Don't Breathe

Chapter 1

The breeze had started to pick up a bit. The chilly air brushed against my exposed arms, and I shuddered a bit. "Are you cold, bro?" Jesse laughed, touching the blunt to his lips again.

"Little bit," I replied. Jesse let out another little chuckle.

"Well, that's on you for not bringing a hoodie. Do you even watch the news? Do you even check your weather app?" Jesse mocked me. I rolled my watery eyes, wiping them with the back of my wrist.

"The news is the last thing I wanna be watching right now," I stated dryly.

"Yeah..." Jesse let out yet another small chuckle, this one laced with undertones of anxiety.

"President Trump accused of ignoring the newest symptoms of COVID-19!" I mocked the news anchors in an overly dramatic, booming voice. "Makes me sick to be an American citizen, ya know?"

Jesse nodded a little. He was the first generation American-soil-born citizen in his family. He carried his opinions of politics zipped up in a pouch of fear. I figured if I were him, I'd be the same way.

"You talk like my sister, " Jesse laughed.

"God, don't compare me to that demon spawn," I huffed.

"Juliana's much worse after you've known her for her whole life!" Jesse grumbled.

"Fair enough. She's got nothing on Tara, though!" I chuckled.

"Tara is...somethin' else," Jesse shook his head. I had no argument, my little sister truly was just that: 'somethin' else.'

Silence flooded the field again, which was quickly filled with the sound of trees rustling together and the corn stalks flapping, along with the cool rush of wind past our chilled ears. For late August in Iowa, it was damn cold. It was odd weather we were having. It was supposed to rain today, as well.

"So...school, exciting, huh?" I tried to press conversation, not quite knowing where to take it.

"Cut the bullshit, man, you hate school more than anybody I know!" Jesse rolled his eyes.

He wasn't wrong. I despised school. The teachers were cool with me, I had a few friends, I never had trouble with girls, I was good at the only sport I did, and my grades were solid B average. I'm pretty sure I only disliked school because it bored me. Math and science had never been my forte. Music was never really my thing, either. English was pretty easy for me, and I'd say I rather enjoyed it. History was the same way. All of the crazy things that have happened in the past had fascinated me for as long as I could remember. My buddies all thought it was pretty weird, and I didn't blame them. Jesse, however, had been my best friend since first grade. He'd never judged the supposedly odd things I enjoyed because he liked them too.

"Maybe, but, we're gonna be Juniors this year. Think of all the epic and wacky shit we're gonna do in the next five years! It'll dull down the blow of how boring school actually is," I shrugged.

"Speaking of which, you thought any more on what you wanna do after school?" Jesse inquired.

"Yeah, actually," I started. "I'm honestly interested in maybe pursuing something with writing as a career. I never considered it before, but it seems like a better idea than any of my other ones."

"You're not going pro?" Jesse asked, his voice drowning in surprise mixed with an afternoon of weed.

"Hockey? No way, dude. I'm a tragic excuse for a goalie," I chuckled.

"Nah, bro, you hold up the team and you know it," Jesse stated rather aggressively. "Everybody from the next eight schools over knows they can't get past you, you're big number 10 from Noavak!"