A Compendium For The Broken Hearted, Page 2

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  Warren Schmidt had a theory: the more you pretend to be a good person, the blacker your inside gets. This was a different life outlook and he embraced it fully.

  Thus Warren became wary of Alex Luis. On the surface of things, Alex was simply the nicest boy to ever grace this town: he cared for others, helped Anthony parker with maths work, was kind to the girls and even got asked out by both Felicia Day and Tyra Misworth. The two girls had been friends previously, yet decided that they both wanted to go out with Alex. When the sandy haired boy heard about it he went to both of them and explained that although going out with one of them would certainly be a lot of fun, they were likely to stay friends for a very long time. That in itself mattered more to him, and he could not accept either of their advances, so as not to drive a wedge between them.

  Warren did not care much for the opposite sex because as people, they had the same flaws as everybody else, yet a part of him still seethed at Alex having gained such attention. What made it worse was that it seemed to be completely deserved and entirely unwanted by the young boy, who just insisted every time he was thanked for something that he was “just helping out” or that it was his “pleasure” to be so straight laced. Warren didn’t buy it one bit. Nobody just spends his evening with an old lady to help her with her shopping and have tea with her. No one.

  Yet that was exactly what Alex had done with Mrs Stoneshower.

  What made matters worse was that despite being aware of Warren’s dislike for him, Alex tried to win him over to his side. These constant attempt were usually met with spectacular failure as well as frustration from both Warren and everybody else around him. Even Mr Herps tried to advise Alex to keep his distance from Warren so he doesn’t get influenced by his “personality issues”, but the hazel eyed boy refused to listen.

  Due to Alex’s attitude and disregard of the class’s wariness of the black haired one, their hatred mellowed down to a slight simmer in deference to their new leader. They started ignoring Warren pointedly as opposed to their earlier failed attempts to drive him out of the school. Still, he refused to take this apparent kindness at face value, and instead plotted to expose Alex’s true self to everyone. The fair boy was ugly on the inside, just like everyone else. However, closer inspection, monitoring , and even going through his locker when no one was around produced no results.

  Warren needed some more concrete evidence.

  One day, he approached Alex after school. He was sitting with Malcolm, Anthony (who was apparently dubbed Tony for short) and a few other kids. All five of them stood in a circle just outside the school wall, Alex leaning against it and keeping quiet while the others exchanged jokes. He laughed from time to time at something particular, acting every inch the calm leader. When the others noticed Warren their guard went up. He could tell how wary they were of him, and it gave the pale boy a measure of pleasure to see them so. Alex, however, broke immediately into a grin and waved at him. It was to Alex that warren made his way, trying to arrange his face into a friendly expression. “Hi, Alex, what are you all doing today?”

  “Ho, Mister silent!” Alex exclaimed with a laugh, “Nothing much, me and the guys are gonna go chill near Tony’s farm. We’re building a hideout there. It’s gonna have electricity and everything.” Warren whistled, acting impressed

  In fact, he already knew all of that already, but said, “That’s pretty cool! Can I tag along? I don’t have much to do today...” even the way his voice lapsed at the end of that sentence was studied, and Warren looked down in mock embarrassment as everyone watched in stunned silence. Even Alex was surprised, but after how much he had pretended to want to be friends, Warren knew the faker wouldn’t refuse now.

  “Wow, I finally got to you huh! Alright then, come right on with, you’re the newest addition now! Is that alright, Tony?” The others stiffened but no one argued with Alex’s decision. Tony nodded lamely.

  As they made their way out of downtown Warren stopped the group by a small shop and got each of them a cola by way of apology. In fact he just needed to stall them for a few minutes, but the cola opened up even Malcolm, and by the time they got closer to the farm, he plodded behind the group as they started cracking jokes again. Deep within his mind, Warren leered at how the cola made everyone accept him.

  There were trees on either side now, and in a way Warren felt like he was making his way along a dirt road set smack in a jungle. “Ah, you’re not so bad,” teased Tony and he smiled sheepishly, making small talk with people here and there as Alex beamed so hard you’d worry for his jaw. Discreetly, Warren checked his cheap watch and found the time to be a few minutes to two. He bent down to fix his shoelace. “Go on ahead, I’ll be right with you,” he called when the group slowed down to accommodate him, and a protesting Alex got dragged away. When he was done, he tried to catch up to his companions but they were already way ahead.

  About two minutes from where Warren had stopped, the dirt road intersected a rail track. This track was used only for cargo trains, and one came every two hours. As it arrived, guard rails came down to block cars. There was little to no traffic here, and it was known that cargo train drivers got complacent. There was no way for the drivers to be able to see through the thick canopy of trees on either side of them as they came through here.

  As he crossed the track, everyone else more than a hundred feet away from him, Warren pitched forward smack in the middle of the track. He couldn’t move his left leg, which had gotten stuck on something. He looked to the left in a panic.

  A train was coming straight towards Warren, black and hunched over like a raging muscular bull of iron. Warren managed to almost stand up. His leg was stuck in the track itself, and he had no way to get it free. The train was now perhaps twenty seconds away from splatting him, and approaching fast. At this distance he felt like it was coming towards him on purpose.

  The boy began to yell out, waving his arm. “HELP! I’m stuck! Please, help me!” The boys turned around and saw him, but they were too far to safely attempt to help. They would arrive just as the train did. It would be suicide to jump in front of a running train like that, he thought to himself.

  It would take a selfless idiot to do something like that. People in real life wouldn’t manage it, their insides would turn lukewarm and their legs to jelly in the face of danger. Over the train’s roar, he could hear the other boys calling out his name in rising alarm and looking to Alex for leadership. By now the train was dangerously close, and yet it showed no sign of slowing down. Perhaps it had a will of its own and hoped to run him down. The sound was deafening now, the tracks shaking with vibrations and almost making Warren’s bones ache. He jerked his leg one final time in an attempt to free himself, then he concluded that neither he nor anybody else was going to save him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes in disappointment, his suspicions about the reality of people and the world confirmed.

  The train passed by, unslowed. Its roar cascaded over everything, blocking out every other sound, although he could still hear somebody shouting out and perhaps crying on the other side of the speeding train. It seemed strange to the boy that anybody would cry over him.

  Warren lay on his back on the other side of the dirt road, looking up at three things and studying each with the intensity of confusion. He saw the blue sky, pure and unsullied. He saw the sun, bright enough to make his eyes water. On the other hand, perhaps his eyes watered because he also saw Alex’s face staring straight at him in open worry, panting at the effort it had taken him to sprint in and tackle him out of harm’s way.

  Later, Warren watched as Alex sat on a swing alone with the sun setting behind him. One of his ankles was bound by Tony’s father. His family had been notified and his uncle was coming by to get him. All the other kids were long gone. To Warren, he looked like a shadow in front of the sunset. He walked over and said hello, but Alex remained silent for a few seconds. At last, he remarked quietly, “Your leg wasn’t really stuck.”The accusation was p
ure and true, but even now Warren sensed no malice in the young boy’s voice.

  “No,” he admitted, “I wanted to prove that you were just pretending to be a good guy. Once you chickened out, I was going to jump out of the way myself. Everyone would know the truth about you and be safe of your lies.” Silence reigned for a bit. “But you saved me, and you didn’t even tell anyone that I was faking it.” Warren’s voice began to climb higher upon seeing the shock on Alex’s face. He needed to explain things to this fool. “All people are bad inside, but some are better actors than others. Can’t you see it? Everyone just thinks about themselves deep inside, you can’t trust anyone or rely on people more than you rely on yourself.

  “Haven’t you ever thought about it? This is why people have wars, and why some have nothing to eat while others eat too much. Nobody will be like you, nobody would jump in front of a train to save you. You need to understand that, if you want to survive.” A few seconds of silence passed by and Warren shivered in the breeze. There, he had finally said what he had pent up inside. His little shard of evil was naked for Alex and everybody else to see.

  Then the sandy haired boy smiled at the black haired one, and it was his usual wide grin. “I don’t know much about all that,” he said, “and you sure are the craziest person I know, but you’re still my friend, so I helped you and I won’t tell anyone that you faked being stuck. Mr Parker would kill you for that. Look... People are people, everybody is different. The way I see it, I just need to be the best person I can be, and things will work out.” Warren stood with his mouth hanging open.

  Alex had just said the stupidest thing he had ever heard.

  He started to giggle, then laugh harder than he ever had before. Soon, the two of them were doubled over with tears streaming down their faces. Warren wasn’t even sure Alex knew what was so funny.