The Friend

Alexis adjusted the back of her skirt in a way her mother would disapprove, her right shoulder throbbing from when it was dislocated the previous night.

She stood on the parapet of a bridge, spacing out at the expanse of water in front of her.

But as she squinted at the sunrise, she felt a sense of calm wash over her. She could almost forget everything that had happened.

"Hey, Lexi?" A small voice shook her out of her thoughts. "You wanna come down from there or..?"

Alexis didn't need to turn around. She'd know that voice anywhere.

"Mmm," She spun, balancing herself on one leg, "Whatcha say?" She grinned at the skinny boy in front of her. He sighed in exasperation, "Why are you like this?"

She hopped down, sticking her tongue out, "You know you love me, Noah."

He turned away, a smile escaping his lips.

They began their routine walk to the marketplace. Noah worked as an errand boy for families around town. Alexis moonlighted as a vigilante who exposed criminals but that didn't pay.

Working as a hand maiden at the palace did.

Noah was babbling to her about something but she wasn't really listening. She knew he just talked to ease his fear of crowds.

"Did you hear about Farrand?"

She snapped back to reality. "Ke?"

"Apparently, he's been branded. With the letter 'D'. Deceiver, I think."

She chuckled nervously, "You know what else 'D' stands for?"

He looked at her blankly.

"Never... never mind. So what happened?"

He scooted closer as a group of people rushed past him. "The usual. Someone brands these people and turns out they've been doing all this bad stuff." He shuddered. "We can't even trust the officials now."

"When could you ever?" Alexis scoffed but her heart wasn't in the dig.

"You okay, Lex?"

She looked up to see Noah's big grey eyes trying to read her. She waved a hand at him, the effort from her injured arm making her grit her teeth. "Just thinking about who this vigilante could be."

"Probably some bored kid with time on their hands." He stopped to pick out apples from a stall.

"Why do you say that?" An unnatural smile came over her face, Noah's words piercing her head like arrows.

"Just a feeling."

Alexis couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt as she stocked her own basket. Noah was her friend. He trusted her with everything but this wasn't a matter of trust. Only one other person knew and even that was an accident.

'I just want you to be safe.'

He looked up, "What?" 

"I said, 'Do you want to get some cake?'" Saved it.  

"Ah..sure, whatever you want."

Alexis chuckled as Noah's lips pressed into the straightest smile she had ever seen.

'What would I do without you?'