Evan’s parents had moved to this town because his grandfather whom he was named after was dying. It was something slow and lingering, Evan did not know the particulars. All Evan knew was his world, his friends, his life was over.
His spirits rose when he found the tree house in the backyard. It was a place he could be safe from sickness and tears. A place where he could contact his far away friends. Soon his comfort turned to pain as his soul longed to be far from where he was. He missed the comfort of his old life, the companionship and comradery. He missed Jack coming over and then heading out to the park, or Jessica inviting him over for a swim in her pool. Watching Darrin’s birthday party via streaming live cam wasn’t the same as being there for it and tasting the cake. He found himself more and more often staring out the tree house windows in silence than seeking solace in pixels and nanobytes. The first day at a new school, rarely goes well. For Evan it went even worse than most. He asked for directions to the office, but was directed to a distant building in the rear of the school. He did not find the office to get his schedule til after second had already started. He could not find his way around school anywhere. He was pushed, made fun of, and yelled at. The bell for Fourth rang as Evan entered the middle stairwell. Evan stared so intently at the schedule trying to figure out where he was supposed to go he never noticed the other guy who he almost bumped into. “You need help? I’m Jeff.” the other student held his hand out. Evan glanced up, remembering the help he got earlier. “No thanks, I’ve got it.” Jeff peered over and glanced at his schedule, “Mrs. Arden. You’ll like her, she’s married to the party rental guy. Every end of the year she throws a party for all her students on the football field. She’s up the stairs and three doors down on the left.” Evan couldn’t help but be taken in a little by Jeff’s smile and seemingly genuine good nature. Three doors down on the left was indeed Mrs. Arden, Evan turned back to the stairwell. Jeff grinned and held his thumb up, then walked back down the stairs. The second week of school was much easier for Evan. He knew the basics of how to get around in the hallways. The work was much harder in this school than his last school. During class the teacher had his full attention. Before one class he was often still writing notes from memory into his notebook, he spent most of his time playing catch up. He did not notice the other students around him. He did not hear their gossip. He only had enough focus to catch up to the class. After school he climbed into the tree house, and opened his books. His friends slowly faded into a small distracting vibration a few feet away. Til one day Evan looked up from his homework and noticed he was alone. It was not the kind of Alone he was used to, it was a quiet peace. He was satisfied with himself, his work, and his life. His Grandfather had been in stable condition for weeks now and it didn’t look like it would change. The whole family was at rest. Evan walked down the hallway towards History when he caught sight of Jeff. He rushed and caught up to him, “Hey!” Jeff turned and smiled, “Hey!” “Where you been at? I was wondering if you want to hang out sometime.” Evan walked briskly trying to keep up while avoiding other students. “Sure.” Jeff turned down the left hallway as Even struggled to keep up. “How about your house? Where you’re staying.” “Yeah.” Evan was beginning to loose his upstream staying power. “After school.” “I’ll meet you out front.” Jeff hollered back at him. His waving hand was all that was visible waving briskly above the oncoming crowd. After school Jeff waited patiently. Evan appeared ten minutes later, his backpack heavy laden. Jeff couldn’t hold back his snickering. “I’m not as smart you, a’ight?” Evan quipped. “I can help.” Jeff said sympathetically. “There’s nothing they teach at this school that I don’t already know.” The two walked to Evan’s Grandparents house, and climbed up the ladder into the tree house. Once up there Jeff scooted aside, as he’d done a million times before. Without even thinking he reached over for the old suitcase full of books, only it wasn’t there. “There used to be a suitcase full of books.” he said almost under his breath. “What?” Evan said looking over at him. “There should be like a suitcase of books or something up here to put over the door so no one can come up.” “I’d never thought of that.” Evan shrugged. “Your backpack would work.” Evan tossed Jeff a dirty look. “So what do you do up here?” Jeff looked around the empty room. “I used to talk to my friends, but now I just do homework.” Evan began pulling his school stuff out. “It’s nice up here. We should have a camp out one weekend, and stay up here.” Jeff glanced out the window towards Evan’s granddad’s bedroom. “We could have sleeping bags, and bring up food and drinks and stuff.” Jeff turned to Evan who was looking around the vacant room as he imagined it while Jeff spoke. “You ever read any comic books? You know, Graphic novels?”, Jeff tried to bring Evan back to reality. “No, I never saw one.” Evan set his book down. “I bet your Grandad has some stored in the attic somewhere. Mine did before he died. My uncle sold them and made a fortune. I read them before they got sold.” Jeff looked back at the window. “Really?” Evan stood up. “I’m gonna go ask.” “Not right now!” Jeff stood up and interrupted him. “We gotta do homework, right?” Do it later, after dinner or something when you have time. I have to go home soon.” “A’ight.” Evan complained and sat back down.Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141