Bury Me In Black, chapter 4

"Wow I've never seen this place before. I don't really get out much, you know, with my parents and.." He trailed off.

Kelsie sighed. "I guess you had it pretty rough, hey. Don't worry Trav, I'll be here for you."

She smiled at him and walked around the back of the counter. Travis watched as Kelsie spoke quietly to a young girl behind the counter. He could tell they were talking about him. The constant turning of their heads and pointing gave it away. He just sighed and sat down in one of the booths.

It was a cosy little café. It was only small and it only had about 10 tables and a couple of stools at the counter. All the chairs were covered in the same shiny smooth blue material. Travis couldn't figure out what it was called and while he was thinking about it, Kelsie came back over and sat down opposite him. She didn't seem too bad off to him, but maybe she just knew people and places to freshen up.

"We can get a piece of toast each. I'm sorry that's all. Oh, and water of course. Actually, toast is a fair bit when you're not paying abut then again it's only plain."

Travis just raised his eyebrow, only half listening. He found himself zoning out often lately. He smiled and nodded, not to look rude. He picked up his slice of toast and took a small bite. He didn't want to shove it all down straight away, that would be a waste. He just took it slowly. One bite at a time.

Just then Kelsie decided that she hadn't fully introduced herself as they hadn't really had time. She put down her piece of toast and began to speak.

"Ok, I just thought I should tell you more about who I am instead of you following a stranger. I'm Kelsie Stone and I'm 16 this year. I've been out here for a year now about. And I left because... let's just eat first," She said finally, frowning.

Travis nodded and took another bite of his toast. It wasn't anything special, but it was something, which even he knew was better than nothing. Actually it was the nicest piece of toast he'd had in years. He rarely made toast for himself.

"So Trav, do you think you could tell me about everything, are you ready do you think?" Kelsie asked as soon as Travis had finished his toast. He frowned and rubbed his head. The memories were still fresh in his mind and he knew the longer he put it off the harder it would get to say. But it didn't seem right, in the middle of a café to someone he'd known less than a day.

"Maybe later?" Travis finally said shrugging. He really didn't want to say at all. She nodded and held out her hand to lead him out of the cafe. She understood, she knew what it was like.

Kelsie lead him down the busy streets again and into a park. She walked over and sat on a swing, motioning for Travis to sit on the swing beside her. She looked up at him with that "what about now?" look on her face. Travis tipped his head down and turned away. He knew she would understand, but for some reason he just couldn't talk about it.

They started to swing back and forth, faster and faster, higher and higher. Travis was having the time of his life. He hadn't been to a park, let along on a swing, in many years. He laughed a bit out of the joy for swinging. He closed his eyes and let go to give it a more flying feeling. For a minute he thought he had actually left the swing and he opened his eyes just before he hit the ground at full speed.

Kelsie saw him and immediately jumped of her swing to help Travis.

"Are you ok? Do you need help? Is anything broken? Can you walk? Can you talk? Can you hear me even? TRAV!" She shouted.

Kelsie reached out her arms and shook him lightly by his shoulders. He didn't move an inch. He was knocked out, which didn't surprise Kelsie though, she saw the impact of the fall, but she still didn't like it. She bit her lip and ran off to find water to see if she could wake him. She came back with some water and splashed it over his face.

"Travis?" She said softy as she lightly shook him.

No reply. Not even a slight twitch or groan. Nothing. What was she going to do?