I was ten when I first met Gilbert. I wasn't spooked by him then, despite what other kids said, when they either pointed and mocked him or hid away scared of how the boy looked. I was there because kids where cruel, and Gilbert didn't look like the others. He seemed to be one of the only people who noticed me, payed attention to me and didn't push me aside.
My town was the kind where everyone had the same fair skin and light hair. My hair was a light blonde and my eyes where light violet. I looked similar to most people.
But I got Gilbert. I understood him then. Why was it that now when I saw his face I stuttered my words and got weak in the knee's, you wonder?
He looked the same Pale face. Reminded me of freshly fallen snow where I played along with my best friend. Crisp, white flakes fell all around creating a new layer of the thick blanket of snow on the hill. I laughed about how to me, it looked like powdered sugar Gil laughed and let snowflakes melt on his tongue. But that was when Gilbert could taste. All black clothing. They brought memories back to me. I thought of the sky that night. We had snuck out to play at midnight. Everything had changed that night. Gilbert had been alive that night.
What was he now?
Red eyes. Like drops of blood in the fresh snow. Gilbert's body was in the birch tree above me. He looked distorted, his body was twisted and scratched through. It felt like a dream. Screams pierced the damned midnight air. Gilbert had died that night. That's what everyone insisted. That's what my parents and my counselor told me, pounded into my head again and again because I wouldn't let myself believe. There's a man in town who see's imaginary creatures like unicorns and flying bunnies. He's been ridiculed his whole life. The only time I saw him happy was with a man named Alfred who'd eventually left him because of the pressure of this town. I don't want to be known the way he is, even if i'm known at all. So, I dropped it. I dropped the fantasies of Gilbert still being alive.
Gilbert was dead.
Why was he standing here in front of me!? Breathing, living.
"Hey Matthew..."He smiled mischieviously.