The misty wind blew strongly on Winchester lane. Things were pretty quiet these days. It was really because the summers had started and everybody in this neighborhood was always eager to get away. I wouldn't really blame them. Oh! I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself yet: Josh Manter, 16 years old. I live in the old house at the end of the lane. People around here make up a lot of stories so I'd decided a long time back that I wouldn't believe any of the stories that they brew up. My mum says the stories are all rubbish and so do I. I was actually on my way to the Ramon's place: they had invited me for dinner. I was hoping to get to know their daughter (they were four people in all her elder brother, 21, her mother and father) she was like a Greek goddess. She had more beauty than anyone else possessed in this world. Apparently everyone at school had already made a move on her so I don't think I'll have much of a chance. Standing at 6" feet, with fair skin, icy blue eyes, and brown hair: that was me. I didn't consider myself much of a looker, because I hadn't had a date with a girl in my life, probably 'cause I was shy but I think I am just naturally revolting to the other gender.
As I reached there house I rang the bell. Ding! Dong! The door opened on the second bell.
"Hello Mrs. Ramon," I said, smiling pleasantly. Mrs. Ramon was actually a pretty kind person I had never seen her get angry even at the kids who had totally messed up the house her house last Halloween.
"Hello dear. It was so nice of you to come." She smiled warmly and invited me in with a wave of her hand.
Just then Taylor walked into the room and her smell knocked me off my feet. She smelled sweet a bit of every good fragrance. Actually I didn't know what I was talking about; all I know was that her fragrance was a complete knockout. I smiled at her and she gasped and ran off up the stairs. I was taken aback by her reaction and for a minute I just stood there staring after her. The Ramon's house was a small cozy house with two floors the ground and the first floor. There were stairs in front of the main door leading to the first floor. There were two doors; one to my left and the other to my right. Mrs. Ramon led me into the room on my right. As I walked I saw that there was a table in the middle which had five seats and plates. Apparently they had already set the table for all of us. There were two sofas at the side of the room where Mr. Ramon and Thor were sitting.
"Hey Josh! How are you?" asked Thor pulling me into a very tight bear hug. He was friendly guy behind his well built physique. But there was one teeny problem - he might just kill me with all the friendly hugs.
"Hey." Gently I broke out of his death grip and gasped for air, trying not to be too obvious all the while. "I am good what about you?"
"I am as good as ever." He said thumped hard on my back making me cough and pointed towards the empty space on the sofa next to Mr. Ramon.
"Hello Mr. Ramon."
"Oh! Hello. I didn't see you there. How are you?"
"I am good. What about you?"
"I am doing very well thank you. Taylor!"
"Yes daddy?!"
"Get some thing to drink!"
"Ok daddy."
My heart thumped involuntarily loudly as she walked into the room. She looked fantastic. Even in her beige baggy pants and black fitted shirt her figure was being complimented. The baggy pants complimented her long thin legs and her shirt brought out the color of her deep blue eyes and her ebony black hair looked blacker then ever and this somehow made her face look a lot more paler. But I liked it. I smiled politely as she handed me the drink and watched her as she made her way out of the room. It was pretty weird sitting there on the sofa so quietly. Say something you idiot.
Like what?!
I don't know you empty tin!!!!! You look like a complete retard!
But I have nothing to say.
Oh great! Not them again: my mind usually went to war. The voices in my head always got me into trouble. Once in class I was sitting and they were (the voices in my head) having another fight and they started cursing I got so engrossed that by mistake I shouted some swear words out loud into a completely quiet class. The teacher stared at me for what felt like an hour and then sent me to detention. Oh well I guess I was asking for it, not listening to her and all.
I sighed and focused my thoughts on what was going on around me, outside my head. Ha-ha.
Ok so a little more about the Ramon's. Well they just moved here like two years ago, god knows why, but yeah and I am happy they did and close to my house too! Ha-ha.
Well by now the dinner was ready and we all approached the table. I could smell the food, it was great, and it made my stomach churn which made me remember I hadn't even had lunch.
"Hey! Josh that's my seat," Taylor's voice jolted my thoughts and I looked at her embarrassed and apologetic.
"Sorry."
"Oh, I'm sorry." I quickly moved to give her space and then took the empty seat next to Thor. Before eating dinner they all said a prayer and then started to eat.
"Delicious food Mrs. Ramon." I said through a mouth full of food. She had made Italian pasta and lasagna and she had ordered in pizza. It was a nice meal overall we talked and laughed and told stories but during all this Taylor sat quietly and stared at her food. She laughed on rare occasions. After food we all sat down to watch Hancock a new Will Smith comedy which I had wanted to watch so we decided to watch it. Time flew by and it was time to go back so I said goodbye and all the other formal stuff we're supposed to say to people. I quickly headed for home cause the nights on Winchester lane usually creeped me out.
Walking quickly I could feel someone behind me so I quickened my pace and decided to dodge whoever was following me, so I cut through different lanes and when I was sure I wasn't being followed anymore I turned around to take a right for my house but stopped in my tracks, as I saw a pair of eyes – or was I imagining it – looking at me from behind the bush. It was pretty dark so I couldn't tell properly and I wasn't stupid enough to go and check out the bush, so, I went off on my way. I was pretty tired so I didn't bother with saying hi to mum and dad and made my way to my room. Half way towards my room, I realized that I should inform them of my presence. So, I made my way downstairs and told them that I was home and was going to hit the sack.
WAKE UP!!!!!! WAKEY WAKEY! "Ugh! I'm awake. I'm awake. Stop ringing you stupid clock." I pushed the button down so it wouldn't scream in my ear again. It was only 9 in the morning I didn't feel like getting up but my dad had come up with this great idea to exercise in the morning, which I didn't really want to do but I couldn't let my dad down.
"Good morning dad," I grumbled as I made my way towards the kitchen table.
"Good morning son! Ready for some early morning exercise?" he asked smiling; I really wanted to say no. "Yeah dad, I sure am."
Ugh I hated sounding so chirpy when I wasn't. My dad was always like this bright and chirpy and happy. Sometimes I think that he was a lab experiment and the scientists wanted to see if they could set a man on the happy mode for the rest of his life and that they were still keeping an eye on him. Well that was the only explanation that explained my dads 'cheery' nature.
"Just let me grab a bite then I'll be out dad."
"Ok."
I quickly drank my milk and ran out to the garden. There, my dad had already set the place with mats and he was already warming up.
"Hey! No fair you got a head start!" I teased him and stuck my tongue out at him.
"Come on tardy shoes get started! 1, 2, 3- 3, 2, 1! Hands up! Hands down!"
I had already started to pant when my dad said the count about twenty – nine times but my dad wasn't even looking tired. After a while I stopped and sat down on the front porch and got a drink of water. While I was doing so I saw Taylor jogging by. She caught my eyes and waved, I waved back trying to be natural but I slipped from my seat, I got up in time to see a small smile touch her features. My dad joined me on the porch and took the bottle from my hands. He took one look at me, smiled, and then drank water.
"What?!" I felt my ears going red. Ugh I was such a dead give off sometimes.
"Nothing." His voice was sober, so was his face, but I could tell he was trying to hide his smile. He got up without saying anything else and went inside. I couldn't believe this my dad was actually mocking me. Hah! I laughed in disbelief. I walked inside and followed him into the kitchen.
"Our boy seems to have taken a fancy in the Ramon's daughter." He looked at me put on an innocent face.
"I do not!' I tried to defend myself. But my dad turned out to be more convincing so I laughed and didn't say a thing and went back to my room to change into my 'normal clothes'. He-he. After awhile I heard a soft knock on my door.
"Come in, It's open."
My back was to the door so I didn't know who had entered. It was mom. I knew that because she tends to open my door as slowly as possible so that I can stop whatever I am doing or close dirty browsers. Sheesh! She thought that just because I was a boy I had tendency for such 'stuff'. It was a pretty irking aspect of hers. "Yes mom?"
"Well Josh, dear, we are planning a trip to Pennsylvania."
"No mom - no – no! You know I don't like going there."
"Please Josh I haven't been there in a while and Aunt May has also been wanting us to visit so I thought we should." Well to tell you the truth it's been a whole year since we visited Aunt May. Since… well, Damien's death. He was my elder brother. We'd gone there two years back in the winters –yea we were still not over it – well both of us were on our way to a friend's hose. My brother was a tad bit overjoyed and the roads were slippery. So, he started speeding. It partly was my fault... I guess 'cause I wasn't even trying to get Damien to slow down. The car got out of control and the brakes made the car go sliding down the road. This caused the car to crash into a tree. I woke up in the hospital a week later to find out my only brother hadn't survived.
I still haven't gotten over it. I wished it would've been me who had died instead of him. So, I had vowed to myself that I would stay away from that place as much as possible. On the other hand my mum wanted to go and I didn't want to get her depressed again, so, I said yes.
We had our seats booked for us and it was already time for us to go. We reached Pennsylvania at nine - fifteen. Uncle Rory and Marissa (his daughter) were already there waiting at the terminal to greet us. We all greeted each other warmly then settled down in the car and started towards the house. These roads brought so many good memories Damien and I had had together. Remembering all those times we had together brought a lump to my throat and my eyes got wet. I stopped myself before mum caught me and a huge scene was made out of this. The drive from the airport to the house was a long one. Everyone talked and laughed, we filled each other in on what we had missed in each other's life. I kept a distance from the chatter; it felt better to be quiet rather than to talk out loud. For a while I joined them and enjoyed myself but then we passed the scene of the accident. The tire marks were still visible on the road.
I could tell that everyone's eyes were on me. Apparently even my mum had not taken it as hard as I had. It took me almost a year – I guess, that's what mum says - to get out of my state of depression. I even started doing drugs, which I was glad to be on (I started feeling a bit of a sadistic person), but my friends back home told on me. My parents freaked – naturally- and started to send me to a psychiatrist. Two words: didn't help. The stupid psychiatrist made me talk and it hurt much more. In the end I was tired of being so darn depressed all the time and I was at a suicidal point when I decided to stop. So I started making a conscious effort but really all I did was start to forget about Damien and start enjoying life a lot more and be grateful and as I mentioned earlier I tried to avoid as many trips to this place possible, but, I couldn't anymore. After all sooner or later I would have to face this place again. So I was going to make my elder brother proud of me. No matter where he was. I knew he would be joking about this but I still missed him. I turned around to look at my mum and noticed that everyone had settled into an awkward silence.
We reached home. Aunt May was waiting for us at the steps.
"Hi!" she exclaimed happily and came forward to hug mum and me tightly. "Oh I've missed you guys so much. I'm so glad you could come." She too looked at me in that weird way. What I didn't mention here was that my entire family found out about my drug addiction. It was embarrassing more than anything but I got pissed at my parents for blabbing it out to everyone – pf- like I needed the help they gave me. It infuriated me to no limits.
"Hey Aunt May." I smiled so she would stop looking at me like that.
"Hello May. I'm glad to be here, too." My mum hugged her back. I hurried into the house before my hands went sore. Uncle and dad had already gone inside with Marissa. I placed the suitcase at the foot of the steps and headed towards the room where Damien and I used to stay. Now the room was going to be as quiet as a grave. Shit! Depression was setting in again. I shook my head to shake out the depressing thoughts and sat down on the bed and sighed heavily.
Knock, knock.
"Come in," I said.
It was Marissa. "Hey what's up?" I asked without looking at her.
"Nothing I was just…" her voice trailed off, but, I knew why she'd come in. She wanted to check on me. I flopped down on the bed spreading my hands above me head, why couldn't my family just let it go? I didn't say anything though, so, she just stood at the door looking at me and obviously feeling as awkward as I did.
"I just came in to ask if you wanna go out for some ice-cream."
I was glad she didn't say anything else, actually what she did say was unexpected but I was relieved.
"Sure!" I could tell by the way her posture changed that it wasn't awkward for her anymore.
She smiled. "Ok, wait for me downstairs I just have to grab my coat," she said turning to leave.
"Wait" she stopped in her tracks. Very cautiously she turned and said, "Yeah?" I chuckled at her cautiousness.
"Thanks"
She smiled and left. I got up and grabbed my mp3 and left the room closing the door slowly behind me, sighing one last time as I looked upon its emptiness.
I went downstairs and waited for Marissa at the steps. She came down taking two steps at a time.
"Let's go! We are going out for a bit!"
"Sure honey, be back before dinner!"
"Ok!"
She grabbed my hand and quickly exited. I was confused. What was all the rush about?
"The ice cream parlor will close if we don't hurry up."
"Um, ok." I put my ear-phones on and started listening to the mp3. The song that was playing was my favorite; it reminded me of Taylor and of Damien.
"Hey listen I'll catch u later," I said turning to Melissa. I needed some alone time. I could never get over the things that happened here.
"Oh, ok," she looked pretty disappointed but I really needed to clear my mind and at the moment my songs were not helping much.
I said sorry and then rushed off ahead.
It was not until long I found a quiet spot in the area. The grass was surrounding me and I could hear the soft flow of a river near by (I had taken out my earphones by then). This had a peaceful affect on me. I loved it. So, I closed my eyes and laid my head against the large, round rock. I sighed quietly and started humming tunelessly, to soothe myself. I don't know how humming tunelessly helped but it did, so I continued.
I guess I had dozed off because it was twilight. I got up and brushed off the dry leaves off my jeans. I looked around… something had changed in my surrounding. I spun around, slowly, so I could see what had changed since my arrival. After a while I gave up I mean staring at the place wouldn't help me find what I was looking for. I laughed at my stupidity and walked away from whatever it was.
I sort of ran back home because I knew everybody at home would be really worried.
As I opened the door I got exactly what I'd been expecting: worried faces and questions. Lots of them. My mum was first.
"Josh! Oh thank God you're ok!"
"I'm fine mum. You need to relax!" I said pushing her hand away slightly.
"Where were you? I was getting worried!"
"Do you know how long it has been since you left? You were supposed to get back here after grabbing ice-cream!" my dad nearly shouted. This sparked flames of anger inside of me and before I could stop myself I retaliated.
"Ugh! Why? I am not bound by any rules to not go off on my own here! You need to stop acting like ill die like Damien!" I guess I answered rather harshly because after that my mum clutched her heart and drew in a sharp breath. I bit my tongue in reflex. What had I done? I could see Damien shaking his head and feeling
I took a short step towards mom, "I am sorry…"
She stepped away from me. "No you are right. We will leave you to yourself."
"No…" I said, shaking my head sadly. "I was wrong you are only trying to keep me alive but you will have to learn to take it easy for a bit. I need my space. I hope you know that."
Tears rolled down my mother's face and she hugged me. "I am so sorry."
I looked at her. "No mom I am sorry. It's my fault, I shouldn't have said that."
She smiled. "It's ok." That put me at ease even though dad, Marissa, uncle, and aunt were all still staring – no - glaring at me. I ignored them and went into the kitchen to grab something to eat.
After eating 1 bag of chips and drowning a whole bottle of soda I sat down to watch some TV. I switched on to the geographic channel. Things merely interesting were on the TV, so I just kept on switching the channels randomly. I finally gave up the search and closed the TV and went to bed early.
"Damien?! Damien! Damien… wait. Where are you going?!" We were both walking – well I was running, Damien was the one who was walking, what seemed like a million miles ahead of me – on the beach. The beach? I looked around myself. What in the world were we doing here? I kept running behind him. Why did he keep turning back and smiling? Damien stopped at a tunnel. Huh? This was really weird but I kept following him.
"Where are you going?!" I shouted behind him. Again he looked back and just smiled at me, this really ticked me off. "What the hell are you smiling at?"
He finally stopped at a door and he opened it and went inside. As I followed suit I saw that the room had taken me to another place. It was a valley. Such a beautiful sight, I was in awe at that moment. There were butterflies flying all over the place and the grass was so green! I couldn't believe it. He had brought me to a valley. Damien was standing right beside me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and all of a sudden I wasn't in the valley anymore but instead I was having flashes of a faces. All of them were pale and … they had the scariest look of all. Purple and blue underlined their eyes. I looked around frantically, scared out of my wits, searching for Damien. I looked around at those pale faces staring at me once more and then closed my eyes.
I was back in my room, lying on the bed. I sat up and tried to shake the freaky faces out of my head. What the hell was happening? First I was talking back and now weird faces… but I couldn't really get freaked about my dreams could I it's not real… why should I freak? But the back talking part was bad, that I would have to watch out for. I looked out my window and saw that it was still dark outside so I decided to lie back down and after a few minutes I was out.
The rest of the days here went pretty boring. I had stopped going out because there was not much to do even though I knew lots of places I had been to them a million times before. Even Marissa was keeping a distance from me since that day. It sucked because now I had literally no one to talk too which made me want to go back home even more.
It was a week later that she came and sat beside me – yes, I was counting the days Marissa hadn't talked to me- put her hand in mine and held it tightly and stared at me for a long time with that knowing look, that said 'yes I understand. 'Don't worry it'll be alright' and I was grateful to her for that. For a while we just sat there not saying a word, it was actually the best moment I've ever had with her. Well… the most intimate.
"So… I was thinking - that- maybe… you'd like to come to this concert me and my friends are going to this evening. Umm I was wondering if you'd like to go with us," she said after – I bet - making up her mind for a long time. I kept my face passive and when she saw I wasn't really responding she said, "Well… I thought it was a good idea… because you haven't been out for a long time and all. So I thought…" she said slowly. "If you don't want to you don't have too!"
I had dozed of and wasn't paying attention but I noticed the change in her tone, she was starting to feel like this was a bad time or something so I decided to finally answer. But I couldn't believe they were going out on a Tuesday night.
"No! Ha- ha I am so sorry I kinda went out of focus for a while there. I'd love to go. You are right I haven't been out in awhile so, yea, I am definitely in."
She looked glad and happy; I smiled at her and got up. "So, what time should I be ready?" I turned to look at her and instead of her face I saw the one I saw in my dreams. The one I saw standing in the front of all of those other faces. Frightened, I jumped back a little and tripped over the rug.
"What happened?" I looked up at the sound of her voice: afraid to see what I had just seen a few seconds before.
"Nothing," I answered getting up. "So… what time?"
"Um, by seven-thirty, at the least."
"Ok." With that I raced upstairs with last glance at Marissa's face, just to make sure I was hallucinating.
At seven thirty, sharp, I was ready. I jumped down the steps, taking two at a time. I couldn't the excitement of getting out of the house after so many days. It was annoying staying cooped up all the time. Ha-ha well now I know how Damien must've- I sighed. Him again. I don't need you dominating my thoughts tonight. Please, just let me be. I need to be happy too, I said this in my head to him. I know I sounded selfish but it really had been too long. I couldn't take it anymore!
On reaching downstairs I saw a bunch of kids (approximately three) round my age were sitting on the sofa or standing near the door (two were there). I looked around to see where Marissa was and saw her sitting in the middle of all of her friends. She looked up and saw me; she got up and motioned me to where she was sitting.
I walked over and she introduced me to her friends: first was Tracy, she wore glasses, anorexic and fair complexion with dark hair and a bit shorter than Marissa. Next was Steven; he was tall and lanky with a pair of glasses and black hair. Then came Mike; blond, short, and fair.
"… And last but not least my best friend, Tony Vaughn."
He was paler than all of the kids in this room. It was really weird to see some one with such a color. It made me wonder if was sick or on meds or something. He had dark black hair and was of my height. But with blue eyes: strikingly icy blue. His smile was prefect and when he reached out to shake my hand his shake was firmer than the rest of the boys I had shaken my hands with. He looked at me with keen interest: it freaked me out.
I smiled back and let go of his hand and turned to Marissa, "Should we leave or are we waiting for someone else?"
"No we are leaving let me grab my jacket."
"Hurry up," said Tony as she left. At that she looked back and stuck her tongue out at him. He chuckled softly and then turned to me.
"So is this your first time in Pennsylvania?" he asked.
"No, not really, but it's been a few years."
He nodded his head silently, I could tell he was thinking of something else to say when Marissa arrived and shouted at us to get out the door.
As we were on our way I remembered something. "Hey Marissa I didn't bring any money what am I supposed to do about the concert." I actually expected her to glare and then turn around to go back to the house or just say that she would take care of it.
"Oh don't worry its free." I breathed in relief. "Chill, even if you wouldn't have had any money I had enough to cover you." She said looking at me through the rear view mirror.
We reached the concert a tad bit too early. People were piling in to the ground and by eight o'clock the place was jammed. In an hour or so the concert started and everyone started to head-bang and like the others I lost myself in the music too. Later on I decided to go sit down. I was, after all, a little out of practice since I hadn't been going to any concerts with my friends. I told Marissa that I was going at the back and if she wanted to find me she could just give me a call.
I found a place to sit at the back of the ground. People all around me were jumping and head banging so I had to be careful not to tread on anybody's foot or falling down. When I finally sat down I looked around. This is what all these people came here for: to lose themselves in the lyrics of the songs the band played.
I kept looking around but found nothing interesting so I decided to play a game on my cell. Every now and then I would glance up from my cell. The head-banging had ceased as they played a soft number. As I looked up again I did a double take. There he was standing and staring at me in front of everyone with a smirk on his face. It was Damien! I gaped at him and then slowly got up and as I started to make my through the crowd towards him, like in the dream, he started to walk away. If he was up for another game of chase then so be it. I would chase after him for as long as didn't get to the bottom of my hallucinations or whatever. Well incase they really were hallucinations I kept my eyes on him and tried to blink as less as I could. When my eyes finally started to water I decide to blink and after I had done so he had instantaneously changed directions and was heading east. So I kept following regardless of the fact that Marissa might be wondering where I was but then again I'd told her to give me a call.
***
I stared out at the empty Winchester Street. I let out a quiet sigh as I turned away from the window. I had moved here almost a year ago. This was the new place I had been assigned to, by Ordegon. He was the one who had chosen me to become the slayer. This was the worst thing that could happen to me. At the age of six he had killed my parents. It was all planned out. He knew that my elder brother, Thor, and I would have to go to another guardian according to our parents' will, but the problem was there was no guardian so we had to go to an orphanage where our new so-called parents adopted us. But later on we both found out that they were there to keep an eye on us- no- me, to keep an eye on everything I did, every breath I took. Ever since we had found out about this whole ordeal, I had lost my peace of mind: I had anger issues now. Thor had been nothing but supportive, which he still is, to whatever I am doing. Because he knew this was something I was personally against. Everyone did. I had made a lot of noise and created a lot of destruction, with my new found strength (I discovered it when I was about ten. Sounded like the lamest thing but its true). So 'they' (Ordegon and his other servants) had to keep me quiet somehow which they achieved by threatening me. They threatened to kill my brother – blah, blah, blah. I didn't really care, because I could protect my brother. I knew everything about these people inside and out. I had a lot of confidence though I was not over confident. I had a strange control over Ordegon, which, if truth be told even I didn't understand. But it was good it meant I could take advantage. When the time would be right that would definitely happen.
This background of mine was the reason I kept away from all other relations. Well there was actually only two I was aware of. Brother and sister and boyfriend and girlfriend. The latter was never a part of my thoughts. It never had been and I planned on keeping it that way… till I moved here. Here I met Josh Manter. The only one who had caught my eye in all of my sixteen years he was the first guy I ever thought about in a way that I had never thought about any guy. It sucked for me. He was this cute guy in my school who lived down my street. It had been two weeks since he had come to my place and his face circled in my mind. Hovering there for hours like a vulture. An extremely attractive vulture, that is. Why did I like him so much? Why not some other guy? Why had I not chosen anyone before him? There were too many questions so I usually decided to keep them at bay. I didn't want to think about anything even remotely related to him. Like so many girls before me, it would screw me over and anyways I had other more pressing matters to think about. But no matter how much I shoved his face it wouldn't slip. I didn't really remember a lot about my parents and so I tried to remember them whenever I started thinking about Josh. He was away in Pennsylvania. I didn't want to tell him how I felt because I was pissed: at him and myself. I was pissed at him for ever being here and myself, for ever thinking of him in a way resented by me and also not having enough will power to not get him out of my mind.
It definitely got lonely for me sometimes. Even with my brother here. But it had become a part of my life now which I had to accept. A huge part.
I saw that the sky had turned a darker shade of grey as I looked out the window of my room. It was way too quiet in the house so I decided to go check where Thor was and maybe we could get something to eat. I got up from my bed and made my way downstairs.
I found Thor in the lounge watching TV. "Hey, you wanna go get something to eat?"
He turned to look at me and read my face.
"Yeah, sure. Where you wanna go?" He understood, I thought. Well it was really no surprise he knew me better than I knew myself. Which was weird, I know, I didn't get that bit but it was true. I hid feelings and expressions very well. I had to, in front of Ordegon and all. But Thor knew exactly what I was thinking and why. He just… he just got me very well. This was one of the reasons I was glad to have a brother like him.
"Um I am not really sure," I said slowly.
"Hmm lets look around and then we can decide."
"Sure."
I just wanted to get out.
"So… what's on your mind?"
I sighed. "Nothing," I said looking at him.
"Pf yeah, right. Go on, tell me."
I looked out the window. I couldn't face Thor when I talked about Mum and Dad. "I was just thinking about… Mum and Dad."
I sneaked a look at him just in time to see his mouth form an 'O' and a distant look of sadness settle in his eyes.
We drove around in utter silence for a little while and by now the sky had turned black. Night had come unto us. Ha-ha.
Thor turned right and we came to a stop. In front of me there was Casey's ice-cream parlor. We usually came here to eat ice-cream; I guess that is what we were going to have today too. We both got off the car and entered the Parlor.