Totally Clueless

Chapter 38

"Jesus....just like that? What about Reid? What did he do?"

"He stayed because he didn't want to disrespect Shahine's parents. He actually Apologized that night. He blamed his reaction on shock but he wasn't sorry. Reid didn't want to be attached to any body. He's just not the type. I keep wondering what Kerry did to him. She's changed him, completely. He spoke to Shahine, they went out twice and then I never saw her or heard about her again. Until now, I swear I'm afraid to ask. I remember him being pissed one evening. Then he just avoided the situation like a virus."

She sighed.

Josh clasped his fingers around the necklace again. She remembered all he said about Kayla and now she understood. She understood what that neckless stood for and what he felt every time he had absently held on to it. It had taken him back in time to someone he had loved all his life and left behind. Maybe he was just trying to hold on to that part of his life. subconsciously.

"Wow... So you and Kayla....you guys were..." She wanted to say close but she found she stammered on the statement like a scratched record. She didn't bother to continue when she felt the small puddle of jealousy form inside her belly.

"Tell me about the place you guys shared?" she said instead.

"We came up on it much by accident or I don't know. Maybe just luck, or disobedience...yeah thats probably it."

He replied with a shrug. Then he broke into a shallow smile as the memories took him back in time again and he began to relate the story to her

**FLASHBACK**.

They were allowed to roam the streets nearby as children with their friends and cousins. They ran and played and laughed in the bright yellow days barricaded by the boundaries set by parents and relatives. Boundries the adults called haunted, dangerous, even taboo.
There was a backstory, but they were never preveledged enough to hear it. They were just kids. Curious kids. And one day there curiousity got the best of them. After all they were 10 years old. Everything forbidden was an adventure.

They turned into the disallowed alley.

"Don't you want to see what they want to keep to themselves?" Josh persuaded. But Kayla had only shrugged with unsurity and followed in step.

"Maybe it's actually dangerous...have you thought of that ?" she eventually responded.

"Or maybe it will be the coolest thing... we should go see for ourselves."

So they went seeking the treasures that existed Beyond The Majestic walls. They'd never seen the door, just the towering wall that stretched as far as the street went. But their had to be a way in. There were boxes, old cupboards, planks and sheets upon sheets of plywood leaning against the stretch of it like a desserted junkyard and they bobbed and weaved their little bodies through and through, beneath and above, because they were small enough. Josh was the one who stumbled upon the large door. No one would have known it was there the way it hid among the rubble, like a chameleon in the jungle. But he had seen it. The door was locked but they pushed and pulled against the shaking, rocking hinges with all the strength their little bodies could muster and the large door shifted with a growl and a sigh, Loud and lazy; and them, probably too young to recognize the eerie feeling the shrieks brought squeezed right through.

They found themselves inside a foyer. A brilliant white sealing floated high above them like clouds and white walls towered high to meet them. It lead to a huge living space. More high ceilings and white walls enclosed the large space and a beautiful golden chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling. Rays of sunlight ricoshe from the stained glass in the skylight and it glistened in the natural light of the day. The brilliant white of the tiles glinted in the places where dust hadn't gathered . They were wide eyed and awe strucked. They spun there whole bodies around and around and gazed at the whole new world that they had stumble on.