Misguided Ghosts | TREEBROS

•Prologue•

((This chapter contains paraphrased dialogue of the DEH script))

"Is it weird to be the first person in history to break their arm from jacking off too much or do you consider that an honour?" Jared Kleinman says to Evan as he leans against the wall of lockers. Evan's face flushes as he begins to panic.

"Wait. What? I didn't... I w-wasn't doing that," Evan replies his words becoming shaky with a stutter.

"Paint me a picture: you're in your bedroom. You've got Zoe Murphy's Instagram pulled up on your weird off brand cellphone and you-"

"No! T-That's obviously not what happened. I was climbing a tree," Evan pauses a bit to see a bored and disappointed look on Jared's face, "I was climbing a tree and I... I fell," the anxious boy tried to explain himself.

"You fell out of a tree?" Jared scoffs, "what are you like an acorn?"

"Well-I was-I don't know if you knew this, but I worked this Summer as a park ranger for Ellison State Park. I'm sort of a tree expert now-not to brag," Evan held himself with a sort of fake confidence, but when he was greeted with nothing but silence from Jared his facade began to falter as he rambled.

"I climbed this forty foot tall oak tree and I fell, but the funny thing is after I fell there was this solid ten minutes after, when I just lay there on the ground waiting for someone to come get me. I kept telling myself someone would come," Evan told the story with a happy voice which didn't fit the experience, but once he noticed he couldn't correct himself. Jared just raised an eyebrow.

"Did they?"

"Ha, No... that uh, that's why it's uh... that's what makes it funny," Evan looked to the ground and nervously wiped his hands on his pants.

As the awkward silence prevailed, Evan broke the silence with misplaced and short chuckles as he thought of what to say. Jared kept giving disapproving glances to Evan as he attempted to stand tall as he talked.

"S-So how was your summer?" Evan finally gets out. Jared shrugs.

"Well my team dominated capture the flag and speaking of I got to second-base-below-the-bra with some chick from Israel who's supposed to be in the army or something. So, yeah, I hope that answers your question..." Jared explained nonchalantly and turned to walk off.

Evan didn't know how to respond, and the air felt too tense, but he opened his mouth to ask Jared to sign his cast... but he couldn't since he was interrupted by Jared's loud voice. Evan looks up to see Connor Murphy walk past with a grimace upon his face.

"Hey Hot Topic! I like the new hair length, very school shooter chic." Jared laughs triumphantly, but once he notices Connor's hateful glare his cockiness withers away, "I was joking, it was a joke,"

"I know Jared, it was funny. I'm laughing can you not tell?" Connor says monotonously, although the sarcasm was clear through his words. Jared's confidence vanished and he grew nervous.

"You're such a freak!" Jared yells indignantly as he runs off. Connor looked off to where Jared had exited.

Evan kept a fixed gaze on Connor's face, he could see the hurt that was hidden behind Connor's fierce expression. Evan gripped his shirt and shuffled, he felt something new in the pit of his stomach and for some reason seeing Connor hurt effected him. Involuntarily, he chuckled nervously to lighten the mood.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?" Connor pivots with anger, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. Evan stared with fear and sadness, but he was too nervous to say the words he wanted to say.

"Stop laughing at me! I'm not a freak... Y-You're the freak," Connor's heightened emotions made Evan freeze, he didn't even realize that Connor had shoved him until he felt the cold tile slam against his back.

The nervous boy watched as Connor left, but for some reason a pit in his stomach had formed. Evan tried to think about the feeling, but a hand on his shoulder disrupted his thoughts.

"Hey, I saw my brother push you I'm so sorry. He's a psychopa-" The voice of Zoe Murphy hit Evan's ears, but something inside him caused the boy to rush up and sprint down the hall in Connor's direction. The action left Zoe Murphy stunned.

Evan runs, but once he's out of breath and realizes that he doesn't know where Connor went he just stood there in the middle of the hallway... just thinking.

"What is this," Evan says as he grips his shirt, "It's... different," the sound of the bell causes Evan to jump and he rushes to class, the strange feeling still consuming his mind.