Bridge in Pennsylvania

Unanswered Questions

I sat in school looking out the window. The sun was in my face, but I wasn't paying attention to it. I thought I heard someone say my name but I ignored them. I looked down at the grass outside the window till I heard my name called again. This time I knew who it was, Mr. Moore, my teacher. I looked up to see him staring at me confused.

"Class is over Hamlet." He said as he looked around the room.

"Oh, sorry I must have not heard the bell." I mumbled as I got up.

"Are you okay?" He asked as I walked by his desk and handed him my unfinished work.

"Yeah, I just zoned out."

"Okay, well you will have time to finish this tomorrow." He said waving my paper around before he added it to the pile.

I walked out of the classroom and quickly walked home. I got home and wrote a note again, ignoring what Mr. Jones said about not letting me go off on my own. I made sure the note was set on the bar and left. I walked down to the bridge listening to music. I got to the bridge to see Cole was walking down by the water. I waved as he looked up and smiled at me.

He was walking around in the mud while I sat on the bridge. "So, since you know so much about me, what about you? I would like to know more about you." I smiled.

"Oh," he said as he stopped walking and looked at me, "like what, ask me questions."

"Okay." I thought of a bit of a list of questions. "Okay, what's your favorite color?"

"Dark red."

"Okay, favorite school subject"

"Chemistry."

"Family?"

He got quiet. "No one."

I felt bad and awkward, "Favorite hobby." I changed the subject.

"I used to play baseball."

"Used? Why don't you anymore?"

"I just don't." he said sternly.

"Okay, uhm." I thought, "yeah I don't know anymore."

We both got quiet. I eventually broke the silence when I thought about last night, "Hey do you know about the missing boy in 1999. Apparently, it was a big deal and just isn't anymore."

"It was five years ago, so no wonder it's getting ignored." He seemed hurt.

"Well still, the Jones know about it. They were worried about me coming out here on my own because of the boy going missing."

"Well, I don't know about it." He was clearly lying.

"You're lying, I can tell." I was curious.

"No I'm not?" He seems actually confused.

He was confusing me, because he clearly knew something about it but at the same time he didn't seem like did when I said he was lying. I asked him about his life since he hasn't really told me anything, just listened.

"What about school, you really don't have any new stories?" I was curious.

"I don't go to school." He said quietly.

"Oh, wait why?" I was confused then thought about it, "oh wait, how old are you?" I can tell he was around my age but I didn't know for sure.

"I'm seventeen, and I dropped out a while ago." He was still quiet.

"Oh, well I'm sixteen. Why'd you drop out?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I just wanted to know." I rolled my eyes.

I could tell he felt uncomfortable with me asking so many questions but I just wanted to get to know him more, he knows a lot about me. I thought back to an older question, Family? I wanted to know. I know it's rude but I'm curious.

"My family isn't here anymore, that's why I'm in foster care. Actually, the guitar I have was my mom's. It was one of the only things that survived the fire. The other was this necklace," I pulled the necklace out from under my shirt and showed him, he barely looked at it though. "Yeah, my dad wanted it but he wasn't a nice man after she passed so I kept it and left."

He mumbled something under his breath but I couldn't hear him. I decided to not ask.

"What about you, why did you say no one when I asked about your family?"

"I know what you're doing. You're trying to share your trauma to get me to share mine. Well, I'm not. It's not your business and I don't want to talk about it." He sounded hurt which made me feel guilty.

"Okay, sorry. Just wanted to know." I avoided eye contact.

It was quiet as they both stared at the water. Mr. Lane walked up the bridge to see Janie as she turned and smiled at him.

"Hello. What are you doing?" He asked with a smile.

"Oh, I'm just," I looked back to where Cole was to see he wasn't there anymore. I was confused, when did he leave? I just saw him. "I was sitting here with my friend, but I guess they left."

I stood up and looked at my phone.

"Oh, well you mind if I paint?" He asked.

I shook my head, "I have to head back home anyways."

The man smiled and waved to me as I started to walk away.