Poisoned Hearts (A Jaric Fanfic)

5) Stars

The cool breeze ruffled Aric's raven black hair as his feet dangled over the edge of the roof. His fiddled with his knife and gazed up at the stars. They looked so mystical, all the way up there, gleaming down like millions of little diamonds. Something about being up here gave him a sense of serenity, a feeling that Aric was not familiar with. But sitting up on that roof, bathed in silver moonlight, he felt as though he was coming home again. It was hard to explain, but for some reason, he felt as though he belonged there.

The night's atmosphere seemed so calm. The whole school had gone to sleep, lights dimmed and not a peep to be heard. Aric loved listening to the sound of silence. You couldn't hear a single-

A rattling sound down below made Aric flinch. Instinctively he jumped to his feet and pulled a rusty dagger out of his pocket. The rattling noises seemed to be coming from the other side of the roof. Knife gripped at his side, he approached the noise. There was a loud shwoop and the noise stopped.

Except, Aric realized, it hadn't stopped. The noise was back. Only, this time it was less like a rattling and more like a stomping. And- and scraping. The sound chilled Aric's bones, but he kept his intimidating disposition. The sound drew nearer by the second, unlike anything he had ever heard before. Stomp. Scrape. Stomp. Scrape.

Then, a skeletal pale hand groped the edge of the roof. Aric backed away several paces, holding up his knife up menacingly. A tall, lean body pulled itself over the edge with little effort and stood upwards to face him. Aric dropped his knife. Japeth's icy blue eyes stared at him.

"What are you doing here?" They both asked at the same time.

"Well, I always hang out here." Japeth claimed.

"I've came out here every night since I arrived and I never saw you." Aric accused.

"Because I also hang out in the clearing! And besides, we've had detention every night!" He yelled.

"Then I guess you don't always hang out here, now do you?"

Japeth groaned. "This is stupid. Why can't we both hang out up here?"

"I guess we could. But to be fair, you were the one who started yelling." Aric retorted.

"For the record, you are the least mature fourteen year old I have ever met." Japeth joked.

"I dunno, I think your brother has me beat on that." He responded, shoving Japeth playfully.

They both sat down, flinging their legs over the edge. Japeth leaned back, gazing up at the star-speckled sky.

"Wow. The stars are so beautiful tonight." He mused.

"Yeah." Aric agreed, leaning back next to him.

For several minutes they sat like this, gazing up at the starlit sky. For over a minute, neither one said a word. But the silence wasn't awkward, it was more like an awed silence. Then Aric broke it.

"The other day," he began. "You were asking about my life before this school."

"Yeah, but you don't need to-" Japeth interjected.

"Let me finish. Before I lived here, I had a mother. A rotten, miserable one who doesn't deserve to breathe, but still a mother. When I was very young, she abandoned me and left me in a cave. She never even said goodbye. She just left me."

"That's awful." Japeth said sympathetically.

"But I didn't cry. I didn't even miss her. Growing up in that cave, I taught myself not to shed a tear. Not to feel a thing. I learned that when the world is cruel, you have to be crueler. So I made a life out there in the Woods. I carved spears for hunting. I made a shelter out of thatch and palm leaves. I even stole this knife from a shop in Netherwood." He spun the rusted dagger on his fingers. "But then some awful family in Foxwood found me and adopted me. So I did what any kid would do. I made their lives hell. That's how I got sentenced here. At first I thought I was better off dead than I'm a place like this. But maybe," he smiled optimistically- a strange look for someone so negative- at Japeth. "It won't be all bad."

Japeth smiled back, then looked up at the sky and yawned slightly. "I'm gonna go to bed. See you tomorrow."

With that, he stood up, steadying himself on the shingles. But before he had even taken three steps, his foot caught on the sloped black roof, causing him to trip. In a flash, Aric grabbed his hand to steady him. Japeth stared down at their interlaced fingers and felt his body begin to heat up. Aric blushed slightly and let go of his hand. He continued his descent down towards his window.

Once Japeth was safely down in his room, Aric silently chastised himself.

What was that? He thought. What's wrong with me? Why did I do that? It wasn't a big deal! Was it...?