Broken Light

~ Chapter Two ~

I park the car by the main entrance to Jules' elementary school. 2:59. In about a minute, the chaotic wave of students will come running out the school almost as if they're being chased by demons. They have it easy at this age, or at least most of them do. My life turned crappy the day my parents made my whole family move.

Even though it was no surprise, the joyful yells of the little kids still make me jump in my seat. The wave of smiles on a Monday afternoon overwhelms me more than ever before. The kids chatter along as they come out the school. Some of them run around like there is no tomorrow while others gossip behind each other's backs. I can't help but pick up on the conversation that four little boys by my car were having, all four smiling with sly expressions on their faces.

"So Jacky," the little Asian boy asks. "Truth or Dare?" I can't help but roll my eyes the moment those three words make their way out of his mouth. Truth or Dare, possibly the most stupid game this world has to offer. I've always hated it, even as a young kid. Quite frankly, the game had no real purpose. You could never know whether someone was telling the truth. The only thing that the game does well at is putting people against each other and maybe... building insecurities.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Alright! It's my turn to ask now," Alex said, the excitement evident in his voice. He looked at all five of us slowly, his brain calculating who his next victim would be. The moment his eyes met mine, a smirk made its way onto his face.

"Tanny," he said with half squinting eyes. "Truth or dare." Two of the boys in the circle laughed after hearing Alex's nickname for me. The day I'd introduced myself to Alex, he'd told me that Tristan didn't really fit who he thought I was, even though he'd barely known anything about me. He said that Tristan was too much of a serious and arrogant name for a carefree person like me. Even though I never really considered myself as carefree, I couldn't help but love his little nickname. I might not have been carefree, but hey, at least I wanted to be.

"Um, I don't know," I took a long pause. "Truth?" If I had the option, I would have chickened out, but at the start of the game, Alex had made sure to eliminate this lifesaving possibility. I'd never been a big fan of dare to begin with. I barely had any friends and doing something that would just embarrass me more than I already did myself would have only ruined all possibilities of making friends in the future.

"As expected," Alex said as he rubbed his hands together. "Alright. Who's your crush?" A part of me melted right there. My crush, frankly, was even a mystery to myself. I had never been deeply attracted to any of the girls at our school. I knew a pretty a girl the moment I saw one but that was the full extent. I didn't really like anyone at my school. Well, okay, maybe not completely true. Alex was different. I'd always liked Alex because he was the only person that ever understood me. I loved him and I had always looked up to him as a hero, even though we were the same age. I couldn't help but want to impress him. He was the only person whose thoughts I cared about. The only person in the entire school who actually mattered to me.

"I don't have a crush," I finally decided to say, because really, I didn't quite have one at the time. The whole circle broke out laughing.

What a stupid game! You even have to convince people to believe what's true.

"Oh, come on Tanny!" Alex said. "A grade 7 boy doesn't have a crush? Yeah right!" I rubbed my hand across my forehead and stared deep into Alex's eyes, hoping that he would be able to dig deep into my soul and see that I was telling the truth. But nothing happened. We just sat there, staring at each other.

"Fine!" I said, knowing that all my efforts were hopeless. I tried to think of the prettiest girl in our grade. Maybe Melissa? Or Katie?

"It's Katie," I lied and gave an exaggerated breath to emphasize that I'd told the "truth". The boys all smiled, some of them even yelling that they'd known it all along. I wished for the stupid game to end. I didn't want to find out more about the abnormalities I'd been born with because even with the million examples I already knew of, I knew for a fact there were still many others hiding in the dark.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Dad? DAD!" Jules yells from outside. I bang my head on the roof of the car. "The door is locked." I unlock the door and Jules slides into the backseat. He looks at me intently, waiting for me to do something.

"So, how was school?" I start the car. Jules shrugs.

"You didn't sleep much last night, Dad?" Jules asks quietly. "I can see the bags under your eyes." I try to give him a smile.

"Uh no, I slept," I lie, resisting the urge to yawn right then.

"Is Uncle Alex doing better?" I don't say anything and just keep my eyes on the road. My knuckles turn white by just gripping the steering wheel.

"Dad," Jules starts again as we stop at a red light. "Does this mean I'll have to cancel my birthday party in two weeks?" I look into the eyes of the 7-year-old boy sitting behind me, not knowing what to say or feel. I shrug in return.

"Things will return back to normal by then," I tell him. I can't look into his eyes though. I couldn't trust myself to lie if I stared straight into his big, innocent eyes. "Uncle Alex will be better sooner than you can even think."

We both stay silent for the rest of the ride.