A/N: Sorry if this chapters not as good as usual, it's just very hard to write these conversations.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed my story and MadTom, this only has the same plot idea as the film. The reason for the connection and the events will be different. Thanks for commenting ^^.

It didn't take as long as I thought, but I hope this works.

Chapter 4: Connection with 'The Boy'

The rain was pouring down outside and the wind was so strong that it was shaking our house. It had been the most sudden storm I had ever seen, and the thunder and flashes were getting closer. I wonder what Leslie would say about lightning? Probably that it was the Dark Master casting spells. She was weird like that.

Who is this guy? I thought to myself, pulling my thoughts away from Leslie. Dad had only just got me this... thing, and I had already met some weird person who wants to know Leslie's name. "So... who are you then?" I asked, not knowing what to say and rapidly getting bored.

"I'm just a guy," he replied.

"How old are you?" I asked. He didn't sound very old and definitely was not an adult. He sounded very sad though, like he had had a really awful day, or week, or maybe year. He sounded like someone had stopped him from sleeping; he must be tired.

"Sixteen," he replied, more open to talking than me.

"Oh, cool," I said, pulling a piece of paper out from a radio and grabbing the nearest pencil and starting to draw. "I'm eleven."

"Should you really be on one of these things?" he asked.

"Yeah, my Dad gave it to me," I replied. There was something really weird about this. For some reason, even though I had only said a few words to whoever this is, he not only sounded familiar, but it was difficult not to talk to him. I didn't really like talking to the stranger.

"Sounds like a great guy," the boy muttered. "Getting you a gift that's older than he is."

Yeah, that was my dad all right. "It was a gift; I think it's great," I replied. I loved this, but he only gave it to me because no one else would have it. He had even told me that it wouldn't sell. He gets May Belle any barbies she wants and all she does is break them in some stupid game.

"You don't sound too sure," the boy muttered. He seemed to know what he was talking about.

I started drawing on the piece of paper. "Well, what did your Dad get you when you were eleven?" No one was rich around here, so no one got anything good.

The boy didn't say anything for a moment. After he sighed. "He got me a racing set for my eleventh birthday," he told me.

"Really?" I said, shocked. "My dad did the same."

"Yeah, well, it didn't work, he hated it," the boy replied.

That was really odd. That was exactly how my dad had reacted. Was it a coincidence or was someone yanking my chain. It couldn't be Scott, he couldn't know that this was me. It must be a coincidence. "Yeah," I murmured. "The cars kept coming off the track."

"Yeah," he said, his voice trailing off at the end. "They must all do that. Dad wanted to take it back, he didn't want to waste the money."

Maybe my dad wasn't so unique in being nasty. Maybe they all were? This guy's dad seemed to be a jerk as well. Leslie's parents seemed great, maybe they were the weird ones, not my dad. He was no worse than the other dads.

"So, you at Lark Creek School?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied. I'm not sure I should be telling him this, but then again, every kid my age was at Lark Creek, so I wasn't really revealing anything. "I hate it."

"Tell me about it," the guy replied. "Worst years in my life..." his voice trailed off at the end.

"Yeah, my teacher's a monster," I told him. Maybe he remembered her.

"Not to mention all eighth grade kids pushing everyone around," the boy said, sighing into the microphone. "Hey, does anyone still charge you to get in the toilets, there was the one girl when I went that did that all the time..." he voice trailed off again, like he was about to choke up.

"You all right?" I asked.

"Ye... yeah, I'm fine," he said.

I paused for a minute. "Yeah, there's a girl at my school who does that, she's eight grade too," I explained.

"Most girls are jerks when they're kids. If you're lucky, they'll grow out of it," he replied.

I didn't like him hinting that Leslie and Janice Avery were anything alike. "Yeah, well not all girls are like that," I insisted.

"Oh yeah," he sounded mildly amused. "I forgot about your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," I growled. She much more than that to me. Whenever my sisters had boyfriends they always broke up after about a week and they didn't really care about eachother. Leslie and I are going to be together forever.

"Hey, calm it," the boy replied. "I had a friend, who was a girl, when I was younger." He didn't sound like he understood me, more that I was some little kid.

I didn't say anything for a moment, my head had been taken back to Terabithia, and wondered what Leslie would create next time we saw each other. "The teachers sucked when I was there, as well," the boy told me, breaking the silence.

"Not all of them," I said. "Yeah, my English teacher is a monster; she has her own nickname. They're not all bad, though."

"Who have you go, I wonder if I remember them," he said, sounding less interested than he was before. Whoever this guy was, he was a really sulky teenager.

"Hey, dinner," Dad erupted. This was just how he greeted me. I wonder what the boy on the other end of the line's dad said when he called him for dinner. "Get down here before it wastes!"

"I've got to go, whoever you are," I told the boy on the other end. "Maybe I'll speak to you later, then."

"Yeah," the guy on the other end grunted. "No offence, but your dad sounds like an ass. Wait," he called after me. "I want to know who your teacher is!

"Oh," I said, catching myself on the desk before I ran downstairs. The signal was starting to go anyway and the machine sounded like it cracking. "I only have two worth mentioning, Ms Edmunds and Mad Mouth Myers."

With that, I shut down the radio and ran downstairs, not wanting to keep my dad waiting any longer than I needed to. When I got down to the kitchen, I saw everyone hurrying around, grabbing their chairs and waiting for food. We don't have much money, so we have what we grow and whatever dad can buy on his way home.

After everyone sat down, without a word to me, we bowed our heads as usual and waited for Dad to thank God. "Dear Lord, we thank you for this food that you give us," he muttered. "We ask to keep our family safe in these hard times. Amen."

"Amen," we recited after him.

We tucked into our food in as close to silence as possible with my two sisters going on about some guy from their school. I wonder if they knew the guy on the other end of the radio. I didn't know his name, so it was impossible to find out. Come to think of it, since I never found out his name I probably will never speak to him again.

xXx

"Hey, hey!" I shouted down the microphone. "Wait, kid, come back!"

It was no use, he had shut off his end. Did he really just say what I thought he had said? Had he really just mentioned Ms Edmunds and Mrs. Myers? That's impossible. Ms Edmunds, surrounded by guilt and seeing where Leslie would be every day, left the town not long after what happened. Ms Myers, on the other hand, died two years ago. There's no way he could have known either of them!

Who was that guy? It didn't sound like anyone my age. And, come to think of it, Scott and the others couldn't be teasing me because they couldn't have know it was me. The quality of these things is so bad that it was difficult to recognise anyone's voice that you had heard outside. Also, he sounded like a kid. There's no way anyone at school could act that well. People pick on in groups, as well, and I didn't hear anyone sniggering in the background. None of it made any sense.

The windows lit up as another bolt of lightning struck the ground, followed by the explosion of thunder. The wind was really picking up, now, and the building felt like it was shaking. Was it going to collapse? I should probably call dad. Just as I did, the phone rang on the side.

"Aarons' Hardware, Jess Aarons speaking," I said, in salesperson mode, but not forgetting that strange little kid.

"Hey, Jess, it's you father," he growled down the phone. Dad reminded me of the kids dad, a real ogre of a man.

"Err..." I stalled, not knowing what to say. Anything could set dad off, so I needed to watch my mouth. "Hi. What is it?"

"Look, don't come back from the store. This storms getting worse and it's not safe to drive in this weather," he told me. "I can't even get to work. If anyone comes in, make sure you sell, I don't have to remind you that we're short at the moment."

He was reminding me more and more of the kids dad. Why was he on my mind? "That reminds me," Dad said. "Did you give Mrs. Jackson her radio back?"

"Yeah, she came in earlier," I told him. "This weird old man also left us a HAM radio but," I bit my tongue, not wanting to lie. "But it's broken, I haven't fixed it yet." He would want to sell it or throw it out immediately, not wanting to how on to detritus. I wanted, no I needed, to talk to that kid again, find out what he was talking about.

"Alright, what kind is it?"

"It's an old HAM," I told him. "Exactly like the one I had when I was younger."

"Don't you get distracted from your work, boy," he growled. "There are more important things you need to be doing than messing about on some radio!"

"Yes, Dad," I said, grinding my teeth together.

"Anyway, don't drive home," he finished and hung up the phone. I'm sure that most parents say "love you", or "see you at home". Not my dad.

She loved you. Love. That phrase... that phrase had haunted me my whole life. I would not cry, my whole world was numb. I was hugged by her dad, told that she loved me. How did I repay her? I abandoned her. I slammed my hand down on the desk. Why couldn't I have told Ms Edmunds I had something to do?

She had loved me! The wonderful, beautiful girl had found me important. I don't think anyone loved me, and I don't think anyone does now. I am completetly alone with a family that doesn't care. They pretended to, after she had... passed on. However, after the dust settled things went back to normal for everyone. Not for me, I'd never forget.

Mrs. Myers was reunited with her husband. She was in heaven, with him. Leslie was there, too. Leslie was there, happy, while I was left to stew in guilt and loneliness. I'd felt jealous of her many times. It was a wicked thing to say, and for what I had done I would never be reunited with her. I'd committed murder. Heaven wouldn't accept accept me with open arms. I'm just destined to fall, forever.

Dad was right, I thought, shaking my head out of itself. I need to get on with some work. I went over to Dad's desk and grabbed the broken T.V that he had been working to. Just in case the kid came back, I left the radio on full volume and every five minutes I would go back and ask if the kid was there.

There was no reply.

A/N: Well, I hope you liked the first meeting. Make sure you review :P