Thousand Paper Cuts

Six : stupid redhead with a weird name

Mark :

For the first time in maybe forever, his whole drab house felt colourful, only because of her stupid, bright red hair.

At first, he didn't really believe that the girl he'd hated while they were in the taxi ride was his neighbour. Maybe perhaps it is the nature of stars to cross.
The whole situation seemed hilariously insane, and he felt like he was exposed to the whole world.
She seemed as pathetic as she seemed : wearing an oversized orange hoodie with some swappy blue trousers, her red hair totally blinding all the colours of the universe, and her freckled face that was chubby in it's own odd way.
He didn't speak, merely because his lips were locked up starkly.
Before it could get any worse, that stupid red hair again said,
"Uh, I'm Skye McLaren, your talented neighbour. I suppose we've met before. Nice to meet you."
She placed her hand in front of him, that was the colour of the honey, and her nails were painted almost red-gold, the kind of colours too bright to be pretty.
Mark thought whether she was dressed like that on purpose, as if she 'wanted' people to stare at her eccentrically, because.....God, she was weird. Just like some scarecrow in the wild, the kind of thing that wouldn't survive.
Mark was trying his best attempt to be nice, so finally he said,
"I don't give a shit about any neighbours. You should get going."
She awkwardly moved her hand back, her stupid smile kind of faded, and said,
"That's not how you treat the neighbours, I suppose? Besides, I just wanted to, like, have more freinds. I believe you've read my few letters, and...sorry about them though", she laughed and continued, " they were pretty lame, but I do make amazing enchiladas."

When he heard the word "friends", he thought about his only true freind, who was dead and gone. He thought about all those people making many friends, just for fun, not knowing who the real ones are.
And he hated humans, their stupid voices, ruining everything. Lucas was gone only because of the people who'd wanted to have "fun", unmindful of the impact they had.
And so once again, the spirals came, and he found himself screaming inside; a secret place where no one could hear him.

He remembered the summer when both Lucas and Mark had decided to take a break from same old routine, and to make that summer of 1995 worth-feeling. They had gone to Beverly hills, ate as much as they could, had done fishing and convicted that life is a gift. It was the kind of night when the stars were shimmering like fireflies, and the moon illuminated the hills that looked like some painting. On the last night of their vacation, they had laid down on mowed grass, both of them flippant, and just remembered things.

"Remember Julia? Who said she loved me back in grade 5? Jesus, she didn't even know what love is." Lucas has told him.
Mark smiled and had replied,
"Love is the only thing that makes you a human, right?"
"Right", Lucas has replied, "but I think I really like Megan, but hopelessly I'm invisible to her."
At that point, Mark had thought maybe Lucas was sad, because he liked Megan so much. But he was hopeful kind of sad. Not the kind of sad he became in his last few days on earth.
"It's okay." Mark said. "We have our whole lives to make things right."
"Remember when I had let air out of Patrick's brand new car's tyres? Best homecoming ever." Lucas smiled.
Mark smiled too, because memories are always beautiful.
"Yeah", he had replied, "and that Pink Floyd's laser light show. How drunk you were, and when I asked you what you wanted to eat...Remember what you said?"
"Milkshake" Lucas had laughed, and added, "Isn't it funny how all best moments become memories one day?"
"But it's fine...I feel free tonight."
Lucas had let out a sharp breath, and said,
"I'm glad to have you, brother."
Mark couldn't be more happy, because Lucas was all he'd ever wanted as a friend. The song "Time of No Reply" by Nick was playing, and both of them felt truly home.