Unravelling

Chapter 35 - Unexpected

My eyes follow Finn's outstretched arm and land on a high-rise building that clearly has seen better days. Letting my gaze roam around the area, I notice that the building is one of three that look pretty similar. I have seen these buildings from far when we drove through the city by car. They kind of dominate the skyline if you look eastwards when you come from my part of town.

Sometimes, I have wondered who lives there. I have not been in many apartment blocks in my life since all of my friends live in individual houses. So to me, a housing area as big as this always felt kind of mysterious, since I have never been to one.

I guess now I know someone who lives in a place like this.

I try in vain to spot any green areas, like a park or something. Everything looks to be made of concrete. Even the playground, that I discover about a hundred yards away, is just a concrete rectangle surrounded by a high chain-link fence.

Quite a lot of kids of various ages are hanging out in the playground. The bigger ones are playing basketball, some are kicking around a soccer ball and a lot of them are just lounging on concrete blocks. Many are smoking cigarettes, even kids that don't look much older than Finn and I. A few younger kids are playing a game of tag and they are yelling and screaming very loudly as they do so.

Despite the rather dismal surroundings, they seem to be happy.

"What are you smiling at?" Finn's voice brings me out of my thoughts.

I turn to look at him and find him watching me curiously. He probably wasn't expecting me to smile – even if subconsciously – but he most likely thought that I would be put off by the obviously rather poor neighbourhood he calls his home.

I nod towards the commotion on the playground.

"Looks like they're having fun," I state.

"Yeah. They're always there, hanging out," he says quietly.

"Is that what you do when you're not playing Sherlock Holmes with me?" I ask curiously.

I just remembered my resolve to find out a bit more about him and to show an interest in his life. That he took me here is really cool of him, and I want him to know that I appreciate his being so open towards me. It must mean that he trusts me and that is a really nice feeling.

"Sometimes," he shrugs.

That clearly doesn't sound too enthusiastic. The thought of who his friends are once again flashes through my mind. I don't recognise any of the kids on the playground from school. But that doesn't mean anything, since I really only know my classmates, the kids from the soccer team, Jayden, Finn and my brothers. And the odd friend of my brothers.

"Come on, let's go," Finn then says.

He pedals across the street and I quickly follow him, remembering his earlier words about sticking close. Years of being told the same thing by my brothers have sort of turned this into an automatic reaction. You could probably say that I have been "conditioned" to follow these kind of instructions without me questioning them too much.

A couple of minutes later, I watch as Finn securely puts the safety chain around our bicycles and locks them.

"You cannot be cautious enough around here," he mutters, obviously feeling the need to explain why he is doing this so diligently.

"You don't think they'd get stolen, do you?" I wonder, my eyes wide.

The look he gives me quickly makes it clear that this was a rather stupid question.

"Do you honestly think that no thugs live around here?" he asks me.

It sounds like a rhetorical questions, so I am not quite sure if he expects me to answer.