Over the Cobblestone Bridge

Chapter 4 Gwen

(A/N: Sorry for not posting last week, and I apologize for the short chapter, it's midterm week, so I've been really busy! And I've been doing a lot of catch up work, but I'll be writing more!)

One look into the looking glass, and he knew exactly what he has done. The blood wouldn't stop seeping through the white sheets, staining them a crimson red. A reminder of the boy he had become. Not human enough to keep control to spiral in a whirlpool of insanity. The blood wouldn't stop, it continued to bleed until there was no more to drip. The body drained of all its fluids to leave a corpse lying on the black sandy beach as ocean waves ripped from the skin to leave bones of a skeleton to rot on the grits, never to be found never to be touched.

"Are you even listening to me?" Gwen blinked several times and got into grips of reality. His mother was towering over him with concern, her orange locks tickling his forehead as she leaned real close to his face. "Or are you just ignoring me?"

Gwen's green eyes focused on his mother's matching eyes, and he gaped open his mouth to say something, but then closed it, it took him a while to think what he was doing, but then the memories flooded his mind. "We're out shopping for our church's picnic..." He sputtered out loud without meaning too.

"Yes, we are Gwen, I'm glad you know what we are doing now, welcome back to Earth." She giggled at her absent-minded son.

The red-headed boy gazed around his surroundings and saw Faith trying to open an orange with her mouth and scrunching her face after tasting the sour peel. "What did you ask me again?"

"I asked if you could go back and grab me some honey. I forgot it." She moved away from her son by standing up straight. "Please, and thank you." She continued to push the cart along the aisle.

"Yes, ma'am." He responded as he dashed out of sight back to aisle three.

Am I hallucinating...? He thought to himself. Goosebumps began to form, Gwen knew it was dangerous to delve into his thoughts, but lately, that's all he has been doing. Before entering the row, he paused and jumped out to the side the moment he saw his school bully standing in the aisle right by the honey. But when Gwen peeked his head around the corner to see what was going on, he noticed Nathan's facial expression looked completely different. Instead of the permanent aggravated snare or cruel looking smile he usually had, it was replaced with an expression of sadness and worry. His aggravation was still there with annoyance, but there was something else that Gwen couldn't put his finger on.

Nathan stood there, his eyebrows furrowed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, he was talking to someone who was in front of him, a woman with short blond hair. Gwen wondered who she was, knowing she can't be Nathan's mother, he looked nothing like her. They happened to be in a deep conversation, and he was only getting more irritated.

What am I supposed to do...? Mom needs that honey... Gwen thought to himself but also thought Nathan wouldn't act up in front of adults, especially at the supermarket. Gwen gathered whatever bearings he had left inside himself and face forward, not looking at his school bully and not at the woman. His focus and eyes were on the item he needed to grab. Their voices were audible the closer Gwen came to them, but they didn't even notice he was approaching.

"Well, Nathan, it seems like to me if you don't get whatever is going on under control, it'll only get worse."

"No kidding, I can't help myself sometimes though, all I see is... is... him." He hissed out that last word and made Gwen pause momentarily. He had hoped Nathan wasn't talking about him.

"If you keep-"

"Let's talk about this later," Nathan interjected when he saw Gwen approaching them.

With a gulp, Gwen swiftly snatched the honey. "Sorry... excuse me..."

Gwen swore he heard a snare coming from Nathan, as he embraced for another beating, but none came. When he slowly gazed back at Nathan, he noticed him looking the other way, his hands clenched in balls, fingernails digging into his palms.

Without waiting for a response, Gwen dashed out of the area, what were the odds of him bumping into Nathan? Zero to none, but according to Gwen, Nathan had to shop at the same market he does at the same time.

"There you are, I was waiting for you." Gwen's mother reached for another item on the shelf, "did you get what I asked?"

"Yes, I did." He placed the honey in the basket.

His mind kept calm, like the gentle creek that flows negative energy out of its belly. After a few more aisles and Faith screaming she wanted a toy from off the shelf, Gwen and his mother found their way to a check stand, waiting for the long line to move quickly. His mother tried her best to keep her screaming child calm, while Gwen stared at some magazines.

Gwen was intrigued by a recipe book, but when he reached out to grab it, another hand shot out and snagged it from the shelf. Nathan leaned against his basket filled with groceries as his eyes gaze through the magazine. Gwen wanted to say something, wanted to talk to him, wanted to try to make peace. He contemplated, there was no way Nathan would beat him in front of his mother, but he might hold his anger towards him until school.

The jock caught Gwen's stare and rose an eyebrow, "Can I help you?" He scoffed.

"I-uh-no!" Gwen quickly turned around and cursed under his breath.

"What?" His mother asked and looked down at his son.

"N-nothing, mom."

His mother then turned towards the boy that was behind them and her face beamed brighter than the sun itself, "I know you!"

Nathan's eyes darted side to side quickly to check if there was someone next to him, but when her eyes locked on his, he knew immediately that she was talking to him. "Me?" He placed his hand on his chest.

"Yes you, you're Aniyah's boy aren't you?"

"You know my mother?" There was an awkward tension between the two boys and Gwen just wanted to shrivel up and die under a rock.

"Your mother was the one who was there for me during my pregnancy with my baby, she would go on and on about you, she even showed me pictures of you! She's such a doll."

The screams of her toddler ceased once her mother's attention was off of her.

Nathan nodded his head awkwardly, "Um..." he didn't know how to react. "And you must be Gwen's mother." His eyes then shot dangerously at the smaller boy.

"I can help who's next." the cashier interrupted.

Gwen's mother smiled, "Well it was nice to finally meet you, Nathaniel! And tell your mother I said hi!" She then quickly turned back to the cashier to pay. Nathan rolled his eyes from the awkward encounter.

Gwen dared not to look back at him, afraid that he would try and do something to him, he clutched onto the basket as he felt the burning stare Nathan embedded on his back.

After helping his mother put the groceries away, Gwen headed up to his room and opened his closet. His eyes fell upon the broken mechanical items that were piled on the shelves. Broken robots, unfinished projects, papers with blueprints and ideas spilled to the floor, comic books were stacked neatly in the corner, and dust bunnies that danced in the air. He reached in the far corner, buried under a pile of clothes, Gwen pulled out a small shoebox and opened it, revealing old notes and letters. Finally, on top of all the notes that were on top of all the written sad song lyrics, poems, and stream of consciousness stories, he lifted a single note. A long note with an unforeseen end. An end of life, with blood that splattered across the page. "I can't go back..." He whispered to himself as he placed the crumpled-up paper against his chest and tried to fight against the darkness that consumed his heart and very being.