Nobody's Boy

When I first saw him, he was sat alone on the fence outside my porch. He watched the clouds blow over the bay, ignoring the biting wind that pierced his ragged clothes, and hummed to himself.

I watched him from the kitchen, not knowing quite what to do. Mam always said that if someone was on our land, we could just get the housekeepers to call the police. She always said things like that; she was forever trying to keep people out, I didn’t really understand why.

Curiously, I wandered out the front door and stood behind him. He didn’t move and I started to think I was imagining him.
“What you humming?” I asked, he turned to face me. His skin was tainted black with dirt, darkening around his swollen eye and his lips, barely still pink from dust and mud, were cracked and torn. The only things that seemed new and shiny on his face were his eyes. They were wide, innocent almost, the whites standing out at the side of the deep brown iris.
“Nothing, just something I made up,” he shrugged and turned back to the view of the sea. I eyed him cautiously,
“Why are you on my fence?” I tried to sound demanding, but my voice was almost lost over the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks.
“Your fence?” He spat, “My dad built this fence, so as far as I’m concerned, it belongs to him,”
“My mam says you’re trespassing,” he shrugged at me, “she said I could call the police, she says there’s bad people out there who wanna hurt us-”
“Your mam says a lot of things, doesn’t she?” He laughed, “If she was my mam, I’d have told her to shut up before now,”
“You are very rude,”
“You are very rich,” he scowled at me and folded his arms sulkily, “your kind make us do all your jobs, like building this fence, pay us nothing and treat us like dirt,” I stormed around the side of the fence so I was facing him directly,
“I am not rich!”
“Oh really? What did you have for dinner last night?” He smirked,
“Roast beef,” I cocked my head, “why?”
“Do you wanna know what I had for dinner last night?” I frowned, he jumped down off the fence and towered over me, “Nothing.”

He began to walk away, again I watched him, his blonde hair tousled by the wind. I jogged after him,
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I picked my words carefully; “my name is Gavin.”
“Sean,” he held out his hand and I shook it. He slumped down onto the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling over the side; I sat next to him, not really knowing why I was so interested in him. He was just another of those poor people who blamed people like us for their misfortune, well, that’s what my mam said.

“So Gavin, you ever cliff dived?” I shook my head at him, “Well, you’re in for a treat.” Sean stood up and pulled off his shirt and trousers, I bit my lip as he undressed, his body was beautiful.
“I can’t believe it, you’re, what, seventeen and you’ve never cliff dived? That’s shameful Gav!” I blushed at my new nickname and watched him take a few steps back from the cliff’s edge. With great leaping bounds, he catapulted himself off the edge, I could only watch in horror at he smashed into the water. The surface of the water calmed, there was no sign of Sean. I surveyed the water frantically, looking for some indication that he was okay.

“Sean?!” I yelled down at the sea, suddenly, I saw a blonde head surface. He looked up at me,
“Oh my god, did you see that Gav? That was so amazing,” he buzzed with excitement, “ok, take your kit off, it’s your turn.”

I was going to say no, but I couldn’t, not to him. I undressed and carefully folded my trousers and shirt and placed them out of the way. I took four steps back and, acting on impulse, I ran and leapt off the edge.

I was falling for an age. When I did hit the water, it took the wind right out of me and I felt some invisible force drag me down. That was it; I knew I was going to die.

I felt something pull at my arm, towards the surface and I broke the waters glassy surface. Sean heaved me onto a rock and collapsed on top of me, panting. We lay there spluttering for air.

“Gav?” Sean whispered, “You alright?” I managed to nod. Sean rolled off of me,
“Wow, none of my other friends would have ever done that for me.”
“Friend?” Sean questioned,
“Yeah, we are friends, right?”
“I’ve …never had a friend before,” he sighed
“Really?” I sat up, “How come?” He sat up too and brought his knees to his chest. His face wasn’t dirty anymore, it was clean and pale, apart from a swollen black eye. It was only then I noticed how skinny he was; I could see his hip bones stick out and his jaw was pointy, unlike mine which was quite pudgy. Although his stomach was toned with muscle, I could still see the faint outlines of his ribs; it would be a miracle if you could see my ribs underneath my wealthy flab.

“My father died when I was seven, after he’d renovated your house. He couldn’t take the fact that he wasn’t able to provide for me, my brother and my mother, we were living on practically nothing, and that got to him. So one night he took some rope, went out back and hung himself.” I gasped, “After that,” Sean continued, “We all had to work, so I never went to school much, I dropped out when I was sixteen and I work as much as I can be bothered. So really, I never had friends at school; even before my father died I was just the stupid little poor kid who everyone made fun of,”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, squeezing his shoulder in comfort,
“Its ok,” he sighed, “it was a long time ago now.” We sat in silence on the rocks watching the sun slowly roll down the sky, making the sea glitter with an orange tinge.

I saw Sean sigh happily, it was as if he was lost in his own world. It was strange, after only knowing him for a short while, I could almost feel the pain he’d experienced and while he watched the sunset, he seemed to escape it all.

The sunset stretched across the horizon before the orange glow descended into the sea and darkness enveloped the sky.
“I guess I should go,” I said quietly, Sean nodded in agreement,
“I guess your mam will be wondering where the hell you are,” he helped me up and we began to scale the rocks. I hoisted myself over the top and began to put my trousers on over my soaked underwear, Sean threw my shirt at me as he pulled on his trousers and shoes.

We walked in silence back to the wall,
“Goodbye Gavin,” he smiled at me and began to walk away,
“Wait!” I called after him, he turned, “Will I ever see you again?”
“Of course,” he paused, “friend,” he blushed slightly at the word and, with a smile on his face, walked away from my house.