Board Thread:New on Lost Cities Keeper Wiki/@comment-45011134-20200208193226

=Calvin=

The sun, beating down on Calvins sweaty body, as he trudged onwards, the road smelt like burning asphalt. The long silence was cut off by the sound of a car, Calvin straightened his back as he turned around and saw a bright white, dirty Ford, Tucker! Calvin realized, he mustered up his energy to run up and bang on the car door. The truck slowly stopped as the window rolled down,

“Hi Tucker!” Calvin said, Tucker was wearing a leather jacket, even in this weather, He’s cool like that, Calvin thought,

“Please, Cal, call me Tuck.”

“Uh, Ok, ‘Tuck’,” he giggled, Tuck rolled his eyes as he got out a half empty pack of gum, Calvin considered asking if he could have some, but immediately stopped once he realized it was passion fruit, he hated passion fruit. “So, uh, Tuck, do you ever want to get back together again?” Calvin asked, “you know, with Joey and Brady?” There was a pause, making Calvin nervous, but it was obvious Tuck wasn’t actually considering anything,

“You know, not really,” he said.

“Oh,” Calvin said with hurt in his voice, the next silence was awkward and way longer than before

“Welp,” he sighed, “See ya,” and he took off down the road. Tuck, Brady, Joey, and Calvin were friends with each other for years, really, really good friends, but for some reason they’d grown apart. It really bothered Calvin, why can’t we get back together? He wondered, am I not cool enough? It wasn’t something he wanted to think about, but it was always there, nagging on his conscious. He pulled out a melted Snickers bar, his favorite, and just decided to keep walking towards the bus station, since his family couldn’t afford a car, but he kept getting pulled back to the question, why can’t we be friends? =Tucker=

Why did Calvin stop me? Tucker thought, he needed to get somewhere, and Calvin  wasted his time, the party he was going to was the biggest party ever, but it was super far away, it was really putting his reputation on the line, just being around Calvin was putting his reputation on the line! Right on que a stoplight flashed to red, great, Tucker thought as he bashed his head on the steering wheel. When he looked up he saw Joey’s car right in front of him, he was indifferent it was Joey, until.. isn’t he too far out in the lane? Tuck thought, trying to hide his fear.

The next events felt like they were going in slow motion, a semi truck blasted by, ripping the front half of Joey’s car off, Tuck instinctively leaped out of his car and raced next to him, no, he thought, No! This can’t be happening! He found Joey, lying peacefully with his neck twisted in grotesque ways, lying 15 feet away from his car, and his side was torn up. Tucker didn’t know what to think, he collapsed into a sobbing heap next to him,

“No!” Tuck yelled at the sky, he started punching the ground so hard he thought his hands were going to bleed, when the piercing sound of sirens cut through the noise of his sobs, “Help!” He screamed, “Help! My friend’s in there!” His voice broke when he said the last part and he collapsed back into a crying mess when someone came and immediately put him on a stretcher and into the ambulance, the noise started to give him a headache. He thought he’d feel mad, but the red hate he expected was replaced by a blank hopelessness. “Please! Let me come!” He sobbed, he was startled when an unfamiliar voice said,

“You sure kid?” Tuck nodded shakily, and he got into the ambulance after following the mysterious guy, he knew his truck was going to be towed, but it was fine, it wasn’t the first time

The hospital was empty and quiet, giving Tuck plenty of time to think about what happened, his nerves shook when he realized he had forgotten about the party, then he wanted to kick himself when the doctor came in, but this was ruining his reputation. Tuck looked at the doctor with a small glimmer of hope,

“Is he ok?” Tuck asked, “he has to be, right?”

“Sorry bud, but, uh… he-he passed away,” the doctor said. Tuck was as pale as a sheet of paper,

“No,” he barely managed to say, he quickly stood up

“I know I didn’t know him as well as you, but I know this sucks, and I wanted to say, I’m sorry.”

Tuck couldn’t handle it, he gave the doctor a shaky nod, and raced out of the doors, he couldn’t face any more, he took an Uber home, because his parents were too busy, and when he got there, just collapsed into his bed and started crying. =Brady=

The orphanage was especially dark today, it smelled bleak and no light was coming through Brady's closed doors, a knock broke the silence,

“Who is it?” Brady asked with annoyance in his voice, Calvin with his red, puffy eyes and dirty clothes opened the door, Calvin, Brady thought, why him? Ever since the incident with Joey, Calvins been in a major depression, and Brady was still too mad about the crash, he didn’t even know why.

“Hi,” Calvin said with obvious fake cheerfulness

“Go away,” Brady mumbled, Calvin looked crushed by him saying that, but I wasn’t taking it back, there was a long pause in the conversation,

“Why did we stop?” Calvin asked.

“Huh?” Brady said,

“Joey always said we were his best friends,” he took a shaky breath, “why did we stop?” He asked as tears streamed down his cheeks,

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Brady said harshly as he neared the door to slam it in Calvin’s face

“Wait!” He yelled, “I don’t want to lose you guys, I know it’s terrible, but Joey and I never hung out, so I barely notice the difference with him gone, and I’m afraid that’s what’s going to happen with us. You guys are my only friends, and I.. I miss everyone,” he started shaking because of his sobs, Brady finally understood Calvin’s grief, and he felt some sympathy for him, but it wasn’t enough,

“I know the feeling,” and Brady slammed the door. But it was still a thought, maybe we should get back together.

=Calvin=

Brady’s response wasn’t the note Calvin wanted to finish on, he tried to calm down as he walked through the exit, but that was plan A get everyone back together gone, and he didn’t think he’d need a plan B. As the days went by, Calvin got more and more desperate, eventually he decided he should call Tucker, even if he knew he shouldn’t bother him, the whole event had apparently broken him, but Calvin needed to. Calvin walked to the kitchen to their old landline phone and spun the greasy wheel to dial Tucks number,

“I don’t want to talk,” Tucker said

“I know, but we need to,” Calvin said, trying to keep his cool, “ever since Joey..”

“Don’t!” He yelled

“We’re losing each other!” Calvin shouted frantically, “if we don’t get each other back we’ll all end up like he will be - Forgotten! Please Tuck, I’ve already talked to Brady and I - I don’t want to lose you.” There was a really long silence.

“I-,” he said, and after a pause, he hung up.

Calvin waited a second, then started bawling, that was his last chance, gone. His eyes burned with tears, why couldn’t we all be happy? And live normal lives and be friends? Why? Calvin’s sobs were cut off by the annoying ringing of the phone, he wanted to throw it, but when he picked it up, Tucker was on the other end.

“Where?” was all he said. Calvin was so surprised he dropped the phone, he quickly picked it up again

Calvin laughed through his sobs, “you can pick, I’m just glad this is finally happening.”

Tucker

Tucker realized how selfish he was being once he talked with Calvin, the only thing he thought about was himself since Joey died, and to think, this whole thing could’ve changed if he’d just taken the opportunity to say yes to Calvin that first time, and not worry about anything else, maybe Joey would’ve been hanging out with them instead of out on the road where he crashed. When Calvin asked Tucker the question of where back to him, the first thing he thought of was the open fields of dewy grass, and the sweet smelling trees of Oak Forest Park, essentially the only place where he and his friends would hang out. Which is the place he told him, Tucker thanked him for the conversation, and hung up, but his nerves shot with ice when he realized that he’d have to ask his parents. He started to calm down thinking it would be ok, but this was the deciding moment, Tucker carefully walked down the stairs to the living room, where he found both of his parents on phone calls, he took one deep breath,

“Hey, um, is it ok if I go to Oak Forest?” He asked casually

“Sorry, one sec,” his mom said to the person on the other side, “uh, sorry sweetie, but we’re a little bit busy now, I know that you’ve had a lot to deal with and I promise I will help you as soon as we finish this project,” she said, his dad nodded for reassurance, and they kept on their calls.

Even though he knew it was probably ok, Tucker still felt their words sting on the still fresh wound Joey gave him, and he couldn’t handle it. He was furious at what his parents just said, Tucker bolted out the door and lost footing on the steps, but he kept his balance and raced away, he didn’t know where, but he found his aching legs to be instinctively taking him towards a park, the park he realized, he scrambled over to the nearest field, when suddenly,

“Seems we always end up in the same place, doesn’t it,” a sad voice said, Tucker slowly turned around to find Calvin, but something was different, he was happy,

“Calvin!” Tucker yelled, he pulled him in for a hug and hesitated when he remembered his reputation, but closed the gap, reputations were overrated.

=Brady= It was adoption day, the worst day of the year for Brady, the day everyone else got to meet their new families and no one wanted him, not even a glance. What did I ever do to deserve such a sucky life? Brady wondered, even Joey died. That last thought was like a dropping weight inside of his mind, it triggered a chain reaction of pure anger, mixed with the obvious definition around how terrible his day was made it worse, he was going to blow.

“Maybe next time deary,” said one of the teachers from behind him,

“It’s always next time, huh,” he muttered, the jaggedness in his voice dripped with venom,

“What was that dear?”

“It’s always next time with you!” He yelled, his vision rimmed with red, he needed to throw something, he picked up a chair and blew his arm out throwing it straight. Into. The. Wall. He didn’t care though, he ran out the doors, each motion fueled by anger and hate until he had none left.

This is stupid, he thought, his legs ached and his shoulders shot with pain every time they moved. He was still mad, but it was different now, he looked up to find a very grassy field, Oak Forest! He thought, but he noticed two figures in the distance, doing a clumsy version of his gangs old secret handshake, and he immediately knew who it was, he ran up to them, using the last of his already drained resources and nearly fell into them.

“Whoa! You alright Brady, also, gotta say it’s nice to see you,” Tuck said, Brady tried to stand tall,

“You too,” he said, and he tried out the handshake for himself and forgot how intricate it was.

“Calvin,” Brady said, “I hope you know that you were always right, I’m sorry we never listened to you, we should've gotten together all along, I promise next time, I will never miss an opportunity to see you guys.”

Calvin laughed blushing, “thanks you guys.”

“Tucker!” Someone screamed, it scared Brady so bad, when he saw someone chasing Tuck, he was nearly ready to bolt out of there before he realized it was just Tucks mom, She tackled him in a hug. A couple seconds later Tucks dad came up and wrapped both Tuck and his mom in a bigger bear hug.

“Hi Mom,” Tuck barely mumbled, Brady gave Calvin a questioning look, he just shrugged back. A long time later Tucks mom broke the hug up,

“Oh! Sorry about that,” she said, “we couldn’t find him anywhere so we got really worried. Brady isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled

“How’s the orphanage?” She asked

“Today was especially bad, it was adoption day for the year, and, for the 13th time, no one looked at me,” he grumbled

“Well,” she looked at Tucker and her husband, they each looked back with surprise, but nodded, “Tucks always needed someone to hang out with, and it might be a good reminder for our priorities, as in kids first,” she looked at Tuck with this sentence, it earned another questioning look from Brady,  “would you like to fill that role?” She asked with an obvious attempt to sound non-pushy

“Does that mean..?” Brady asked with a new spark of hope, Tuck looked at me nodded and said,

“I think so,” He was so excited Brady’s heart skipped a beat, he squeal jump laughed and cried as he ran into their arms.

“Looks like your getting adopted,” Calvin said.

“I’m glad I took this chance,” Brady said through happy-crying, the first in a long time.  