The truck parked in the neck of a forest, I have no idea where. Nour opened the back of the truck and just said, “Get out you too, we’re camping for tonight,”
As I jumped down into the mushy wet ground, it felt like I was stepping into some vegetable soup, or even worse puke, I looked up and noticed it was raining. I looked at Nour, who was still in their UPS uniform, “Why do we have to camp? It’s raining,”
“Well it’s either you sleep in the truck or out here,” They responded,
“Why not a hotel?” I asked, probably lifting up an eyebrow, or making some uncomfortable face because they looked at me like they wanted to take a bite out of my words.
“For the same reason I told you that you can’t sit in the front with me, if we walk in with a guy covered in all white clothes people are going to be at least a little suspicious,” They reasoned, looking me up and down like I was some canvas, “Don’t you think your asylum has already reported you missing?” For some reason I felt a piece of venom in their voice,
“Why can’t we just buy some new clothes?!” I asked, this whole situation was fucking stupid, I felt like the tree roots around me where going to sprout up and wrap around my leg.
“With what money?” Was all Nour responded with, I closed my eyes in resistance, then spread my hands wide, and then clenched them into fists.
“So the problem was never my clothes to begin with!” I yelled, why was it that Nour seemed either to not care, and treat me like dirt on their clothes, or always make me feel like it was my fault all of a sudden?
“Yeah,” Was all they said, shrugging me off, and walking past me closer to the truck, I turned around, but said nothing.
“Catcoot!” Nour yelled into the truck, “Come out!” They said softly, drawing out their Us,
Rouhi came prancing out of the truck with a big leap into Nour’s arms, even though they weren’t even open to begin with, I was surprised, Nour reacted in time to even catch him. Nour spun him around and then placed him lightly on the ground, a smile flashing on both their faces.
“Aren’t you happy to get out of that box?” Nour asked with a smirk, and a suggestive eyebrow,
Rouhi didn’t even say anything, but jumped at my leg and wrapped his arms and little legs around it. I squinted my eyes hard at him, and lifted up my leg and tried wiggling him off.
“Let’s play another game, Ponyboy!” He screamed, digging his nails into my leg,
“Owwwww!” I let out, looking up at Nour with tightened eyebrows, then looking back down at Rouhi,
“Okay just get off my leg,” My voice was a little too high pitch for my liking, and I drawled on my Gs for too long,
“Okay!” He said scrunching his nose, and looking up at me, with what felt like an enormously large smile that was wider than a football field. I felt like I could run on his smile for months and still not reach its touch down point, or whatever it’s called in football. I wondered if anyone ever looked at mine the same way.
He plopped off my leg as if he was connected to it by suction cups that lined over his body, and let his hair and clothes get dirty in the muddy ground.
For the first time since getting out of that stuffy truck I looked up and let myself absorb my surroundings. I couldn’t tell if it was night or day, there was darkness but I also felt like I could see everything clearly. Dark almost black clouds lingered over us, making the sky look almost like a dark purple. There must be some light behind those clouds, I thought.
We were surrounded by long, thick, pine trees that seemed to go up for hundreds of feet, but still couldn’t reach up far enough to cover the sky, letting the rain still tremble into our encampment. The ground was just a mixture of mud and grass.
I looked towards Nour, “Isn’t it not good to play in the rain?”
Nour shrugged, taking their UPS cap off, “I’m not your momma,” They smiled,
I looked down at Rouhi again, he was on his feet now, “LETS GOOOOO!” He screamed, grabbing onto my hand and pulling it as he stood in place, I looked up again, rubbing my free hand against my face. I could feel the rain soak through my clothes, pour off my fingers, and fill into my socks.
I looked down at Rouhi, staring at him for a couple of seconds, than squatting down to look into his eyes, “Okay what do you want to play,”
“YAYYYY!” He screamed, his eyes closing in excitement, then quickly letting go off me and running off in the opposite direction of our UPS truck,
“Let’s play tag!” He screamed, jumping off the ground towards a tree, then kicking off that said tree with his legs, then kicking off an adjacent tree back onto that tree, and so on and so forth till he was several feet up in the air. Then turning straight in the direction he originally ran, he started jumping forward from tree to tree grabbing onto branches almost like he was Tarzan.
I looked back at Nour, bending my forearms upwards, and all they did was, once again, shrug.
I ran after him, sinking my white socks deeper in the mud with every step, I screamed, “I can’t jump that high!” Hoping that he would hear me, but all I got in return was laughter.
“I can’t climb trees!” I rephrased, screaming even louder this time,
All he said was, “Come catch me!”
I sighed, and just kept running. It went on like this, in relative silence, minus Rouhi’s insistent periodic laughter, for about 10 minutes.
“Yo just come down! I won’t be able to catch you while you’re all the way up there!”
“Just come up!” He screamed back,
“I can’t!” I screamed,
“Just try!” He screamed, “You haven’t run out of breath yet, have you?”
I looked down at the ground, the ground had become sucked into a shadow, as if a blanket of darkness loomed over it. I took another sigh, and I realized that he was right. I hadn’t run out of breath yet, even though I had been running this long. So I did what he did.
I jumped from tree to tree, back and forth, right and left, until I got up to where he was, and swung after him. I was sure there were a bunch of little pringles of wood stuck in my socks, and I hated the way bark scratched around my palm as my fingers grasped around it. It felt like what I imagined a snake would feel like if you left it out in the sun for too long, but my heart was racing.
I think I smiled that day, I could see him running away, swinging from tree to tree, but I was catching up.
“You’re slowing down!” I yelled, after him,
“You’re going to do it soon!” I remember hoping I didn’t sound like a creep,
The whole time though, he grew silent, until finally I caught him. Tackling him off the tree he had just grabbed onto. We fell, tumbling to the ground.
“Fuck!”
“Fuck!”
“Fuck!”
“Fuck!”
But as soon as I thought we were about to die I blinked, and suddenly Nour was holding us by the back of our shirt collars, their feet planted calmly in the ground.
“AHHHHHHHhhhhh” My scream slowly winded into a low whisper,
I made eye contact with Nour, “Uh, thanks,” They plopped us both on the ground,
Nour looked at Rouhi, “It’s time for us to go to sleep,” Nour said, something about them felt kind of tight, but I don’t know why, their arms were hand over their chest, and their lips were squeezing against each other.
Rouhi looked up at me, with pleading eyes, “Can we play again soon Ponyboy,” I stared back into his spiral eyes,
“Sure,” I said, with a smile,
“Let’s kill Mustafa!” The little boy screamed,
I closed my eyes tightly, it was a little awkward when he said it,
“Is that a game?” I asked, opening my eyes,
“Rouhi, it’s time to go to bed,” Nour interjected, and Rouhi didn’t speak for the rest of the night,
I looked up at Nour,
“You’re gonna sleep out in the rain?” I asked,
“Why not,” They responded,
“Do you have a sleeping bag for me?” I asked,
“No,” They responded, and both Nour and Rouhi slept in their separate sleeping bags,
I stared for a while, looking specifically at Rouhi. I wondered if I could ask him to let me sleep with him, but then I remembered the rain trailing down my face, then turned towards the truck, but looked back again, then looked towards the truck again, and inevitably walked back into it. Finding a corner to cuddle up in. The metal was so cold, I was shaking, but I didn’t think it would be much better out there. But as I closed my eyes, I remember a thought coming to my mind for the first time ever, a thought that I would soon discard, but trails back into my brain ever so slightly: Is excitement the murderer of love?
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Table of Contents:
The Junction Journal 