Short scenes

Breakdown

Eric trudged down the dusty street, the sun starting to set beyond the horizon behind him. The orange light illuminated the path, glowing a warm tangerine colour. Sweat tinkled down Eric's forehead, he got dragged into a few games of basketball, which wasn't exactly fun for an inactive person like Eric. The walk was eerily quiet, his footsteps were the only thing heard, not even a peep from birds or bugs. All his friends had other things to do.

Steven had to go for a family outing, that was fine, Steven doesn't talk to him all that much, only if Paul and Blake aren't around. Blake had softball sessions after school, he's always getting restless if he has nothing to do. Paul was whisked away by his other friends, a lot of people wants to talk to Paul, always asking him for a favour in the middle of his and Eric's conversations. It's fine, it always happens.

Eric always thought the noisiness of his friend group was something to get away from, the constant laughter and rambling of Blake, the cold attitude of Steven, the stuttering- all of it annoyed Eric to no end. But now, now that the noise is all gone, it doesn't feel natural, the unsettling silence, he hated it. Eric was used to the quietness back home, so why is it so different now? Why was it so uncomfortable now? Eric shakes the thoughts out of his head, thinking about what to eat for dinner to distract himself, probably some pizza he can chuck in the oven.

The familiar two-floored house sat in the distance, the once new and dazzling building he knew as a child now felt old and worn down. The paint, once a distinctly white was now a light grey, the paint partially chipped away, why he or his parents can't give it a new paint job is beyond him. The door was scratched in multiple places, the edges, the nooks and crannies, there wasn't one area where there wasn't scraped. The door handle once shone with a radiant golden glow, now dulled by use, a subdued pale yellow now stood in its place.

Eric reached into his pockets, digging out the oddly shaped metal from the repetitive circles, unlocking the door with the key. Eric took his shoes off and entered the house, seeing the familiar living room. As expected, no one was around, the familiar silence fell upon Eric like a snowstorm. The lights and fan were turned off, the couch a little crumpled with a misplaced pillow.

Hiking up the stairs, the quiet house echoed of his heavy footsteps. Eric brushed his hands on the walls of the corridor, the little dent in the wall from him hurling a ball at Erold to catch. He smiles at the memory, remembering the panic on his and his brother's face, doing dumb things to try and cover the dent up. They did not get scolded though, weird huh?

Eric's attention turned to a door, decorated with randomly placed butterfly stickers, opened ajar. A small piece of paper was taped to the door, reading 'Erold's Room', neatly written in pink glitter glue, a smiley face drawn next to it. He remembers Erold creating this, asking him for some glitter glue to use. Eric gave a gentle push to the door, showing the inside of the room. It was filled with boxes, filled to the brim with an assortment of items, ranging from clothes to soft plushes. The fluffy rug was coated with dust, in a matted mess.

He's been in this bedroom many times, Erold hosted several sleepovers, numerous friends have been in this room, from acquaintances of Eric to close friend of Erold. After the incident, Eric didn't have as many friends as before, the three being his only friends sadly. A lot of his previous friends hate him, Leslie being a notable figure. Eric doesn't blame them and especially not Leslie, he was Erold's closest friend, after all, Eric could remember the sheer hatred in Leslie's eyes, his loathing of Eric can be felt just walking past him.

A certain small box caught his eye, something Eric doesn't like to see, it had all of Erold's lovely hairpins, with an assortment of designs. Erold really likes hairpins with flowers on it, he has quite a lot of them. Eric could remember where he got each and every one of those pins, from that one pin with a thunderbolt design where Erold asked Eric to pick a hairpin for him to buy, to a handmade pin with a blue flame on it.