Chapter 2 - By Adrian

RESPAWN Chronic

Mother and Father are fighting again, so I slip out the door before they take their anger out on me.  I go to Halden's house - hopefully this will give them enough time to cool down before I go home at six, giving me enough time before the protesters begin to rant.

I ring the doorbell, and Halden comes running.  "Hey, Adrian!  What's up?  Wanna write?"

"Nah.  Let's go to the cliffs this afternoon.  Toss a frisbee around or somethin'."

"Alright!  I'll go call my dad," he says with a grin, and speeds off into another room.  "You can come in if you want," he calls as he searches for a cellphone.  I laugh to myself as I think of how obedient that kid is, like a puppy.  He's a strange boy, that Halden.  Seen so much, more than most kids his age, but at the same time more naive and accepting.  I make a note to write down everything later, just to keep his puppy face looking happy.

"Yep, as long as I stay five feet away from the edge of the cliff, I can come."

"Cool."  I was held back two grades, and I'm sixteen almost seventeen, so I can drive.  One of the few nice things my parents ever did was sign off my driver's license.  Last year, I worked double shifts at for minimum wage to get money for the car I want.  I still don't even have close to enough; I've instead settled for my cousin's used golf cart.  Driving it, we take the half hour journey the desolate way to the cliffs, howling pop and rap songs off tune and at the top of our lungs because we know nobody will hear us.  My decrepit radio often gives out because of the poor signals on our lonely little route, but it's enough to entertain us on the way.

We soon pull into the park.  The forest is taken care of by the locals, so around the hundred year old trees are strips of freshly cut grass to walk on.  Past the forest is the cliffs, and the cliffs are my favorite place in the world.  They're bare, not covered with shrubs or anything, and when we walk dust doesn't fly up and around my feet.  The perfect place to take it easy, and not worry about any pesky insect coming to kill you.

"These cliffs," Halden sighs with admiration as we gaze down into the water below, "are the very first place I died."  We sit in silent admiration for a few moments.  Quickly, I grow bored, so I hurry back to the golf cart and unpack the baseballs, frisbees, ropes, and whatever other random supplies I've brought from the garage.  Hung on the back of the golf truck is a complete tire that's only flaw is the worn down tread- I thought maybe we could build a tire swing or something.  Maybe we could even build a fort, with all the time we have this summer. 

We spend a little bit tossing baseballs at each other, with Halden trying to bean me in the head.  Then, we get to work on the tire swing.  I use the knots I learnt in the few weeks that I was a Boy Scout to tie the rope around the tire.  Since I'm too heavy to climb the tree safely, Halden ties the rope to the chosen branch under my guidance.  After that we goof around a little bit on the swing.  What feels like five minutes later, the sky is darkening so we leave for our homes.

On the way back, Halden falls asleep (he's such a little kid in this sense).  He's also a sleep talker.  As I steer the golf cart to his driveway (luckily no protesters have arrived), I hear him mumble in his sleep, "It's us against the world, Dad and Adrian."

Poor little guy.  Nobody really understands him but me.  Nobody really understands me, either, but I guess that's why we make such good friends.  Yeah.  My closest friend is a twelve year old.  If anyone asked, I wouldn't deny it.

Author's Note

Halden is a twelve year old genius, but emotionally, he's about nine or ten.
Adrian goes along with him because Halden's the only person who gets him.
They're both outcasts in their city.