The Last of Them

a cold afternoon in Crestwood whe

ries about, no grand moment, no dramatic event. jus

It was the only place he could go to clear his mind, a place that felt his, eve

he heard

pockets of his oversized hoodie. Dev didn't know his name yet, but he recognized

before speaki

dded.

ripping the chains loosely. They rocked in silenc

inally asked, pushing the

aze on the dir

ll nod. "You co

d his head slightly, raising

. I just never talked to you t

ike he was being watched but there was n

o there too," Dev a

ol

ilence. Neither of the

ered toward the dark

your face?" he ask

he had forgotten it was there. "It's nothing."He quickly stoo

tered. "I don't want

hed as Cole walked away, his small

a feeling this wasn't the last

e was

ain, Again

ned over

wrong at home, they found

ce. Other times, they'd talk a

't need to. He saw the exhaustion in Cole's eyes, the way his s

d that feelin

t the park with a fresh cut on

e," he said. "I have

ated but t

's how i

uilt in Pixe

Cole started showing up

ifting on his feet. Dev's father barely a

tacks of video games and comics

t," Cole

, he was amazed. He slowly dro

in a dam

. "Welcome

up playing video games

nd arguing over who was better at them. When they weren't gaming, they would walk dow

comic for both of them to read. They'd sit at the

oes. Dev liked the

ones who lose more than th

feel real," De

arted staying over. Dev never asked about it. Just tossed

their friendship had becom

o theirselves as brothers. They were

noises. Dev had pieced it together, the drinking father, his dead mother, the house that didn't feel like a home. Cole m

distant. Cold. A man who believed affection was a weakness and

hey understood each other

ecame something the

ained their safe pl

d always go there. Always sit on the same swing

hey We

new your business but large enough that no one cared t

e contact, and how to blend into the background. But none of that mattered when he was home. The walls of his father's ho

faded ceiling, the sound as the ceiling fan mo

t up, his muscles tensing. A moment later, ano

reetlamp barely illuminated Cole's face, but Dev knew his best friend well

lled up, voice bare

acket, and made his way out of the house q

ady walking. Dev fell into step beside h

dad

answer. He d

. The old park at the edge of town had become their sanctuary, a place where

nally exhaled. "I had to get out," he muttere

at whatever Cole wasn't s

ng the night wr

eave," Cole murmured. "Just pack up

restwood had always been a fantasy, but never one

up at the sky. "Somewhere people don

igh, watching the s

greement was there. One day, they would leave. But for no

world was about