phantom, enjambments.pain

Not a long way from his school's gates, Rhys heard Lucy call behind him, telling him to wait for her. She wasn't taking the bus or getting picked up. He waited for her to catch up to him. She alternated between a power walk and a light jog until she caught up with him, winded but in good spirits.

"I thought not taking the bus was going to be lonely," She said, catching her breath.

"Well, it could still be," Rhys said.

"How come?" She asked.

"well, I always wanted a buddy to walk home with before I met Wyatt. First it was fun, and then after a few weeks I couldn't wait for us to part ways, because he wouldn't shut up about sports and GTA. It was all I wanted until I didn't anymore. I'm only interested in stuff for as long as they aren't being shoved in my face. Same with people. I'm only interested in them for as long as I can think about them everyday.

"There's at least a few people you're close to, right?" she asked innocently.

My mother maybe, but my last true bond was her, in the depths of my mind. He kicked at a pebble near his feet. "No, not really. How bout' you?"

"My relationship with my mum is on the rocks right now. But apart from her, I don't have many friends."

"And your dad?"

"He left. To some extent, I understand why he did. My mother has a bad temper, the absolute worst of its kind. She's a horrible person.

As he took that in, he started to think about the talking head. Warning him about her mother. You don't know where she's from.

"Say, why did you and your mum, move to Middlehazy?" he asks as timidly as he can.

"I'm not sure about that either, my mum and I travel a lot. She's always looking for new places to sell the clothes she tailors, probably why we're here. I doubt we'll be here for very long."

Alan and Leah crossed along Vanguard st., and went past the old, struggling, apartment buildings. He knew where he was going, home. Where was she going?

"Which part of Middlehazy did you move to?"'

"Umm," she tried to recall, "I think it's called Bearstone, the woods in the outskirts."

"I didn't even know people even lived there anymore," he says. Apart from that, that part of Middlehazy had a sort of surreality to it. The especially wooded areas there scared him as a child. Mostly because he'd heard a lot of stories in middle school. One that was true however, was a story of a man who brutally killed his whole family and his pets. He dismembered them in a lunatic rage. After, he committed a nasty suicide that was on par with how ghastly everyone else died. The crime scene photographer was so petrified at the brutality of the scene he went on an indefinite sick leave. That story shook the town and  made the headlines on National TV.

The man lived on Bearstone Avenue, House s903 20 years ago. No one has lived there since.

"Really? It's such a charming part of this little town of yours. Mostly because no one really lives the anymore. How come?"

"Rumours," he simply says, "Rumours of really weird stuff going on there. A horrible mass murder did happen though, its never been the same since."

She pushed a tuft of hair out of her face. "A murder? Do tell," her eyes lit up at that.

As they walked, he told her the story of the mass murder. She relished as many of the details of the murder that he could remember were documented. They stopped at a minimart at a gas station for snacks, the same one Alan regularly pickpocketed out of.

"You said he lived at?" she questioned.

"Bearstone ave, s903"

She stiffened, tensing her shoulders. Her eyes grew distant as she realized, "I live there."

~

Behind the counter at the convenience store was Saad. Him and his father ran the store for many years, after they'd moved from Iran to Middlehazy in Northern Armaigne. They'd ran the store long enough to see a child transition from buying candy to cigarettes and birth control. They got on with Rhys' family and had a distant but strong bond.

That didn't stop Rhys from stealing from the store. Rhys had even sympathized with Saad about the very thefts he committed himself. He felt guilty about it every time he had to steal something expensive. Today, he wasn't pickpocketing the store. Rhys bought a soda, while Lucy bought a kitkat. Outside the store, they continued to chat.

"Have you seen anything strange in any of the rooms." Rhys questioned, "Did they leave anything behind?"

"I haven't seen anything, I haven't had anything to look for, not until now." She absently bit into her chocolate, lost in thought before she perked up and said, "Maybe, you could help me? I'm not sure I'm prepared for whatever it is we find in that cursed old house."

~

Rhys came home to broken glass and ceramics, looked like his parents were at it again, but there weren't any signs of them in the house. He heard sounds from his parent's room, most likely his mother as his dad wasn't around much these days. He entered his room and in there, calmly sitting on his bed was Lucy, calm and relaxed, almost even seductive. They definitely parted ways, with her going home and him coming here alone. Yet, here she was, her legs crossed and her demeanour enticing him to— to— Oh God! He's never had to be in this situation!

"What are you doing here?" he asks with a stutter.

She licks her lips and chuckles. "Oh Rhys," she says flirtatiously. She stands up from the bed and sensually walks up to him, "Not a long time ago, we were best friends. Inseparable. Then you just stopped seeing me. We've been apart for so long. I missed you." She touches him before she continues, "In more ways than you think."

This here was Leah not Lucy, she was locked up in the deepest recesses of his mind. As much as he enjoyed being best friends with her when he was little, he dismissed her as one of the more subtle scars on his childhood. Lucy doesn't know anything about who they both used to be, unlike now. Not only was he confused, he was enchanted by her tone, her dream-like qualities. In his storm of confusion, he was aroused.

She pulled him into a beguiling kiss, to which he kissed back ardently. His hands roamed her and they inched closer to the bed. They laid down and continued their passionate kissing before she unexpectedly pulled away, suddenly unsure if she wanted to continue.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I— I don't think we should do this, our story has no good endings. Not in any universe we fall in love in." she fought back tears and sniffled.

"What are you talking about?" he asked her as her tears began to take form. He tried to wipe them off her face, "That's not true, it can't be," he consoled. New tears replaced the ones he just wiped off her face. They streamed and streamed, her sobbing intensified. Her face grew petrified, melting and falling, which frightened him. Where their bodies touched then became waxy and scalding hot, beckoning him out of her grasp. Her clothes melted into her skin, her body and clothes liquefied and evaporated right before his eyes. He tried to hold on to as much of her as he could, but she dissolved in his arms, sobbing as she did.

Not in any universe we fall in love in.

He didn't want to believe what she just said, or that any of this was not just a sick nightmare. He could still hear her voice and feel her in his arms, but she wasn't there. He wanted her right there with him, but he wasn't sure he could handle it. He was confused and scared. He leaned against his wall and slid until he was sitting and waiting for her to voice abate.