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A Chapter by Mickey Hyde

(Jamie's P.O.V.)

"So, then what?" Lauren asked me over the phone that night. It had been around 11 P.M. when I had called her after coming home from Seth's tree house.

"Well, I don't know..it just got quiet and I thought maybe he wanted me to leave, which I did," I said honestly. I was was lying down and thinking about how Seth had looked at me though out the night, and a part of me wondered if maybe, just maybe, he liked me. No one has ever looked at me the way he did tonight, as if I was the only person in the world at that very moment.

"Hmm... Did you maybe say something wrong to him? Maybe offend him in some way?" Lauren tore through my thoughts and asked me. I thought back over the night, and came up with nothing that I could have said that he would have disliked. "No, I didn't say anything that would have."

"What if you did?"

I sighed and layed down on my bed, still wearing my shoes and everything. Coming home, I just wanted to talk to someone who might have a good take on what had happen, if anything had happened at all. Maybe nothing was wrong at all! Or he just doesn't have that many people up there in the tree house.. "You know, maybe he was fine, Lauren. What if he was just tired or something?" I asked her.

"True. But are guys okay? Friends even?" Lauren asked me, and I could hear the knowing grin and smirk playing on her face.

"Yes,we're fine-"

"Great! Then he can sit with us at lunch tomorrow!" She said excitedly. My heart rate immediately jumped up. I wasn't sure if he'd like that, or if he didn't want to... Wait, what if he didn't want to?

"He might not want to sit with us.. Besides, I never see him in the cafeteria." I said, getting up and heading to my closet to get a shirt to wear to bed.

It's true, I never did see him there, or ever eating.. Not that I was ever searching for him or anyth-

"So what, you've been looking for him?" She laughed a little bit, and I felt myself blush.

Okay, yeah. I was looking for him...but no one had to know!

"No! I just.. I've never noticed him is all," I let out in a rush. Great. Now she knows I have been..

"Jamie! You so have been! What, do you like him? I bet you do! He is really hot, but he's really quiet, too. Oh, and he's tall! And he looks a bit muscular!" She said, all so fast that I could barely make out what she was saying.

This is why I don't do "boy talk" with Lauren. Once she figures out you like someone, she will stop at nothing to make sure you two are together.

"Don't you think, Jamie?" She asked, pulling me from my thoughts. I had no idea what she was talking about, since I zoned out and all..

"Um, I have to go actually-"

"No you don't, and don't you dare lie to me, Luthor! I know you, and I do know when you lie."

"Yeah, how do you know?" I asked, purposefully changing the subject, as I found no other way to do so..

"You always talk a bit.. slower when you tell a lie. And also, you chip at your nail polish." She said matter of factly. I looked down and saw that she was right. My black cover nails were now half black.. I groaned, knowing she was right.

"Okay, fine I guess I do." I mumbled. I was getting more tired by the second, half from actually being tired and half from talking to Lauren.. Well, more like hearing her talk. Man this girl can talk for hours.

"Aren't you going to answer my question?" She asked.

"What question?" I held the phone between my neck and shoulder as I pulled a long black band t-shirt out from the pile of clean laundry I did yesterday. I turned the light off and turned around, walking back to my bed as I stepped out of my shoes.

"I asked you if thought Seth was lonely, you know, maybe he just doesn't have any friends at all," Lauren explained. I was a bit taken back by the question, but I have thought of it before. Maybe I wasn't the only one who noticed he doesn't really hang around others a lot.. Now that I think of it, I've never seen him talk to anyone, or even make eye-contact with him.

"I guess.. I don't know. I don't know too much about him, but I've never seen him with anybody." I noticed my voice was becoming more quieter.

Why was he always alone?

"You know, it might be because his mom died. I as asking around at school a few weeks ago, and everybody said that he use to be a real friendly guy, and that everyone knew him and was friends with him. When his mom committed suicide, he just.. broke. No one ever spoke to him, well more like he never spoke to anyone, and he stopped talking to his friends. They said he kinda became a stranger.." Her voiced died down a bit towards the end.

That probably was it. I know how hard it is to lose someone so close.. To try and come over their death, but just can't.

I talked with Lauren a bit more, and then said my goodbyes. Throughout the rest of the night, I thought about what she said about Seth.

If he talks to no one, why does he talk to me?

(End of Jamie's P.O.V.)

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

The electricity is out, and the rooms in the house were all pitch black. Not a spot of sunshine can be seen, because the windows were all covered with foil and black sheets.

He sat there in the same position he's been sitting in for weeks. A beer in hand, and his other curled into a fist, he cursed out loud as he suddenly flew up from his chair and and flipped the coffee table onto it's side.

Running a hand over his whole face, he stood quietly in the cold and dark living room, thinking of the one thing that actually had the nerve to run away from him.

His son.

Throwing his head back, he laughed.

After calming down a bit, he said out loud to himself:

"It's time the boy came home." And he began to laugh again...