The End

Chapter 2

De Leon was a rather small town, but unlike most small towns word didn't spread fast. In fact, word didn't spread at all. De Leon was a town of privacy, nobody asked, and certainly nobody told.

I destroyed De Leon. Now nothing remains of it, but me.

___

Milo lived on his own in the outskirts of De Leon, within it's forest, and on the river that created its border. There were some abandoned housing developments hidden back in it from when the town planned on expanding. But, suffice it to say they built only one full house, and a playground. They didn't even bother to pave a sidewalk to the home, letting only those who dare venture into the woods discover it.

Milo happened to stumble upon it while running away. He ran headfirst into the forest with everything he owned; a bike, some art supplies, and a notebook. He didn't dare look back, for what was behind him was more terrifying than the looming of the unknown within the dark forest in front of him.

Much to his benefit he stumbled upon the singular finished house, of which he decided to take residence of. He called it "The Fort", and nobody knew about it except him.

The Fort wasn't exactly a classy living situation, with half the house caved in from a fallen tree, and the back end swallowed by the flooding river behind it. However, Milo found it endearing, as one does when they find themselves a home.

The disastrous shape of the home didn't bother Milo in the slightest compared to the pain of not being able to share it with anyone. He couldn't bring Tanner, because he'd pity him for his situation. If anyone's situation were worth pitying, it was Tanner's. Instead, Milo kept himself unknown to all. Besides, it was safer that way.

Following his regular routine, Milo biked to The Fort from school. Except something felt different than every other day. He could sense something was stirring, but couldn't pin it exactly.

Once he got home he took to his regular coursework, and then had dinner. As it started to get dark, Milo went outside to climb up onto his roof, also part of a regular day. He sat with his back to the town, facing the river that engulfed the backend of The Fort. The water raced downstream, creating a serene and elegant noise, accompanied by the voices of the forest; the crickets and owls singing to nobody. Milo took it all in, the utter calmness of the moment. He looked up into the blackening sky, admiring the stars as they appeared. It was perfect.

___

Smith was many things, but an idiot was not one of them. Something was off, not quite right. He decided to stay on alert to see if anyone else might've indicated a similar feeling, or acted suspicious. He went nearly all day without a glimpse of something out of the ordinary, until he saw Milo after school.

Milo was following his regular routine, getting ready to bike home, but his gaze was far away, as if there were something bothering him. His eyes glazed over everything, as if he weren't entirely in control of his body, but merely following along with his muscle memory.

Smith decided not to approach Milo, just seeing the perplexion of another was enough to confirm his beliefs. He wasn't exactly one to act upon a gut instinct, but something told him he'd have to talk to Milo eventually.

It dawned on him that he didn't know the slightest thing about this classmate of his. They had shared several classes together over the years, including his first hour this year, but Milo had never bothered to speak to him. The more he thought about it, he realized that Milo never really spent much time with anyone. He contributed in group projects when needed, or ever so often raised his hand in class, but other than that he was fairly secluded in nature.

He wasn't quiet, by any means. When he did speak up he was actually rather obnoxious, but he made a clear effort to suppress his voice to avoid being called so.

Disrupting his thought, Smith felt a surge of energy. The wind seemed to pick up and everything sounded louder just for a second. Smith turned to look at Milo again, but he had just started biking away. Naturally he followed him, in the name of science.

Smith had never been on the eastern side of De Leon before, and the stark difference in cleanliness and wealth was shocking to him. Milo had biked past where he was walking several minutes ago, but Smith stopped to marvel at the crumbling buildings and trash littered about the street. He wasn't disgusted, but instead, surprised.

Eventually Smith made it to the place he last saw Milo turn, but, once again he was dumbfounded. He had biked straight into a forest. To an unobservant eye the path would have looked abandoned for years, but it was clear to Smith that Milo was very careful not to call out his ventures into the forest, but they did occur often.

After less thought than he would care to admit, Smith followed the trail into the forest, the further in he got, the more worn the brush and the more easy it was to track. It started to get dark, and Smith was rethinking his brash choice to follow Milo. It wasn't like him to just run after someone because he had a feeling, and it wasn't like him to continue a journey that required so much effort. He didn't even check in with his parents, they were probably worried sick. But it'd be even more stupid to go back now, he didn't know the forest very well and his only chance getting home was to find Milo.

To his advantage, he managed to stumble upon him just as the thought that. He looked up to see that Milo was sitting on the roof of a dilapidated house, staring directly into the sky.