Alone at Six

It wasn't hard to find the track once I started looking. Just past the tennis courts were sets of bleachers, giant lights like you would but on a football field only with no goal post, and stacks of what I assumed to be hurtles that no one had bothered to put away.
tackles

But it was a bit harder to find Cole. The bleachers were empty of everything besides a few bits of trash floating around and a lost jacket.

She could have already left for all I know. Ms.Garrison did say she saw her a while ago and there didn't seem to be any reason to be on the track. It was late, empty, and getting chilly. And there's also the possibility that she just hopped the fence and went across the street to the civic center or something along those lines.

But I kept looking anyway. I didn't know what else to do, the school was empty and if I tried to get in I had a feeling it would be locked. The only place other that I could think of looking was her house and that would only insure that she thought I was creepy.

Walking across the grass to look behind the bleachers on the other side, I heard a faint noise. A slightly melodic sound that almost seemed to form words. Looking around, though, I didn't see anything at all. I walked a little farther and as the noise got louder my eyes caught hold of a white figure placed in a patch of over grown grass.

My heart seemed to sink and jump at the same time. Moving closer, I saw her face was still beet red even though her tears had stopped, her arms were outstretched with something about the same size in each of them, a thin cord running up to her ears from one hand, her eyes closed, and her legs were twisted together in a way that made me imagine her pinned to a cross.

I shuttered and shook the last image from my mind, my chest jumping a bit. Not only did it scare and slightly disturb me, but it made me realize that I didn't know what religion Cole was.

Some people live by religion, it's the foundation to their....their.....to themselves. Unless of course you're atheist which I guess would have no foundation and be easily swayed if you're looking through the eyes of a christian. Because we all know how arrogant some of them can be. Which, I guess any religion has some arrogant people about it.

I mentally slapped myself, having the feeling that my subconscious was deliberately leading me away from the knowledge that I didn't know. I didn't really know all that much about Cole. I knew what I had amused and assumptions are for jackasses anyway, so I was basically an incorrect, ignorant jackass. Dandy.

Cole abruptly stopped singing and I froze. Her chest rose high then fell, feather slow as her eyelids fluttered, still shut. The rest of her lay perfectly still, not even the grass around her moved, like the scene was carved out of stone then painted perfectly enough to pick out the lighter spots of her hair the last remains of sun was hitting, make the subtle but definite transaction between her skin and lips, and outline the spot where her body ended underneath her over-sized shirt.

I took the chance and laid down across from her so my head was about a foot away from hers, my arms out and legs crossed, mimicking her. Not seconds later she started singing again.

"I want the rich boy
I want the rich boy
But the rich boy, he doesn't want me
I like the pretty girls
I like the pretty girls
But the pretty girls, they don't like me
Adapt, adapt, adapt
Nobody wants to be left in their past
Adapt, adapt, adapt, adapt
Nobody wants to be told how to act
Nobody wants to be held back
You could kill but
Just do what they ask
But I want the nice house
I want the nice house
But the nice houses don't cost too cheap.
Well I want the best god
Yeah, I want the biggest god
But those gods are so hard to believe
Adapt, adapt, adapt
Somebody has to keep waving the flag
Adapt, adapt, adapt, adapt, adapt
Somebody has to keep justice intact
Somebody has to get stabbed in the back
It's for a good cause
Now do what they ask"

I laid and listened for the moments of her song, trying to build up the courage that just kept tumbling back down. What was I suppose to say? It was all perfect in theory, in fairytale. I'd come and find her sobbing, pull her into my arms, she'd cry on me, I'd tell her it was okay, and everything would end fine, I'd be Cole's, I'd be happy, she'd be happy.

But I haven't read a fairytale in years and doubted that this would ever be anything close to one. She may be a princes, but I'm not a knight or a prince. My carriage was a cluttered buss and my court was made of crude, child-like adults. I didn't know how to save her from anything and there was no magic close to here. If this was a fairytale, it never made it to the shelf.

I sighed and closed my eyes, deciding to just relax and enjoy the fact that I was alone with Cole. Sure it's not exactly the type of alone that you would expect or want, but she was there, I could hear her voice, hear her breath, feel her next to me. And that was good enough for me.

"I am a good boy," She sang what I thought might be the last bit to her song "I am a good boy, I am a good boy, I am a good boy, I am a good boy"

I turned my head to look at her. There was no expression, like she was sleeping without dreaming, and the sun cast playful lines across her face. Lines that arched over her lips, jumped over her nose, and slid across her eyelids, leaving thin shadows of her eyelashes. I wanted to reach out and touch her, just distort the shining light, feel her skin. But that would be a bit too far and I have a feeling it would creep her out, too.

At that moment she sighed and turned her head towards me, the light sliding off of her face and shining from behind her, her eyes opening. She didn't smile. Only stared at me, her eyes gliding along my face, not saying a word. I didn't ether so the silence lingered. It wasn't one of those silences that said a lot, it said nothing. It was just quiet, blank, empty.

And I had a feeling that was exactly how she liked it.