Who We Are
We watch as the sun sets. My best friend and I watch as the birds fly to their nests and ready themselves for sleep. He looks up at me since I am taller. He has been my best friend since we were in our mothers’ wombs. Although he is just a bit smaller than me he is a sophomore at Greenway High. Wyatt Elara is sixteen years old, he has brown hair that kind of covers his eyes, blue eyes, he is 5’3 and thin but healthy. He is my best friend. I love him. My name is Joshua Vance, I am sixteen years old and I also go to Greenway High, I am 5’7 and average-sized. I had brown hair but I bleached it blonde and green eyes. I play for our varsity football team and I am the quarterback. I am one of the most popular boys at our school but I don’t care, so long as I have Wyatt I am happy. He is all that matters to me. No one knows that I am gay, I’ve had girlfriends to hide it but I actually am. Wyatt is the only one who knows, how does he know? I kissed him on the lips in freshman year and told him I liked him, don’t ask me why. He is still my friend but he doesn’t know how he feels and that’s okay, so long as he still trusts me. He lays his head on my knee and stares at the setting sun. One . . . two . . . three . . . He counts. One . . . two . . . three . . .He’s covered in red.
I wake up covered in sweat my shirt sticking to my skin. I heave until my breath becomes normal. I look around and see I am in my bedroom. I get up and look in the mirror, that’s right, Wyatt is gone. He was shot and killed two years ago in the forest, we were sixteen. Ever since then I have had nightmares about his death. They never found who did it, they probably never will no one saw, no witness, nothing. My parents wanted to move out in fear that the same would happen to me. I said no, I didn’t want to move, I couldn’t. Tomorrow is the anniversary of his death. His parents want me to go but I don’t think I can. I look at the pictures of us on my desk, we smile. He is so cute. The sad thing is he died four days before graduation. It is going to be hard walking down that aisle knowing that he isn’t in front of me. I walk down the stairway into the kitchen and I see my mom. She holds up her head with a bottle of red wine in her hands. I walk up to me and take the bottle from her hands. I pick her up and place her on the couch and cover her with a blanket. I walk back to the kitchen and start to make breakfast. We live in a mansion by the mountains and the only reason why we still live in this mansion is because my dad is trying to support me, but he says once I go to college he isn’t going to pay for the house anymore. He divorced my mom when I was three but he still wanted to be in contact with me so every weekend I would spend with him. My mom just got fired from her job a few weeks ago because she always came to work in a hangover or drunk. Now she’s always drunk. I go back upstairs to finish getting ready then I head out for school.
I get to school and Wyatt’s face is printed on papers all over the walls and lockers. People are looking at me with eyes filled with pity and sympathy. They know I was with them the night he was killed. I tried to save him, I tried to stop the bleeding but the blood kept coming. The blood kept coming . . .
Two years ago, the forest at night, we laid on the ground staring up at the stars. My hands behind my head, his head placed on my stomach, his hands over his own. It was getting late and tomorrow was a school night, I get up and then help him up. He stares up at me and I stare at him. He opens his mouth as if he wants to say something to me.
“Joshua, I’ve been thinking about what you said, about whether I like you. Well . . .”
The sound of footsteps breaking twigs and leaves caught our attention. We turned to face the trees around us. The forest was covered in black making it impossible to see anything. Wyatt grabbed my arms and tried to turn me around.
“Josh we have to go, we have to go now!”
“Huh? What? Wait, why?”
“Just go!”
BAM!
“Jos-”
BAM!
“-hua!”
BAM!
“NOOO!!!!!”
Blood, everywhere. Red gushing out of three black holes. The white lights from the sky begin to disappear and everything becomes . . . black.
Then in a snap, I’m back to reality. I stare at my locker although I have no idea how I got here. I can feel everyone’s eyes on me. I get my books and head to our-my first class, History. The lesson was boring as it always is, glad to see some things never change. Usually the both of us would be talking at the moment about the latest basketball game or the newest movie that we think about seeing. All of that . . . is gone. I look at his empty chair, no one has filled it yet and I hope no one ever does. After my classes are done I head home. Usually, I would go with Wyatt to the liquor store and get some food but that can’t happen anymore. So I just go home. I walk past the stores, and past the crowds, past the animals, and past the people. I do this everyday and I used to do it with Wyatt. Neither of us noticed the surroundings around us because we would always be deep into conversation but now that he’s gone I finally realize what I’ve passed. I walk and walk until I’m sure that I’m near my house or at least the gate. Then people begin to scream and run but I don’t bother to look up . . . my greatest mistake . . .
