Those Worse Off Than You

He was there in ten minutes, and I sat quietly in the passenger's seat, looking out the window as if I would see Ace at any moment. As if.

I opened the door before the car had even stopped when the school came into view. I jumped out, waving to my father as he told me to be careful and to be home by nine o'clock.

It was already beginning to get dark; the sky was turning different shades of pink and orange. I looked around, trying to find the places Ace was most likely to go to from here.

Off in the distance, on a hill down the road, sat the cemetery. The scene reminded me of a scene from a horror film; where the atmosphere surrounding it was dark and black, and it faded away as it streched outward.

I knew Ace was probably there. He wouldn't have gone back to the Care Center. As much as I knew that he was probably there; something was telling me to stay away; as if some demonic force was waiting in the eerie shadows.

But I needed to find him. If I didn't, he would get in trouble again. So I slowly dragged my feet down the sidewalk, as if they were baring chains.

I hoped Ace would magically appear beside me, or pop out of an alley, just so I wouldn't have to go to the cemetary. But, that was a silly thought.

Instead, I gathered my courage together with one deep breath, and pushed open the rusting gate and headed up the path past David's grave toward's Ace's mother's.

But I stopped. I had to. I looked down at David's grave, and a feeling of guilt developed deep inside of me; I hadn't been here for a while. It would seem almost as if I had forgotten about him. But that was impossible. We had grown up together; David was my best friend...

I suddenly remembered why I was there and continued down the path. I would visit David after I found Ace...