Chemical Trails (boyxboy)

Chemical Trails .I.

It all started when Alex was 9.

He needed a break from his brother, from his parents and from his friends. This day was especially frustrating because Rian got snippy and decided that he wanted to go play with the new kid, Vinny instead.

So, with his anger in mind, Alex had stubbornly run off into the woods, ignoring Rian's desperate attempts to apologise. He ran and ran, even with his shoes untied and his jacket on backwards and his beanie in his hands rather than on his head, and he didn't stop running until he lost his breathe completely. Alex collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest and desperately needing air.

With his back on the wet grass, he opened his eyes slowly. He waited for his breathing pattern to return to normal, because he realised his side was starting to ache from gasping so much. What he didn't realise however, was how absolutely breathtaking the land was.

Looking into the sky, the sun shined down onto his delicate and child-like face, making his brown eyes sparkle. With a small sigh, he breathed in the smell of the air - damp and breezy - and closed his eyes.

In his meditation, he heard something. A soft cry, was it? Sniffling? So sat up and listened, trying to find the source of the faint cry. He looked around, and he just couldn't find anything.

The only thing he could see was just tall grass and a small wooden cabin at the top of a nearby hill (With Alex being only 9 years old, he didn't stop to consider if this was trespassing on private property). With the cry still lingering in the air, Alex was determined to find out where it was coming from. It was obviously nearby, but the source was unknown.

"Show yourself!" Alex said, using a line he had heard any times in movies. He grabbed a long twig from beside him and stood up, making himself known.

"Make your presence known to me, peasant." He said in a bold voice, his twig waving in the air (He always wanted to be an actor).

The sniffling abruptly stopped, so Alex bravely searched around some more, looking carefully in the deceivingly tall grass. He wasn't sure what he expected to find, but he certainly didn't expect to find a little boy near his age, curled up in the grass.

Alex didn't know what to make of the situation. He decided to keep acting. "Aha!" He yelled in a deep voice, pointing the twig in the direction of the little boy in front of him. "I have found you!"

The nameless boy looked up at Alex, his big brown eyes searching Alex's face for some form of comfort. There was no trace of a smile on the boy's face.

Alex decided that he should stop covering up his curiosity with humour and acting, so he asked the boy in his normal voice, "What's your name?"

The boy remained silent, hugging his knees to his chest and looking away from Alex. Alex played with his gray beanie (which was still in his hands) and watched the other boy fidget uncomfortably.

"Its rude to not speak when your spoken to." Alex said proudly, his hands on his hips in a childish manor.

The boy still stayed quiet though, and Alex was having enough of that because he was just trying to be nice to the little boy, but the little boy wasn't being nice back.

Before Alex was off to sulk for the rest of that evening, he heard a small whisper, presumably from the nameless little boy.

"Jack..." The boy said, staring blankly into the sunset as it began to start.

Alex gave the boy a blank look.

"My name is Jack." The boy explained, turning to look at Alex.

"Oh!" Alex said, understanding now. "Well I'm Alex." He sat down next to Jack on the grassy hill, looking into the sun that was slowly setting.

Jack grew nervous at the close proximity and scooted away discreetly, but Alex just scooted closer until their shoulders bumped.

"It's nice to meet you, Jacky." Alex said with his usual smile.

"My name is Jack." He pouted, slightly frustrated.

"Same thing," Alex smiled, forgetting about how snippy Rian was today and how mean his mom was because she made him eat his broccoli this afternoon.

Jack smiled a tiny bit, wiping away his tears with the sleeve of his oversized jacket, clearly oblivious to the fact that this very day changed their entire future.

In fact, they were both oblivious that this was the beginning of a friendship that lasted a lifetime.