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 silencinally 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