His jump down from the roof is as smooth as he usually does. For him, it is an art to get down without slipping on the broken carpets or destroying any more. But this worries me, he is usually never out in the evening like this because the country is bigger to meet something that you should not. During the hours of darkness, other rules apply and the risk of breaking legs or arms when jumping from a roof is very big if you don't know what to do.
"Edmund, I didn't think you dared to jump from the roof when it was dark"
He strokes his dark hair that has ended up in his eyes and looks at me. Those eyes are as dark as night and if I had never put them in daylight I would have thought it was just a hole where his eyes should sit. With those eyes, no one dares to meet his gaze and it fits well if you want to get away in difficult situations.
"Really funny Fox, but I saw you go out so I was going to say hello. Hi" says Edmund and looks down at me.
He has not always been taller than me, only in recent years he has grown over me in record time. I guess he finally had his growing period and it only took a while for him to have it. For me, I have become accustomed to the guys growing taller me now because I grew a lot when I was a little. I even grew taller with my brothers. Then yes, then I'm one of the shortest in my family and I'm still tall.
"I know you, you don't have to play tough. You don't just jump from the roof because it is fun, something must have happened or am I wrong?"
I can see how he turns his hands towards each other, he often does when he is nervous. If you have known someone for as many years as we have known each other, you learn everything about the other. Both the good and the bad things. Edmund quickly hides his hands when he sees that I have seen them. But he just shakes his head dissatisfied and sighs.
"That you should always see everything, you have always done that and I will miss it."
"Miss?" I repeat.
"I will move Fox and there is nothing anyone can do about it"
"You can't move, how can you afford, where are you going" I get out of me.
He could probably see the desperation on my face. What should I do without my best friend, who should come to the rescue when someone is coming at me or standing outside a house and guarding. Who should I be able to talk about things no one at home understands? Who should I call my best friend if he's gone?
"We are going to move to the country, to my aunt and uncle. We have sold everything we have and we will leave tomorrow before the sun rises"
"It can't be true"
I turn around, I can't look at him anymore, he could have said something to his best friend. But I don't want to go, I just want to stay so he can see how hurt I really am. My only real friend moves and leaves me in the ruins of a city I call home. Why could he not have said something, I would have been happy for him if he had said it earlier.
"Lane, look at me"
Edmund usually never calls me Lane unless he's serious. Which for this conversation to feel even worse and I can not bear to stay. He's always called me Fox, just because I'm agile and cunning. He doesn't have such a bad nickname either, Wolf. I once said it just straight out and it kind of just stuck. But I turn around so he can look me in the eye.
"It's not like we'll never meet again. But promise me one thing until we meet again, don't get in trouble."
"I can't promise, but I can try not to get into trouble"
Then we just stand there and look at each other. As if that was the last time we would see each other. But really I think we will see each other again, but when that day will come I do not know. It can take years or a lifetime and it's awful to think so. Because it means that this is goodbye for a very long time. Because in this world we live in, a goodbye can be forever because you never know what tomorrow has to offer. For everyone, tomorrow means an uncertainty about what is to come. That Edmund's mother agreed to move from here is not so shocking. If you make an offer of a better life, you say yes, whatever needs to be sacrificed. Nothing can be compared to a second chance at another life.
But in the end we have to separate and I go straight to my so-called bed inside our home. My bed is a thin mattress on the floor, no matter how uncomfortable it is, I stay on it for as long as I can. I do not get up when even though it is late morning. Everything feels so stripped down and meaningless. But in the end, my mother got enough of me being at home bullring. So she literally threw me out of the house.
Outdoors, the whole world was grayer than usual and it feels like the smoke from the factory is lower in the sky than usual. Got down to the streets instead of a little further up in the sky. The houses and streets are usually dirty but today they feel worse than usual. I have probably started to see it as another place without the light in my life. But I need to continue with my routine so I take the walk around town to see if there is any fool who has forgotten to close his bag. Because there is always someone who is not smart enough. Like I used to do with Wolf.
YOU ARE READING
My name is Fox
Science Fiction"All you see are green plains and wide blue seas." Lane has grown up in the slums and she survives by stealing things. But then she is rescued by someone completely unexpected and suddenly she finds out that her whole life has been a complicated lie...
