Your End in Mine

《 chapter four 》

"Are you really sure no one's going to report to the police if you were gone?" Zachary asked as we left the school compound. He said nothing as to where we were going and I did not dare ask.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "Yeah, no."

"Hm." He just sounded. "The school probably won't dig too much into it anyway. You're not really outstanding, are you?" He murmured. It was rhetorical.

"Your neck okay?" He asked gruffly, sounding a teeny bit apologetic.

"Yeah."

I've had worse. The memory of middle school bullies entered my mind and I chewed the inside of my cheeks. Yeah, those memories weren't great.

Zachary turned to me. "What was that?"

"What?" I asked back.

"That wave of discomfort you just gave out." I raised my eyebrows. "A whole world of readers like you, remember? We're just different in the way we perceive things, the way we read." He explained. "You released a strong wave of energy, like you had a bad thought. What was it?"

"Oh." I thought about that, "Just a bad memory."

"Explain." It wasn't much of a question.

"It's nothing," I blushed. He'd probably think it was dumb. "Just... bullies in middle school."

"Oh yeah? What'd they bully you for?"

"I told them I could, you know, read. Minds. They said I was crazy." I played with my hands. I didn't want him to think I was throwing a pity party for myself. It really wasn't that bad. It was a better than what some people went through. I should be lucky and grateful.

Should. But wasn't.

"Was it bad? Physical?"

"No," I lied.

"Lucky. Most of us get it pretty bad," I looked over at him and his jaw was clenched. "I was..." He cleared his throat. "My step dad nearly killed me once. But I learned how to fight, so the next time he tried, I roundhouse kicked him, gave him a concussion, and I left with my mother."

I stared at his face. How did he do it? How did he sound so unattached?

Practice. I thought. He must hurt so much on the inside.

"Where is he now?"

He gritted his teeth. "Back with my ma." His neck bobbed. "She never learns."

I looked at him. "You sound like you must love her a lot."

Zachary didn't say anything at first. Then, "She hated me very much."

Well, that's something we can bond over.

"Why?" I asked instead.

"None of your fucking business."

I reeled back. "Sorry."

A moment of silence. "She never wanted me."

I truly wondered how he sounded, was, so detached.

That was a superpower I would have liked to have.

"I understand."

He glared at me. "Do you, now?"

"M-my mom hates me too," I tried to justify.

"Well, at least she didn't make you work when you were just 8 to pay for her drugs, huh?" Ice cold. How much pain he must have had before he could get to this level of uncaringness?