Chapter 3
Chapter Three
KARTER
Twelve Years Old
I sit by the window and stare out into the rainy, stormy world.
Days like today, Enya would cheer me up by picking a game for us to play, and we’d laugh and talk about absolutely everything and nothing at all.
But she left last year without even saying good-bye, so I don’t think she’d make me smile much at all anymore. If she had ever really been my best friend, at the very least, she would have said good-bye.
I let out a dejected breath as I rest my hands on the windowsill, then drop my chin on them. I wish I could go aside and sit in the rain. I wish that the wind could blow hard enough to take me away from this place once and for all.
I blow my breath against the pane of glass, and when it creates a small fog, I draw a heart with the tip of my finger. I trace it again and again, until it starts to partially block my view of the grounds outside, then wipe my palm over it, destroying it in one fell swoop.
“Hey.”
I glance over my shoulder and nod at Harlan, who’s standing there, watching me with a curious smile. I’ll never tell him, but I like when he smiles. It makes the dimple in his chin sink in a little further.
“Got a crush?”
“What?” I ask, my brow furrowing in confusion.
He lets out a chuckle as he grabs one of the chairs from the table behind me and places it next to mine. Harlan leans forward and blows his breath against the glass where I drew my heart, and I can feel my face turn red when the heart starts to slowly reappear.
“You made this, didn’t you?” he presses, looking at me.
I nod.
“So, you got a crush?”
I shake my head as I wipe the heart away again, “I’m just sad today.”
“Don’t be sad, dog face,” he says in an almost sincere tone. “Tell me what’s up, and I’ll see if I can fix it.”
“You can start by not calling me that anymore,” I snarl, giving him a level stare.
He rolls his eyes and nods in agreement. “Okay. What next?”
“Huh?”
“What can I do to fix your sad next?”
I hold Harlan’s gaze for a moment before I shrug and look out the window again. “Nothing.”
He doesn’t say anything else, instead, sitting next to me and watching the storm rage on in silence. A flash of lightning, a clap of thunder, and another round of torrential rain pounds against the glass. I can hear some of the rejects behind us scream and giggle, but we sit here quietly, watching nature try to destroy itself in complete, content silence.
Almost like grown-ups, I think as I steal a glance at him.
“Pussies,” Harlan mutters under his breath after another clap of thunder ripples through the air, eliciting more screams behind us.
I look at him with a small, amused smile on my lips, and he grins back at me. But then the grin disappears as he looks at me with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“You know, it’s okay to be sad sometimes, d—Karter,” he says, quickly correcting and giving me a nervous smile. “Being happy all the time is impossible, so I say be sad when you feel that way.”
As soon as he’s done with his token of wisdom, I turn my eyes back toward the window just in time to see another flash of lighting. Blowing my breath on the glass again, I quickly draw another heart, then get to my feet and let out a sigh.
“Woof, woof,” I reply softly as I turn and walk away.
My pillow doesn’t feel as fluffy as it used to.
In fact, it feels flat and lifeless.
I sigh as I turn onto my stomach and wrap my arms around it, trying my best to bunch it up so that I can try to be comfortable. It’s nowhere near bedtime yet, but I have to still be asleep because it’s been nothing but a nightmare since Enya left. No one seems to look the same anymore, the sun doesn’t shine as brightly as it used to, and even the colors seem a shade blander than normal.
Knock, knock.
I press my face into the pillow. Go away.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Go away!” I holler out, my voice muffled by the flat pillow.
Knock.
With a breath of frustration rushing out of me, I flop onto my back and stare at the ceiling. “Come in,” I finally relent.
“Hey, Karter,” a voice greets me cautiously.
Kellan.
“Hi,” I reply in a small tone. I push myself up onto my elbows, interested about what the new boy wants, and tilt my head curiously when I see him standing inside of my room. “I didn’t mean all the way in.”
He smiles nervously as he takes a few steps backward until he’s in the hallway again, and I sit up, cross my legs underneath myself, then drop my hands into my lap.
“I was just wondering how you were doing,” he says with a shrug.
“I’m tired. I was going to take a nap.”
“Oh.”
Yeah.
“Okay, um, I’ll come back after then, if that’s alright?”
It’s not.
“Sure, that’s fine.”
He nods and gives me a quick wave before turning around and bumping straight into Harlan. I watch as the meanest boy in the home’s eyes narrow dangerously at the new boy before he looks at me over his shoulder, and his mouth becomes a tight, angry line.