PROLOGUE
The Boy Who Stays Silent"Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you."
~Carl Jung
The late afternoon sun passes through the corridor that only mere minutes ago was full of students that looked like a flood of blue and white gushing out the classroom doors once the school chimes have sounded the end of the day.
In the far end of that now empty corridor stood a tall slender boy wearing the same blue and white; his skin fair, a thick head of black hair, and dark almond-shaped eyes. And his gaze, fixed somewhere past the silent place he now occupies. He shifts his weight between his legs as he waits patiently. With his white mobile phone in one hand, the tapping of his fingers on its backside seem to follow the muffled beating of drums from not so far away.
"Hey! You're still here?" Yelled another boy from the far end of the hall.
The tall boy, previously lost in his thoughts is called to attention. He turns and replies, "Yeah. I was waiting for you." The tall boy grabs two black schoolbags that rested on the floor near where he stood and handed one of them to the other boy who just made his way to where he stood. "You didn't get back in time for the dismissal chimes. Your bag was still on your chair so I figured to just wait for you."
"Sorry about that. I don't know how I lost track of the time." Says the other boy as he took his schoolbag. He had a smile that seemed to run from ear to ear that lit up his face. His skin was of pale rusty ochre as the late afternoon sun hit it. "Let's go," the other boy urged and the tall boy followed suit.
"So where were you?" The tall boy asked as they made their way to the other end of the hallway.
The other boy takes a breath before he answers, "Just talking to someone I haven't seen much of lately."
"I see." The tall boy hangs his head low, surrendering to his sudden realization as his steps slow down a bit.
"What time did we say practice starts?" The other boy asks while turning his head towards his companion who is now a step and a half behind.
"Oh!" the tall boy exclaims as if shaken off from another plane of thought matched by his current pace, "We posted 3:40 PM assembly time, 4:00 PM for warm-up, practice without drums from 4:30 to 5:30, And practice with drums after that until 7:00 PM. Two of our drummers have make-up exams have excused themselves for the first half of practice."
"That was specific." the other boy replies with a hint of sarcasm as he tries hard to keep a straight face. But seeing as he could not help himself, he let out a few chuckles.
Feeling a little irritated, the tall boy stops and asks him, "What's so funny about that?"
"Nothing. It was quite a detailed answer, that's all." The other boy replies in his defense.
"I just want this project to go well for you -I mean us- the club, I mean." He stutters towards the end of his sentence while the other boy tilts his head signaling the tall boy to keep walking. Whence they reached the end of hallway, they made their way down the steps that descended to the quadrangle with only the sound of their black school shoes audible as their heels hit them.
By the time they hit the final step, the other boy places his hand on the tall boy's shoulder and squeezes it.
"Thanks. You always watch out for me."
With the sun now glowing fiery orange, the other boy's all too familiar smile stops him at his tracks after those words he just heard.
"What would you do without me?" The tall boy quips and smiles back.
"I don't know. Probably get the new iPad we saw and download an app to remind me of my schedule." The other boy tauntingly replies.
"Good luck with that then." Says the tall boy with a sigh. He immediately takes faster strides intending to leave the other boy at the edge of the steps.
"Oh, come on! Wait up, Pete!" with a voice now louder, pleading for his friend to slow down as he followed.
"We'll be late, Earn. It's almost 4:00 PM. Almost time for warm-ups." With each word the tall boy took faster strides to where he needed to be.
The Tall Boy could have stopped. He could have chosen to slow down so that the other boy could catch up. He could have chosen to wait for him -as he always does. Yet this time...
This time won't be one of them.
"Run after me for once." Whispered the tall boy to himself.
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