Another World | ✔️

Chapter Four

Trigger Warnings
Suicide
Drugs

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"Connor, when is your friend coming?"

"I already told you he's on his way, Mom," I groan. Knowing my luck, her and Dad will probably run him off. It wouldn't surprise me. Every time I have the chance to be happy they go and ruin it. Now that I have a friend, if he's even that, they'll probably go and take that from me too.

I don't know why, but instead of lying in bed like usual I'm sitting on the couch gazing out the window. Part of me wonders if he will even show up. He always seems so nervous. It seems like he doesn't really want to be friends, honestly.

But sure enough, I see a figure walking down the sidewalk: a smaller boy with a white cast on his left arm.

"There, Mom."

I start to stand up, but she beats me to the door. I turn to watch, seeing her smile grow as she opens the door.

"You must be Evan. Come on in!"

"Th-thank you, Mrs. Murphy," I hear Evan say. He sounds even more nervous than usual as he steps inside.

"Please, call me Cynthia," Mom says, closing the door behind him. "Dinner just finished. Connor can show you to the table." Louder, she adds, "Larry! Zoe! Dinner's ready."

As she walks away, I stand and motion for Evan to follow me. "Sorry she's a bit overbearing," I murmur as soon as she's out of earshot. "She thinks she's being polite."

"Oh, no, it's fine," he says, his voice still seeming a bit shaky. "I don't mind."

I nod as we reach the table, motioning to a chair that has been added to the table just for tonight. Dad is already sitting at the head of the table as Evan and I sit down. Zoe is just making her way downstairs, gazing towards Evan before sitting down.

Everything is quiet as we eat, but as we all finish, Mom starts to make conversation. "So, you two go to school together?"

"Yeah. . ." Evan says, fiddling with his fork and struggling to make eye contact.

"I didn't realize that you had a friend, Connor," Dad says, his voice sounding a bit harsh. "Have you been friends long?"

"Just a few days," I say. I don't understand why he has to be so intrusive. I guess he doesn't believe it's true. As this thought passes through my mind, I hear Zoe speak.

"Just since you pushed him at lunch."

I open my mouth to defend myself, but Evan speaks before me. It surprises me, really, but I'm glad that he did. "That was just a misunderstanding," he says quickly. "We were just horseplaying."

At the same time, he raises up his cast to reveal my name written on it in black sharpie.

"Oh goodness! What happened?"

"I— I fell. . . I fell out of a tree o-over the summer," Evan says quietly, lowering the arm again. "I-it's funny, I know. What. . . What's funnier is I laid there for ten minutes and— and no one ever came."

I wince a bit as Evan repeats the story he told me just yesterday. Funny? No. It's sad, really. Poor kid. I guess I know how that feels though. I'm sure it would have been the same for me. Who would have cared if I fell from a tree?

Who would have cared if you had taken them pills?

I feel a tightening in my chest as the thought races through my mind. I look over at Evan. I can see his hands shaking as he places them on his lap. He was worried yesterday. He was still worried today. He bothered to ask if I was okay after seeing the pills that I carried with me in case he didn't show up.

Why? He barely even knows me. Why should he care? We're not even really friends, are we?

I close my eyes for a moment and release a sigh. The world seems so quiet and slow around me.

Even if you were friends, you would end up scaring him away. No one wants a friend who is broken. He only pities you.

I open my eyes again to see that Evan is looking at me, a hint of something dark in his eyes. It's something I've never really seen before. It's almost as if he's asking something of me but is too afraid to speak.

I manage to peel my gaze away and turn back to Mom and Dad. "If you've finished questioning us, I would like to show Evan upstairs," I say. "If you can stay for a bit longer, that is," I add, turning back to him.

I watch as he nods, gazing back to my parents. "Th-thank you. It was g-good."

"Alright, go on," Mom says. "I'll take over dishes for tonight. And it's nothing, Dear. You're welcome to come eat with us any time you'd like."

She nods her head in dismissal and I turn to Evan. "Let's go."