Standing Still For Far Too Long

Gerard was the first boy that would have to take Brady’s food to him. The Warden had taken him out to The Warehouse immediately after he had placed his dirty bowl in the sink next to Trina. The Warden had taken him by his ear, and dragged him out. Gerard, and I’m sure that everyone else, could see the tips of Brady’s ears reddening before he even left the room.

Before leaving, Gerard went to the Warden with Frank in step as he nervously twisted his hands. He felt more confident then any other time like this; he had Frank with him; usually, he went alone. They got to the door after dodging a few lost mice and tiny cracks in the ground that could trip you if you weren’t careful. Her office door was bright red; it contrasted with every other door, for they were all a forest green.

Gerard stopped and knocked lightly on the Warden’s door.

“Come in!” The Warden’s cry was harsh; Gerard was worried that he had caught her at a bad moment. Frank put his hand on Gerard’s shoulder; as he looked back, he saw a reassuring smile. He nodded his hand and turned the knob, letting him and Frank be seen by the woman that ran the hellhole they lived in.

“What do you want Gerard?” Her voice sounded annoyed.

“I would like to take Frank with me to the woods. I want to show him where The Warehouse is in case he has to go.” He said his piece in one breath.

The Warden was silent, and all that Gerard could hear was the faint shuffling sounds that were coming from Frank’s feet. He was still staring at the Warden, and Frank was too. The Warden’s eyes shifted from Gerard’s, and landed on Frank’s. A small smile formed on her hollow-looking face, “Of course you may. Go on, I bet the little boy is very hungry.”

Gerard turned around and exited as quickly as he could, but he didn’t escape the loud cackling coming from the office.

“She really is crazy.” Frank’s voice beside him startled Gerard a little bit as he stopped in his tracks.

Frank’s arm found its way onto Gerard’s shoulder again, “I didn’t mean to scare you, buddy.”

Gerard looked over and smiled, “No, it’s okay. I’m just getting used to someone being with me all the time. It’s different, but it’s good.”

Frank removed his hand and they both started walking at the same pace towards the dining hall, “So, are there only boys here?”

“No, there’s a Girl’s Division. I don’t go over there though; I’d probably get put into The Warehouse for a year.” Gerard shuddered at the thought.

“You mean you’ve never seen them?” Frank’s eyes widened.

“No! I mean, yes I’ve seen them. When we all go outside we talk to each other. I’m just not aloud in the Division.”

Frank made an “Oh” shape with his mouth and Gerard continued, “The Warden probably thinks that we’ll all try and jump them for sex if we see girls and beds in the same room.”

Frank laughed and nodded, “I can see that.”

They arrived at the dining hall and Trina was already standing there stirring the butternut squash that they had eaten for breakfast four hours earlier. She lifted her squinty eyes up at them and grunted; just like she always did.

Gerard picked up a bowl, “We’re here early for Brady’s food.” He held it up, and Trina brought the squash covered spoon out of the big metal pot and dumped the contents into the bowl. He picked up and a spoon and the cup of water that Trina had set out while he was doing so. He looked over at the bread and saw Frank picking up one of the stale pieces.

Frank felt his stare and turned, “I know it’s sort of…sick nasty looking. But it wouldn’t hurt right?”

Gerard nodded, and Frank dropped the piece of bread onto the tray as they both walked out of the kitchen.

“I think I’ll lose weight while I’m here.” Frank said as he patted his stomach. Gerard peered down and surveyed his body which wasn’t skinny or fat, but sort of in the middle. Gerard then looked down at his own, and noticed that he was definitely skinny.

“Probably.” He answered truthfully.

“I just don’t see how I’m going to be able to eat the shit they serve here.”

Gerard shrugged, “I guess I’m used to it. It’s not like I’ve tasted anything else,” he paused, “except those.” He started walking more slowly, and placed his hand on Frank’s chest to slow him down too before pointing at the trees outside of the window that they were passing. Frank looked over a group of nice looking trees that existed on the hill next to the orphanage; it was like a little forest, and it looked so out of place.

“What do they grow?”

“Apples, but only in the fall. The Warden always takes a vacation during that time, and the temporary person always lets us pick them.”

“Well I can’t wait till then.”

Gerard started to walk again; the soup was getting cold, “Yeah, but it’s only May.”

Frank opened the back door when they came to it and Gerard stepped out into the warm air. The sun was shining, but it wasn’t too hot. The jeans and T-shirts that the boys were wearing were perfect for the mildly humid weather. The forest behind the Orphanage looked scary, to say the least, and Gerard always dreaded going in there. Usually it was for firewood or something of that sort.

“No wonder they hide this place with the actual orphanage…” Frank muttered and started walking towards a particularly mangled tree, “Is anything even alive in here?”

“Who knows?” Gerard kept walking straight down the make-shift path to The Warehouse and Frank ran over to follow him. The trees hung down low and their trunks were covered in lethal vines. Both boys knew that the trees should have been at least a little bit green; they were all brown, and a sickly brown it was. They walked a little further in silence; Frank was taking in all of the sad elements of the Forest.

Gerard nudged Frank with his elbow when he saw their destination, and he kept walking towards it. The Warehouse looked like a small cottage that a wood cutter would live in, except that it looked like it hadn’t been occupied in over a century. There were numerous holes in the roof, and the door was made up of decaying slabs of wood. The one lone window was about five and a half feet above the ground and only three of four slabs of glass were in tact.

They were in front of the door and Gerard called out, “You in there Brady?”

The door busted opened and it nearly hit Frank, who was standing very close to the door, in the face, but he moved out of the way. Brady hopped out of The Warehouse with stains on his cheeks and a stick in his hand.

“Yes, I’m here!” He said hurriedly; his hands were breaking little pieces off of the stick and discarding them on the ground continuously, “Is it lunch time?”

Gerard and Frank both grinned at the antsy kid and Gerard held the tray out to Brady who eyed it happily, “Thank’s Gee! Thanks…” He looked at Frank in confusion. When Frank was introduced to him, he had been sleeping, and Brady had been too busy moping around at breakfast to notice Frank’s existence.

Frank laughed a little, “My name’s Frank, I live here now.”

Brady smiled and nodded, “Okay, good to meet you!” He placed one hand under the tray and used his newly freed one to spoon the brownish-orange substance into his mouth.

Frank grimaced at the sight and Gerard spoke, “Well, we better get back. Don’t go crazy.” He smiled and ruffled Brady’s hair before turning around and walking back towards the orphanage.

“I hope I never get put in there.” Frank said once he thought they were out of Brady’s ear shot.

“I don’t think you will be.” Gerard said.

“Yeah, I’m old enough to know better!”

“Maybe physically…” Gerard mumbled under his breath, and he felt a light push from Frank.

“What was that?” Frank asked, a grin plastered onto his face.

Gerard’s face became similar to his, “I said, maybe physically.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means that you’re…not as mentally old as you look?”

Frank’s face turned wicked, and he stopped in his tracks; causing Gerard to do the same. He took a few steps forward and Gerard’s eyebrows soon became raised. Frank went into a stance that signaled that he was ready to pounce, and started walking faster towards him. Gerard’s eyes widened and he started to walk backwards, but Frank was too fast. He ran at Gerard and they both fell onto the leaf covered ground. The impact nearly knocked the wind out of the Gerard, but he managed to flip them both over so that he was pinning Frank to the ground.

His face hovered over Frank’s, “What are you doing?”

Frank’s grin turned into a smirk, “Wrestling.” He moved quickly and soon Gerard was on his back again. Gerard tried to get back into the dominant position and Frank continued to fight back; soon they were both rolling down the slightly slanted path and back towards The Warehouse. They bumped into a tree on the way, and they both ended up on their backs laughing loudly. Frank took Gerard’s moment of vulnerability, and grabbed a hand full of leaves before smashing it into his face.

Gerard started to try and spit out the bits of leaf that had made it into his mouth before grabbing his own pile of leaves. The laughing boys began smashing leaves into each other’s faces and trying to tackle each other. Gerard finally caught Frank, and they were again sent rolling down the hill; except this time, the hill became steeper and they didn’t stop.

Their frantic bodies were sent down the hill quickly, and they tried to stop themselves in vain. Between each roll, they could see glimpses of water. They both hysterically tried to grab at something to hold on to and halt their rolling, but they were soon thrown into the cold water of the lake behind the orphanage. Their exhausted bodies became fully immersed in the water, and they both emerged moments later; gasping for air.

They sprawled out their wet bodies on the ground beside the lake after pulling themselves up and out of the water; they began laughing again. They started to calm down and Gerard found himself staring at the cloud covered sky above him. He began to do something that he hadn’t done in over ten years; cloud watching. His eyes picked out bunnies and frogs and he even saw something that looked sort of like a lobster.

He started to get the feeling that he was being stared at, and he looked over at Frank only to see that his feelings had been correct. His olive coloured eyes were fixed onto his, and he felt his body start to become hot despite the fact that his clothes were still soaked with cold water. Then that’s when he felt it; his fingers were becoming interlocked with the ones of the boy next to him.

Gerard jumped up immediately and fumbled for an excuse, “Uh…if we don’t get back soon the warden will be mad.”

He heard Frank get up slowly behind him, “Yeah you’re right.” His speech sounded normal, and Gerard let out the air that had been sitting in his lungs. He turned around slowly and saw that Frank was waiting for him at the opening of the forest. He started walking slowly towards him, and they walked side by side; just like before.

Gerard began to feel stupid as they neared the Orphanage; the last thing that he wanted was to be awkward around his best friend. He’d known Frank for only a few hours, but he had indeed become his best friend.

“Look,” Frank spoke and Gerard was broken away from his thoughts, “sorry about that. Uh…my friends and I used to uhm…hold hands back where I lived. Just like a friendship…thing.”

Gerard looked at him quizzically, “Really?”

“Yeah, so I didn’t mean to freak you out.” Frank gained confidence in his lie; how was Gerard supposed to know that he was lying? He lived in an orphanage that was basically a world in its own; cut off from the real world. How was he supposed to know anything but how unwanted he was and how looked down upon he felt?

Gerard smiled and felt more comfortable, Friends, he thought. Something inside of him told him that it was something different, but he ignored the dormant instincts; he didn’t exactly know what he was feeling.