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CONRAD
JEER simply hated his life, the only things that made it worthwhile, was his
two friends that sat on each of his sides, Susan Andrews, and Jason Cleer. Susan
was sixteen, one year older than Conrad, and Jason was Conrad’s age, fifteen.
They sat behind Susan’s two story apartment on a hill. Earlier they had climbed
up the hill, and sat on the very top and rolled down the hill many times. They
had just recently stopped because, Susan pointed out the Sun was just about to
set, and they never missed this. It was about 9:00pm Farowcha time, and they sat
waiting for the sun to go down.
While he waited he thought of this beautiful
place, Farowcha. He loved Farowcha, he had never been anywhere like it, the air
was so clean, and the lovely Transparent sea glistened under the setting sun.
He could hear the birds chirping, and the wind whistling. The grass was so
green, and felt so soft under his hands, this place felt so peaceful, and
looked so beautiful. He felt that he did not fit in this beautiful place,
unlike Susan. He turned to look at her, she was beautiful her eyes where a
bright green, and she had short brown hair. Her smile made him smile, and just
being around her filled him with joy. She was born in Farowcha, and you could
tell, she fit here perfectly, and so did Jason.
He would not call Jason beautiful, but he did
have the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen in his life. They made Susan’s
look dull, they where a mixture of green, orange, brown, grey, and blue. Almost
hazel, but not quite. He did not think they had a name for his type of eyes.
Jason had dark blonde hair that was always thrown about messily. Conrad had dull brown eyes, that Susan
claimed where pretty, and an ugly face, according to many peers, but Susan
claimed he was beautiful. He also had long shaggy brown hair that got in his
face all the time, he felt even his hair was ugly, he felt like it was a sickly
brown, and not a healthy one like Susan.
“Conrad? Are you okay?” she asked with a laugh. Conrad
realized all this time he was staring at Susan.
“Oh yes, sor-sorry. I was just thinking.” He hated himself
for stuttering when he was nervous, it made him feel like a fool. He felt his
cheeks turned warm, and realized he must be blushing, so he looked away from
her, and looked at the sun.
“No problem Conrad, you know I mean nothing by it,” he could
hear the playful tone in her voice, and he chuckled a little, shrugging it off
as nothing serious. He looked at Jason and he had another bruise on his face
which was curious, because he did not
remember seeing it yesterday, he did not ask him about it because the
right time never came up, and before he could close his mouth he said,
“How did you get that bruise on your face Jason?” he asked in
such an innocent way you had to answer him. Jason looked at him with his
piercing eyes which now where blue, and green, and smiled.
“I was helping my dad with some chores, and he called me, and
I turned so quickly that I hit the broom in my hand, right in my face,” he
smiled a little, and looked back at the Transparent Sea.
“That’s a pretty big mark, for a broom,” Conrad insisted.
Then Jason stood up and walked down the hill, back home.
“Great…” Susan said under her breath. Conrad always messed up
with Jason, somehow he managed to say things that offended him, and without a
word he would get up and leave. He did not understand Jason, even though he was
his close friend.
“I am sorry I did not mean anything by it, I do not
understand why he had to go and take off like how he did,” Conrad said to
Susan.
“Earlier today Jason told me his dad was getting married to
Rebecca Norshawitz.”
“No way, not that
horrid old woman! That’s absurd, when I heard his dad was dating her I did not
think it possible they would, I mean, that’s terrible!” Conrad felt suddenly
horrible, because he realized what he said to set him off, and had a sudden
realization and said to Susan,
“Oh I get it, maybe when Jason hit himself in
the head with the broom, his step-mom got mad at him, and now he’s just mad.
That would explain why he was so sad today, and did not participate in our
games,”
“Yes that is exactly what crossed through my
mind, just be careful with what you say to him next time you see him, things
are tough for him now. I mean, he was just starting to heal from his mom’s
disappearance 5 years ago, and then Rebecca starts dating his dad. I mean she
wants to replace his mom….I guess you would not understand how it is to lose a
parent,” when Susan said this she got real sad and looked at the sun setting
into The Transparent Sea.
“No your w-….Your
right,” Susan looked at Conrad oddly when he said this, and then smiled a
little bit, pitying him for his lack of knowledge, probably.
“I miss my mom terribly,”
She then scooted closer to him, and began to
cry on his shoulder. He was a little shocked at Susan turning to him for
comfort. He did not know exactly what he should do, he then rubbed her back,
and told her not to cry, and then she began to shake and cry more. He hated to
see her cry; he did not know what he could do to make her stop crying. He did
not know how to comfort someone. She clung to him crying, and slowly she
stopped. Conrad felt horrible inside,
but he could not let her see his pain, a tear hung from one of her eyes and
fell on his hand. Her breath came in short breathes, he could not cry with her,
even though he wanted to, but crying would open a piece of him he was not ready
to share. She then completely stopped and, she then sat upright and stared up
at the Transparent Sea
They
watched the sun hit the Transparent Sea for just one second, the moment it hits
the sea, the whole sea illuminates, and then the water turns clear and you can
see all the way to the sea floor, but only for about one minute. Conrad took
out his Camera and snapped a quick picture, like he always does every sunrise.
They stayed on the hill, only a few more minutes when Susan said,
“We should go and look for Jason, I feel
terrible that he missed The Transparent Sea light up,” Conrad nodded his head,
and then they gathered there things and headed down the hill. Going down the
hill was always a task, it was so very steep, and that is why they normally
rolled down. It was fun and quick, but Susan, and Conrad where not in the mood
for rolling down hills, so they walked down the hill. The night sky was lit
with beautiful stars, and the sky was dark blue at the very top, and at the
very bottom orange. Soon they starting running down the hill, and Susan grabbed
his hand as they ran down. He did not immediately hold hers, instead he shook
her off rather rudely it seemed, but he did not mean it. Before he knew it
Susan lost balance and tumbled down the hill, in his surprise he tripped and
rolled down too.
Dirt filled his mouth along with grass, and by
time he reached the bottom he felt all bruised, but no broken bones thankfully.
“Susan
are you okay?” Conrad asked.
“A little bruised
thanks to you, but other than that I am good,” she teased. Conrad’s face turned
pale, the idea of him inflicting physical pain to someone or being responsible
stop him dead in his tracks.
“Are you okay you turned super pale, I was just joking it was
my bad. I was just being silly, hopefully no hard feeling,” she asked in
between a laugh.
“Oh, of course not, I am sorry. To change the subject where
do you think we should start looking for Jason?” Conrad realized he had to stop
taking things so serious with Susan she did not mean anything by what she said,
she was merely playful. Now that he came to think of it he could not see how
Susan could cause anyone pain, let alone blame someone seriously for her
faults.
“Well if we know
Jason, and we do, that would mean he should be in…” she smiled at him and
together they said,
“Faro Forest!”
“Correct! That’s everyone’s favorite getaway besides this
hill,” she said as she pointed towards the hill.
They headed towards Faro Forest, and the walk
was rather awkward. Conrad had never really been alone with Susan; he had
always been accompanied by Jason. He sort of liked how it was just him and her,
even if they did not say a word to each other, as Conrad was just getting
comfortable with the silence, Susan broke it,
“Do you remember when we first met?”
Conrad hated that
day, not the meeting Susan bit, it was the best part of that day. It was just how
they had met. It was pitiful on his part he had been shriveled up in a corner
crying his heart out because he had been bullied.
“Yes, I do. You saved me from those bullies, my knight in
shining armor,” he laughed at that, he imagined Susan in Shining armor coming
to his rescue, which is the boys part. Yet hadn’t she always been the
adventurous one. She was brave, did not have a fear in the world that he knew
of, she never messed up in her speech, and was not afraid to start a
conversation.
“You know that was one
of the happiest days of my life, meeting you,” she smiled at him in the
friendliest possible way that Conrad assumed she meant as a friend. The idea of
a beautiful girl liking an ugly boy such as himself was quite preposterous in
his mind.
“You know I’ve wanted to tell you something,” she smiled a
little nervously. Conrad thought he knew where this might be heading; he
figured she might tell him that he was clumsy, or ugly, or pitiful, and
irregular. He did not wish to hear that, looking around for a distraction he
realized they arrived in Faro forest.
“Wow!
We already arrived in Faro Forest, Jason must be around here somewhere!” hoping
this would distract Susan from what she was going to say, but she insisted.
“That is good, I wanted to tell you that-“she was cut off by
Conrad
“Look I see Jason! Maybe we should creep behind him and scare
him.” Conrad had no intention of scaring anyone, but he figured, if Susan would
be quiet until they reached Jason she would forget what she was going to tell
him.
“Wow that’s a great idea, I would not think of you to come up
with a great idea like that,” Susan winked at him, and he felt a jab, he was
deceiving her so she would be quiet, and she was following his lead. He wanted
to call it off but he felt as if he mouth was tapped shut.
As they walked closer
they could see Jason staring up at the moon, and his mouth was moving.
“Conrad lets be real quiet I want to hear what he’s saying,”
Conrad was a little nervous by their sneaking and felt terribly guilty. They
hid behind a huge tree right behind Jason, they where a breath away.
