Winter Nights

January 16th,

And here we go off again once more; not certain where this time; but we’ll see when I get there. It feels like it’s getting colder here; but hopefully I can find a hotel to stay in. I was thinking earlier about the times when I was younger; when I loved to play in the snow with mom and we’d be out there for hour’s just making snowmen and laughing and enjoying life and everything. It hurts that she’s gone…

The wait for the bus was long, but after sometime, it had finally arrived and I made my way to the back and placed my belongings next to me. I sat down and watched everyone pile onto the bus, I noticed the mysterious boy get on and sit near the middle. He glanced over at me smiling again before sitting down and pulling out a sketchpad and started doodling in it.

I felt intrigued and part of me wanted to go and talk to him, but I was feeling shy and didn’t want to disturb him. I just stuck to myself and played on my phone and glanced out the window; my hand brushing against it to clear it from the fog that had formed.

I observed the snowflakes fall to the ground and leave behind a blanket of frosty snow behind, winter was currently not my favorite of the seasons but I did enjoy watching the ground sparkle with the snow.

I reflected back to High School and resented that most of it consisted of hell and torture, I’m not even sure how I made it out of there alive. I had like maybe two or three good friends that I don’t even talk to anymore; I spent most of my lunch hours in detentions for skipping classes. I had really good grades, just no desire to put effort into caring about my studies. I tried my best to get through it but with everything going on at home at the time I found difficulty in staying focused. With my mother suffering with cancer the past 6 years and my dad drinking himself into near comas almost every night it wasn’t easy.

I kept glancing up at the boy sitting in the middle rows; he had put down his sketchpad and was now playing some game on his phone. His phone rang and he looked at the name of the caller and declined the call, it was from someone named ‘Julie’ I just assumed that it was maybe a girlfriend he was having difficulties with or it was an ex or something like that. His phone rang and this time he answered it with annoyance in his voice.

“Stop calling me, I told you it’s over!” I heard him slur into the phone hanging it up right afterwards. He turned around and seen me watching him and I pretended I wasn’t looking at him and glanced down at my phone the second I met his gaze.

The bus finally made its way into White-bridge and pulled up into the parking lot of the bus station. I got my stuff together and departed from the bus and onto the snowy winter floor.

I glanced around and smiled to myself with the adventure of being by myself before me; I had reached my destination but wasn’t sure where to head to next. I walked inside the station and sat on a bench and pulled out my phone and looked for a place to stay for the night. There were a few hotels near me as well as shopping centers and everything else; I was also a little bit hungry as well.

I felt a slight tap on my shoulder and spun around to see the boy from the bus standing there with my wallet in his hand; he had pulled down his hoodie and replaced it with a grey beanie. He had a smirk on his face as he looked at me with such familiarity once again.

He made a stride towards me before he at last spoke, "I think you dropped your wallet."

“Oh, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

We stood there in an awkward silence for a moment before I had turned to leave, but he reached out placing his cold hands into mine and spinning me back around to face him.

“Don’t go, I’m Kaleb; and you look lost.”

“I’m not lost; I just don’t know where to go.” I confided. He smirked and led me away from the bus station and we walked in silence for a while; not the awkward type of silence but the right kind of silence.

“Why have you run away?” He asked suddenly.

I was taken aback by his question and just glanced at my feet. “I needed to.”

He didn’t say anything about my answer; he just went off into his own reasons for taking off and telling me a little bit about where he was from.

I listened intently to his story and eyed his features and couldn’t shake the feeling off that I had known him from somewhere. It was driving me insane.

“What about you, you haven’t answered my question.” He snickered moving slightly closer to me.

“I already told you, I needed to.”

“That doesn’t say much; enlighten me. Unless of course; you don’t feel like telling a complete stranger about yourself.” He insisted as we walked up to a small coffee shop, he opened the door for me and we made our way inside.

After we ordered our drinks we sat down at one of the booths and I began to tell him all about the passing of my mother and everything else that went on after that.

He listened just as intently as I listened to his story, and after I was finished he reached across the table and held my hand in his for a moment.
“Well guess what, you don’t have to be alone anymore. You’re stuck with me now.” He smirked.

“I just met you though.”

“That’s the best part.”