cement beneath me, and began to sing quietly. Singing made me happy, and aside from art I felt that it was the only thing I could do well.
“Sometimes I feel
Like I don't have a partner,
Sometimes I feel
Like my only friend
Is the city I live in
The city of angels.
Lonely as I am,
Together we cry.
I drive on her streets
'Cause she's my companion
I walk through her hills
'Cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds
And she kisses me windy
I never worry
Now that is a lie…” I sang to myself, cutting off just before I came to the chorus. The sound of footsteps had alerted me to someones prescence, and I blinked open my bright green eyes, only to be met by a pair of curious baby blue ones standing over me. The eyes were set behind a featureless mask, which was framed by a set of bright blue pigtails that matched those curious blue eyes. “Hello! That's a good song you were singing.” a voice said from behind the mask, and it was then that I jumped, sitting bolt upright and whipping around, startled not by the mask or by the person suddenly standing over me, but by just how deep his voice was. Yes, he was most definitely a he, and his hand suddenly shot out and grabbed the front of my shirt. At first I was confused until I tried to take a step backwards and my foot was met by empty air. The mysterious boy yanked me right out of the air and back onto the roof, his barely-visible eyes wide and worried. “Be careful! I'm sorry I startled you, I didn't mean to. My… My face tends to scare people at first, but I'm nice, I swear! My name is Sally Face, er, um, Sal. Sal Fisher.” he said suddenly, beginning to ramble a bit. “Woah! That was close… Thanks Sal. My name is Jade Wolfe, and, for what it's worth, it wasn't your face that scared me. It was your voice. It's very… masculine.” I replied, and a glint of humor shone in his eyes. “Oh, um, thank you… I think. So what brings you up here? I know you moved in recently, i've seen you around.” he replied, his pigtails bouncing slightly as he spoke. “Oh, I don't know, loneliness I guess. We've moved around so many times I've lost contact with all of my friends. Even my best friend who's been there for me since middle school has all but vanished on me. Er, sorry. I didn't mean to ramble.” I replied, looking down at my feet as I spoke. Masked or not, Sal was still a man and I felt a bit awkward talking to him.

“Don't be sorry! I don't have many friends either, for obvious reasons, but I'd be happy to hang out with you sometime if you'd like… so long as you don't mind my mask.” he replied, his tone changing a bit at the end of his sentence. “Sal, I just met you!” I gasped, my face flushing bright red, and his eyes went wide again before he burst into laughter. “Why did you jump to that conclusion? I'm not hitting on you!” he panted, still laughing. “Sorry… Guys don't usually talk to me unless it's to pick on me. I don't really know how to interact with you.” I replied, staring down at my shoes again, and his mostly masked eyes crinkled into an understanding smile. “Well, then make up your own way! I'm going to go meet up with my friend Larry, he lives in the basement. We'll probably listen to some cool music and practice drawing together, since Larry is an artist. Would you like to come?” he replied, his pigtails bouncing animatedly as he spoke, and I nodded, smiling awkwardly as he led me back down into the building.

As it turned out, Larry wasn't home, so Sal ended up inviting me over to his apartment play video games and meet his cat Gizmo. We sat on his bed and talked for hours, quickly discovering our shared interests and becoming fast friends.

It didn't take long before Sal and I were hanging out with eachother almost every day, practically becoming attached at the hip within a month or so of that fateful meeting on the roof of the apartment building.