Beginnings

origin; source; first cause
the initial stage or part of anything

The first time it happened, Kenny was four and his dad - drunk - dropped him.

The McCormick's were holding a house party - Kenny forgets if it was for anything in particular, though it probably wasn't - and his dad had popped upstairs with some of the guys. They were messing about in the main bedroom. Kenny couldn't sleep, he was having nightmares again and the noise kept waking him, so he went to see what his dad was up to.

He'd gotten a hug for his troubles (something he loved, back then, before...) and his dad had begun swinging him around, playing, making him laugh in his high, childish voice.

But Dad was drunk and Kenny was small - even for four - and before he knew it, Kenny was out the window, gone.

Dead for the first time.

Kyle had been there, with his parents - this was before the big fallout - and he saw everything.

He had been sitting on the porch, trying to get away from the noise, smell and crush of adult bodies. He didn't like having to avoid feet and knees. He'd looked up when he heard the giggling, saw Kenny and his dad through the upstairs window.

He'd watched, wide eyed and petrified, as Kenny came through the window, small body twisting in the air, landing with a sick-inducing crunch on the hard, frozen, gravel strewn ground.

He hadn't understood at first, why Kenny wasn't moving.

Looking around, worried, he had slipped from the porch and sidled up to his young friend.

"Kenny?" He had asked, quietly.

He had knelt down and shaken Kenny's shoulder, gently. When there was no response, he had tried again, a little harder.

When there was still no response, Kyle's eyes had begun to prickle. The longer Kenny was quiet, still, the more worried Kyle had become, tears streaking down his pale cheeks.

And then, Kenny had begun to fade.

Kyle had sat back in horror, his four year old mind unable to make sense of what was happening. After only a few heartbeats, Kenny had disappeared completely, leaving Kyle sitting on the frozen ground, alone.

He had sat there for a long time before a new, quiet noise, made him jump. He had looked up, and there was Kenny, standing right where he had disappeared from, sniffling, with a strange look on his face.

Kyle had thought he looked confused, scared and so, so little.

They had blinked at each other and then both burst into tears, jumping together and clinging to one another over their shared secret.

That had been the first time - and they never told anyone.

TBC