Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Basehor, Kansas
2018, AD
4:15 pm
"Why are we walking to a river, in the middle of November, just for a stupid goldfish?"
"Because, Aaron, Baker's Dad is loaded."
"Well, it's not like I need the money for anything. I already have an almost full-ride scholarship because of sports."
"You may not need the money but I do."
Aaron turned towards his twin, Aline, one of the only people that truly knew him inside out. Realizing that her brother had stopped waking, she also stopped and turned to face him. The two stood their looking at each other, studying each others face and emotion.
Even though they are both born different genders they still had always looked and acted similar. The two had always done everything together. And now, their hearts ached for the other together.
"Look, Al," Aaron said breaking the silence, "I know it's been a hard year for you, okay? But Mom and Dad have both offered to help pay--"
"I don't need their help! What I need is for everyone to stop treating me like I'm some fragile child!" Aline's eyes held back tears. Tears she had been holding in for months since the news. They threatened to spill but she wouldn't let them. Not here. Not now.
The girl's brother sighed. A small fog appeared from his breath hovering between the two, warming their faces from the chilled air. With everything going on in her life, his sister had still refused help from anyone else except for him. And by the end of the year, he would be on the opposite side of the United States. Over 1,000 miles away.
And Aline? She would be dead.
"I'll help you find the stupid fish. We better keep going. We're almost at the river."
-----------------------
"Mino wait up! My legs aren't as long as yours!" Eddie yelled at her tall friend who was several paces in front of her.
"That sounds like your own short person problem." He responded, fists still clenched from his confrontation back in the classroom
"I'm not short, Big Angsty Giant, you're just abnormally tall!"
"Call me that again and I'll drown you in the river."
"Teddy would come and save me. We have a special bond."
"You have fun with that, fish fucker. Maybe you'll get distracted sucking face with Teddy that you'll accidentally drown yourself."
Mino's remark was met with silence. Internally he scolded himself, somewhat afraid that he had hurt the girl's feelings. He kept on ahead. If she wanted to follow him she'd catch up eventually.
But Eddie hadn't been silenced by his remark, in fact, it didn't bother her at all. She had just been distracted by the small shimmering gem at the bottom of Magnítis River's dirty water.
-----------------------
Feeling around the pocket of her sweatshirt to find her phone, Helani checked the weather. Since the morning the temperature had dropped from 55 degrees, too 47 degrees. And instead of being inside finishing up her English paper she was outside looking for a fish.
Everyone else was looking with other people, deciding how they would split their reward. Helani thought they were all idiots, then again she was also looking with someone. Even if she didn't have a partner to distract her, the chances of finding the fish, alive, were low.
Either way, Helani had the highest chance of finding it. A remarkable amount of students were heading downstream, forgetting that is was migrating time, while Helani was heading up.
"It was quite clever of you to think of fish migration patterns. Even though Teddy has been kept as a pet most of his life it's probably still in his natural instinct to migrate." Nalani, Helani's searching partner, spoke up from the silence.
"Thanks," Helani responded, still concentrating on her phone. Noticing this, Nalani grabbed her friend's phone right out of her hands and put them into her hoods yellow jacket. "Hey, I need that! I was texting my Papa to tell him that we found out who had killed Teddy," She said with a look of panic on her face.
"You can tell him when you get home. Just take a moment to look around you! Take a gander at how beautiful nature is." Nalani exclaimed. Following the orders given to her, Helani obeyed as usual and looked around.
Most of the trees surrounding the lands of Basehor had already lost most of their leaves. The leaves that remained where shriveled colors of reds and oranges creating a brilliant contrast between sky and land. The grass at the cusp of the river was vibrant and full of life slowly fading out into much dryer grass covered by crisp leaves.
"It is beautiful," Helani said in a soft whisper, "yet everything around us is already dead or dying."
"That's one way to put it," Nalani inquired. Upon hearing a small buzz from the back of her jeans she reached down into her pockets and grasped her phone.
Eddie U probs won't believe me but you need to come to where I am at asap I'll send you my location
Nala Why?
Eddie Don't question me just do as I say
"Hey, Lani?" Asked Nalani while lifting her head up, the screen of her phone illuminating her face.
"Yeah?"
"How far away is the Basehor Erevnas?" Nalani asked butchering the pronunciation.
"That old place?" Helani judgingly questioned while lifting one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows. Nalani nodded in response. "I don't know why you'd ever want to go there, but if we keep heading upstream and then take a left we could get there in about 15 minutes on foot."
"How long by car?"
"Maybe 6 minutes? But I think you're forgetting neither of us has a car."
"Oh yeah. Do you think your brother will give us a ride?"
"No," Helani replied a second later with a hardened expression. Helani truly loved her brother but that didn't make up for the fact that they were always competing in a battle she would never win solely because she was a girl. She wasn't going to let his perfectness intrude on the one thing that she had to herself.
"That's okay," Nalani quickly said after seeing her expression. She understood her best friends internal dispute, "I think I know someone who can give us a ride, let's just hope she thought of sneaking into the office to grab her phone after leaving the detention room."
