Paradise Blvd. Year One

Chapter Eleven

Friday

Fingers entwined together, they walked through Marion's frozen world. Tulip stared with amazement at the sights. A pair of children were stuck smiling in a sandpit with its particles stuck in the air. A couple were stuck in a kiss. There was a group of old people gathered around a table, a couple of them playing chess.

Marion pointed at one of them. "They're gonna win." Tulip didn't react to his words until he said, "I'm lying, I don't know shit about chess."

She gave him a look, but stayed silent. After a while, they settled into a comfortable silence, Tulip staring in awe at the serene atmosphere and Marion staring in awe at her. Marion had commentary for almost everything that happened in his conscious life and he wanted to do it, then. He wanted to say just how comfortable that deafening silence was. How it was better than the silence of running out of words to say, this was a chosen silence.

"I like this." It turned out he didn't need to break the silence when Tulip spoke. "This quiet. It's peaceful. I think you're the only one who probably enjoys this."

He shook his head. "Nope. As soon as I let go, I'm probably gonna puke or something." Things went back to normal and he clutched his arms around his torso before collapsing to the ground. "See?"

Tulip chuckled at his dramatics before he jumped up and ran to a trashcan. It was serious. He helped him clean up after and they started heading home at sundown.

•

"Troye?" Mr. Ellis' voice was scratchy and a little reserved. He treated his son delicately, because he could see he was doing better. He slowly walked into Troye's temporary room and looked around. "This is where you've been living?"

Troye looked at his father after zipping up a suitcase. "It's a little messy, I know."

"No!" Mr. Ellis shook his forehead. "It's actually quite comfortable. Better than the house, dare I say. If your mother saw this, she'd wanna move here."

"The others would strongly disagree." Troye chuckled. "It's our place. All six of us. It was before Ms. King bit the dust and we weren't even here as much."

"I wish I would've met her."

Troye scoffed. "Only because she covered my university fees and basically my entire adult life from beyond the grave."

"I would've liked to say thank you," said Mr. Ellis. "You ready?"

Troye nodded. After he locked the front door, he sighed and looked at the house one more time before getting into his father's car. He wouldn't be that far from the house, but it felt like he was letting it go. He left the Beetle. He wouldn't come back to get it, it felt right being with the house. It was as old as the house anyway. Poor Troye, he couldn't save himself from the dramatics of moving away even if he'd be only a neighbourhood away. Maybe what he'd mourned most was the swimming pool.

•

The sedan seemed to have driven around aimlessly for quite a while before it stopped. Forest didn't even know where they'd stopped. He couldn't - the windows were also tinted inside, so he couldn't see anything outside. "Where are we?"

Graves' driver opened the door for him. "All you gotta do," said Graves, "is step out and see."

It was an old primary school that had shut down for several reasons: lack of funding from the government, unsanitary facilities and the likes. Forest knew immediately where they were. The school was in an awkward, rural town fit between Paradise Boulevard and Saltwater. "What are we doing here?" he asked.