The Bones To Nowhere

t h r e e

"This is the place you wanted to take me?" Of course it's no trip to France, but it's one of my favorite secret spots in town, no one really comes here. 

"It's not a club, or a roller skating rink. Or really even a normal place, but I know how you like your fresh air and hitchhiking." A smile forms on his face as we trudge through the thick forest of pine. Limbs nick my knees as we make our way in deeper. 

"You're not bringing me out here to murder me are you?" He asks jokingly. But for once I don't find it funny, instead, to keep the lightheartedness though, I tell him the clearing is just up ahead. 

I really hope tonight is a special night. I checked the weather last weekend, to which it said it would be slightly foggy, but no rain. That's the perfect weather for my secret spot. I hitch the backpack further up my shoulder before feeling it lift away completely. 

"Figured it was getting heavy." Appreciating the help, my face lights up at the clearing entrance, a snug little hole of leaves that leads to the most beautiful spot I'd ever seen. I pick up my pace and tell him to move his feet faster. 

"Prepare to be amazed." I usher him towards the clearing. And low and behold, the weather is perfect. Beyond the thicket of brush, comes my clearing- a large rock sitting just above the lake. The water is still high enough that we can dip our feet in. Fog is blanketing the lake, giving the pines an eerily calm look. 

He drops the backpack at the sight. It's quite amazing. It's as if this place is magic. I've never felt so at ease in one spot as I do here. "Woah." 

"Found this place when I was a kid," we placed down a blanket, and were munching on some snacks that I packed. Like our own little candle lit picnic. "This isn't even the best part, wait until around eight, and you'll see the real magic show begin." Sure enough, it wasn't hard to entertain ourselves together until eight. 

"How did you find this place?" He asks, his eyes never leaving the scenery before him. I loved watching his facial expressions, no two were ever the same with him. "When I was little my sister died. It was tragic. The whole town loved her, but no one loved her more than I did. When I found out, I just ran. I just blanked, and I ran and ran until my legs gave out and when I looked up, this is where I was." I always thought it was a sign from my sister to help my grieving. And it did, in some odd way. This is the one place I know I will always be safe at. And it calms my soul.

He never said he was sorry for my loss, no condolences. Instead, he says, "I guess this would be the best place to end up in that situation, huh?" It was.

No amount of time felt long with Beau, in fact, it felt like there was never enough time with him. So eight crept up on us relatively fast. I immediately knew the time when I saw the first glimmer of light out of the peripheral of my vision. Then another. And one more. Until the whole clearing was filled with beautiful glowing lights above the surface of the water, and I'm not talking about stars, although they were the perfect finishing touch to such a beautiful evening. 

"Magic show. Lightening bugs?" I nod my head, and take in every aspect of his face as he stares out at the view. Sometimes I wish I could forget a memory, and relive it all over again for the first time. Because if I could, I would relive this moment over and over. I would put it on a loop for replay.

And what better way for it to end? Why of course, when Beau leaned down and planted the sweetest kiss on my lips. 

I look up at him in amusement, but he just shrugs as if it wasn't any big deal. "It's the magic, right?" Yeah Beau. It's the magic. 

•••

"Never have I seen you two look so suspicious in my life!" Shouts Harrison from across the bar when Beau and I both stroll in with secretive glances and big smiles stretching across our faces the next morning. 

"What's the big secret?" He asks this as if he already knows the answer. He doesn't. But it doesn't take long as we hint our way around the big reveal. 

"You two didn't? You did! Let me see them." He wasn't angry in the slightest that fresh black ink adorned both our wrists. Instead he pouts that he's been left out of the whole adventure. 

"Sorry, This was a two man show, not a three man mission." Says Beau excitedly. This is something we both had that no one could take away from us. I mean, unless someone cut both our wrists off, but I don't think anyone here would do anything like that. 

A compass adorned both our wrists, with the exact coordinates of my -no- our secret place. It also happened to be the first place I fell in love at. Some would say this is all going too fast, that love isn't this quick. But I just know. I know that Beaumont is my person. I feel it deep within my soul, as if we'd known each other in a lifetime before this. If reincarnation really exists, this would be it. For once I don't want the weekend to end. Not to mention graduation is next week. 

I don't want to think about exams, or even college. But I had a pit in my stomach that Beau and I wouldn't be together for much longer. 

As I'd expected, Beau isn't at school when I enter the heavy double doors to the bustling cafeteria. I think he's late at first, but then he never shows up. So I go through my classes more painstakingly than usual. My friends offer for me to sit with them, but I don't think I can, now that I know the wonders of Beau. Today is agonizing, is he sick? He didn't tell me he wasn't coming today. He would've told me something, wouldn't he? 

"Hey, how come you're not hanging out with Beaumont today?" Asks a random girl who approached me at my locker. I've seen her around before, she's the student council president, if I'm not mistaken. She has rosy cheeks and a sweet demeanor to her. Her blonde hair cascades down her back, a braid adorned in the center. She is known for her crazy earrings. She has a new pair for each day of the year, I swear. 

Why she is asking about Beau, I have no clue. "He's not here today." Her eyebrows furrow, as if she's confused, "I mean, I could've sworn he was in my Lit class today, but maybe I'm wrong." I guess she's just genuinely being nice, but the fact that she approaches me like this is a little strange. Just as she's about to leave, I see a figure from the corner of my eyes. Beaumont. 

I race past student president to get to him, "hey, where have you been?" He shrugs nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal that he missed part of the school day, maybe it wasn't. I look closer and realize his shiny new black eye. That wasn't there yesterday. "Beau, what happened?" I instinctively go to touch his face, but he slaps it away and pushed past me. I hear people snicker at the scene before them, sending out 'oohs' as if it is their business. But nonetheless my cheeks heat up and tears rush to my eyes. What is wrong with me? And more importantly, what happened to Beaumont?

I decide to walk home by myself, with a million thoughts racing through my head from today. What is this pit in my stomach?