The Resistance

POV Frank

Okay, I was a little nervous.

Just a little.

I could put the sweating down to the heat; it’s so hot in here. That’s a good excuse… I’m inside the house, the sun is just beginning to go down over the desert. I can’t stop thinking about later… mine and Party’s date… I’m supposed to meet him outside the house before the sun goes down.

I lie back on my bed and look up… at the planks of wood on the upper bunk. This would have been romantic, looking up, lying on the bed, thinking about the date… if it wasn’t for the heat, the smell of shit, the flies, the crap everywhere, oh, and the fact that you could hear y heart hammering a mile off.

Like I said, romantic.

Oh god, I feel like I’m going to be sick. This is unlike me! I swallowed hard.

Wait, there’s footsteps coming down the corridor. I turned over onto my side, and was about to pull the duvet up but thought better of it; I’d literally faint in this weather. Maya and Connor burst into the room; well, Maya burst in, Connor followed silently behind.

‘Urgh, so I’m sick of her to be honest, she’s always like “Party, Party, oh please-“’
‘Shut up Maya, Ghoul is sleeping!” Connors voice wasn’t loud, but powerful, and shut Maya up straight away.

‘Sorry!’ I heard a scuffling sound, like a mouse seeing an owl and running for cover. I assumed it was Maya. ‘I didn’t see him. I was just saying how she fusses over Party like he is hers.’

‘Sometimes I think people forget what he’s been through… He isn’t looking for love, not now.’ Connor said softly.

What? What has Party been though? I assumed his upbringing was bad, but so was everyone’s here. He still has his family, his brother, his dad… Everyone else here has no one. That’s why they’re obsessed with the idea of ‘love’; they just want to feel needed and not as alone as they really are.
‘Yeah I guess. Poor guy. He could do with someo-‘

‘We all could.’ Connor interrupted Maya, and I was taken aback by the steel in his voice. I wondered what had happened to Connor, what his story is. He seems like an alright guy, but I would bet anything that he has something he’s hiding. He is strong, physically and mentally, but I had a hunch that was an act.

‘I think Party has his eye on Ghoul though….’I stiffened at the sound of my own name. I heard a quiet ‘shh’ from Connor and a small ‘what?’ from Maya, then they went silent.

I thought that was the end of the conversation, until Maya continued.

‘So, what do you think will happen?’

‘I don’t know Maya, I’m not a freaking physic. If they want to, they will. End of.’

Maya never responded, and I lay there all day. I’m not sure what time they both left, but it was a good few hours after they last spoke. I couldn’t stop repeating Connors words inside my head.

‘Sometimes I think people forget what he’s been through… He isn’t looking for love, not now.’

What the fuck does that mean? Obviously he’s been through a lot. But ‘he isn’t looking for love, not now’? Was he in love? Was his love taken by BL/ind? Is it just that he isn’t looking for anyone because he doesn’t want to, because his dad won’t let him, what is it?

I lay there for hours.

Should I ask Party? I could do… I mean, we’re going on a date for Christ’s sake. Would that make me

look insecure, like I need assuring that it won’t happen again?

I didn’t want to just ask him for his secrets on our first date though, Jeez. I guess I’d learn in my own time, depending on how tonight went. Oh God, I was getting sweaty thinking about tonight again.

I was getting sick of these four walls, but couldn’t go outside. There would be... people. Urgh. I peered out the window, and I could hear Maya and some other girls giggling over something on the

steps. Some of their words drifted up to me, as they were underneath me, under the porch.
‘Apparently… Party going…’ I couldn’t hear their words because of the wind, fuck. I looked directly down beneath my window, where the porch was. It looked sturdy, with a few broken slats on the side, but I knew from sitting there previously that there was sturdy wood holding it up. I could make it.

I sat on the window ledge, and slid my legs down the wall until my feet reached the porch. I knelt down on my knees to steady myself, and sat down.

I could hear them a lot clearer now I was above them. One of the girls was talking, not Maya.

‘Yeah, last night Party came back really late, like, really late.’ She stopped for all the girls to giggle. Fucks sake. ‘Then Ghoul and Jet came back a lot later, like, I don’t know where from.’

‘OMG‼ I wonder what they were, like, doing!’ More giggling.

‘Guys, Party will call us in a minute, lets go.’ That was Maya’s voice now, but she didn’t sound giggly like the other girls. What was eating at her? The other girls murmured something in agreeance, and they walked around the side of the house towards the back.

I like it up here. No one could see me unless they were actively looking for me.

But no one would do that.