Save Me, I'm Lost

It was a week before Tom could sneak out again. Sure, he was grounded, but that wasn't going to stop him from going out when his parents were gone. Besides, Samy Deluxe's new CD had just come out and Tom was dying to get it.

Though it was getting late, he knew his parents would be out for the night. He got a bite to eat and felt a terrible loneliness creep over him as he ate alone in a cafe. It's not that he wasn't capable of making friends, he was just naturally anti-social. Only if someone really took their time with him could he break out of his shell. That rarely happened.

So after eating he took the long way home, his heart beating faster than usual.

From a distance, he could hear that strange boy up in his tree of a home. He was singing. Tom hid in the brush where he was sure he wouldn't be seen and listened. The song was a lullaby, something his mother had always sung to him when he was a child. Hearing the boy sing it was almost haunting.

Doesn't he know any other songs? Tom thought to himself and then shook his head. It's not as if he's totally detatched from society.

Tom slowly crawled out of the brush and walked over to the tree, a cool breeze ruffling his baggy clothes. It was terribly dark out already and he couldn't see far up the tree, save for a light that the boy had in his makeshift home.

"Hello Tom!" came from behind him and Tom nearly jumped out of his skin.

He turned around and there was the boy, a smirk on his face. "How did you..?"

"Oh I saw you in the brush so I climbed down. You're so easy to scare," he giggled.

"No I'm not!"

The boy just continued to giggle.

There was an awkward silence for a moment and Tom suddenly felt like he shouldn't have come back to see the boy. What was his business there anyway?

"I'm glad you came back," the boy said. "I was thinking you'd have come back sooner."

"Well.. I got grounded actually. My parents are out tonight so I snuck out," Tom explained.

"Won't you get in trouble for that?"

Tom shrugged. "Not if they don't know about it."

"What have you got there?" he said as he looked down at the bag Tom was carrying.

Another breeze traveled across the rusty park and the boy shivered. What does he do for warmth? Tom wondered, worrying.

"A CD. Samy Deluxe."

"Ah," the boy fidgeted.

"Do you like him? He's my favorite artist."

The boy smiled. "I listen to what's on the radio, really. Whatever's popular."

"Oh well.. he's not that popular, but you might have heard of him," Tom explained, feeling awkward again. What more was there to say?

"I like that you came to visit me, Tom," he looked serious now. "It's nice to have a friend."

Tom didn't reply.

"I can call you a friend right?" the boy asked, a sadness in his eyes.

"Of course," Tom replied. He pulled out his cell. It was nine. He knew his parents wouldn't be home till morning but he wanted an excuse to leave. "Hey do you want to come over?"

"To your.. house?" the boy hadn't been invited to anyone's house in.. forever. He was hesitant.

"Yeah. My parents aren't home and we can just chill."

"I.. dunno."

Tom could sense that the boy was hesitant about going to someone's house. He realized that maybe being in a house would make him feel uncomfortable.

"I like not having boundaries," the boy laughed weakly. "It's not that I don't want to come over. It's just that I prefer being here, where nothing can hold me back, y'anno?"

Tom nodded.

"Well, it was nice seeing you Tom. But you should get back just in case your parents come home early," the boy said.

"Yeah.. it was nice seeing you too," Tom smiled and turned to leave.

"You'll come visit me again?" he asked.

Tom nodded. "Of course."

Walking home, Tom's mind was full of weird thoughts. "God, that was awkward," he said to himself and rubbed his eyes with his palms.

Tom got home around 9:30 and took a long shower. Upset about having school the next day and having to face teen society, he wasted valuable hours of sleep listening to his new CD and playing video games.

His parents got home around 11, proving the boy's prediction correct.