2 Memories

—Flash Back—

Years before

Keith slowly turned the doorknob and watched as his parents slept peacefully, their breaths were calm and they both seemed to be enjoying their own dreams. Keith then closed the door as carefully as he opened it so as not to wake them.

He went back to his room and looked for a bag full of candy that was under his bed. Then he went into the kitchen and got a couple of sodas that would be useful for his stay at the campfire he was going to. He took some money along with his phone, which cannot be missed.

Suddenly a small stone touches the glass in his bedroom window so he went to the window, and when he saw who it was he smiled. He makes a couple of hand signals for his friend to wait for him. Keith carefully leaves his room, but not before leaving a couple of pillows on the bed pretending to be him. If his parents find out he's out with his friends instead of studying, they'll start yelling at him, and Keith doesn't want that.

He then tiptoes out of the house and opens the door as gently as his footsteps. He's like a ninja. That thought makes him laugh for a few seconds. Once out of the house, he sees his best friend Senna, who welcomes him with a big, knowing smile. Yes, Senna's family is the same as Keith's, while Keith's family wants their son to study and be perfect; Senna's family wants him to appear to be a good son so that other people think they are the best family in the world.

—Come on, Shaun's waiting for us on the main street. —He said while smile.

Then they count to three and start running like their lives depend on it. When they get to the main street, a car is waiting for them. Keith and Senna get into the car quickly; inside the car are three of their friends.

—Welcome, guys. —Taylor said who makes them laugh with his wink.

He's the happiest of them all. Taylor is the life of the party and he is the one who makes everyone feel comfortable in the group. His orange dyed hair makes his blue eyes stand out, and his slightly tanned skin makes it clear that he loves the beach.

—I hope you brought something to eat. —Dean mutters with his arms crossed looking out the window.

He is the reserved one and doesn't usually talk much but he is a good friend who no matter what will do his best to defend his friends. He, like Keith, has black hair which is as dark as his eyes. He tells Senna that he's hungry because his friend always has cookies and chips for him.

Senna gives him some cookies that he had in his bag, and everyone else laughs about it. Senna, who is a pale-skinned boy, blushes up to his ears. Everyone knows the boy is in love with Dean, but he doesn't seem to notice.

—No one's missing then. —Shaun said. —The guys must be waiting for us.

He increases the speed, not without exceeding it of course, and in a few minutes they are at their destination. Everything is dark as if they were in the mouth of a wolf. And the weather is so cold that they could freeze to death if they hadn't their jackets on.

They go deeper and deeper into that place while using the light of the flashlight of their phones, which helps them not to step on a stone and fall. In the distance they see a slight light and it's a fire, around them Keith sees two boys talking animatedly to each other.

—Senna, be careful of the train tracks. —Keith said. His friend, who has superhuman clumsiness, often stumbles even on his own feet.

He nods and avoids bumping into the ones already mentioned, but instead he stumbles over a stone. Dean holds him tightly by the arm so that he does not fall. Keith laughs because he knows how red Senna's face must be right now.

—Be careful, little one. —Dean scoffed. —It wouldn't be right if your pretty face resembled train tracks.

—Thank you, Dean.

Keith laughs out loud, and keeps walking in the footsteps of Taylor and Shaun, who are talking about how cold the weather is tonight.

—They're finally here! —Exclaimed one boy, smiling.

Keith looks into his eyes and feels the blood rushing to his head, he doesn't know if it's his physique or his smile that makes him feel strange, but his presence makes Keith's world move completely.

—It took a while because we went to look for them. —Taylor said laughing as he pointed to them.

—That's right; we can't leave our little ones. —Saint said as he smiled. —Have you been good children this week?

—We always do.— answered Keith, and then raised his shoulders. —Senna has been better than me, of course.

Everyone laughs.

—Oh, Keith. You must follow his example then. —Said someone.

Then a few arms wrapped around him, and Keith thought it was something warm and nice.

—I'm trying to do that, Nathan. —He answered as he looked at the floor.

—That's right, that's right —He laughed and let go of him completely. Keith felt the cold again. —Let's sit down; it's time for our meeting.

Nathan pointed at the old couches that formed a circle and everyone walked over. Keith touches them with his finger and smiles; they have sat there a thousand times to talk about stupid and funny things. Keith looks at his friends, who are sitting in their respective favorite places. His eyes travel from one to the other, and he thanks heaven for having met them.

—Come on, Keith, sit down here. —Taylor smiled while pointing to the space between him and Nathan.

Keith is staring at this space and Nathan smiles, so that Keith knows that he wants to sit next to him. He obeys and sits on the large sofa in the middle of Nathan and Taylor.

—What should we do? —Asked Shaun, who is sitting in an individual chair next to Saint; he is on top of an uncovered chair with his elbows on his knees.

—How about a bite to eat? —Asked Dean, who was sitting in a large chair next to Senna.

—Dean, you already ate a package of cookies that little Senna brought. —Said Taylor, who shook his head.

—Those cookies only made my hunger worse. —He answered, touching his stomach.

Everyone laughs, and watches as Keith's best friend pulls out a bag of chips and hands it to Dean.

—Senna, it makes Dean a glutton. —Said Shaun laughing.

—Oh, I want some of those chips. —Exclaimed Taylor, and then got up.

As he did so, the couch, which has only two good legs, fell to the side where Nathan was standing. Keith was practically on top of him; Keith could feel Nathan's heartbeat on his back. He laughed, like the others, and stirred his hair, then straightened up and put Keith back where he was.

—It looks as if we need another couch. —Saint said.

—We will soon get another one. —Nathan said. —What do you say we tell a couple of horror stories?

Everyone accepts his proposal.

—Okay, who's first?

—We always start with the older ones. —Saint complained.

—Make it the youngest then. —Said Dean angrily as he continued to eat his potatoes.

—Age round! —Exclaimed Taylor.

After everyone said their ages and laughed about it, everyone looked at Keith who was the youngest in the group. According to the agreement they had, he was to be the first to tell a story.

—And now give a round of applause to the last one, the youngest in the group, who everyone loves... — Taylor makes a mock drumming sound. —Keith! —He said as he pointed with both hands.

—I won't say anything about that. —He said, shaking his head.

—We all know that you are a year younger than Senna. —Nathan laughed. —Come on, little one. Start telling us a story that will make us very afraid.

—And, in the meantime, we can eat. —Said Taylor, who now has Keith's bag in his hands.

He takes out the sodas, the sweets and some potatoes, just like Senna, who got up from his place to give each of them cookies and chips.

Everyone eats cheerfully while passing the sodas to each other and sharing their cookies; Nathan puts a cookie filled with strawberry jam in Keith's mouth while he smiles. Keith blushes, but does not complain. He bites into the cookie and inadvertently spills some jam over the corner of his mouth.

—You really are a little boy, Keith. —He said with a smile.

Then with his thumb he wiped the jam off his lips and put it in his mouth.

Keith is surprised by what he did, and feels that his ears are warm as well as his cheeks, he looks like a tomato. Nathan stares at Keith and gives him one of those smiles that make him feel strange; it's warm and feels good, but more than that it makes him feel nervous and makes him considerably uneasy.

—Keith, please start. We don't want to run out of snacks without at least hearing a couple of stories. —Said Saint.

—All right, let's start then. —Said Keith, smiling.

Keith put his nerves aside, and tried to ignore my strange heartbeat. Then he starts to tell one of the many stories that are known, and at the end, he is congratulated with applause by all his friends. Keith smiles happily at the gesture, and at the fact that they are close to him as his friends. Anyone would think that they are a bad influence on Senna and Keith, but they are not at all. They care for them and love them, and together they make a family that none of them have in their lives. To others they are bad boys but to Keith and his best friend Senna, they are the only beautiful thing they have in their dark lives.

—End of Flash Back—

—Keith, wake up. —Said a soft and angelic voice.

Keith gets up lazily from his lap and carves his eyes for a few seconds, then when he sees where he is, reality returns to him.

—Were you dreaming? —Asked Senna, who now has blonde hair.

—No, I wasn't dreaming. —He answered, and then he sighed.

— So?

—I was remembering the past... — Said Keith. —That past in which we were happy.

—When we went every weekend to the old train tracks, right? —Keith nods with his head. —It's strange to look at the past and live in the now. I never thought Nathan and Saint would become detectives. And that on top of that, they're following in Dean's footsteps to put him in prison.

— How did it all change? How did we end up like this? — Keith asked as he looked up at the dark sky. It was going to rain soon.

—We all grew up, Keith; and I can't tell you how sorry I am that I asked.

— We used to wish we could grow up soon so we could catch up with them. —Said Keith.

They both laugh nostalgically.

— What bad boys we were. —Senna laughs. — We still are, even if no one notices that.

— Yeah, you're right about that. — Keith said.

— Apparently we're meeting the boys today. —Senna gets up and grabs his bag, school starts soon. — Taylor said he'll meet us at the bar where he works part-time.

Well, it's necessary.

— He wants to talk about the interview three days ago and the surprise we had when we met Saint and Nathan.

Keith sighs and nods his head, there's so much for them to talk about. And Keith knows what the main topics of that meeting will be.