Exposure Pt. 1

Liz did not say anything for a long time. She rolled six blunts, one after another before she finally lit one. She hit it several times before exhaling in a sigh. She stared in the direction Mykel had run.

"Can I ask what happened?"

She listened with alacrity as I explained what happened, leaving out the details of what I had told him.

"...then he ran out of the room."

She nodded. "Kaiden was Mykel's best friend. They grew up together. He was always a shy kid, but very sweet. He was a lot like you. When they were fourteen they began dating. I knew and so did our parents, but that was it."

I smiled sadly at the thought of young Mykel, happy and carefree with his first love. I frowned as I waited for what was to come, as I knew the story did not have a happy ending.

"We found out later," she went on as she watched for her brother to come back, "that his father gave way to sudden bouts of extreme rage. He wasn't a drunk or anything like that, he just...was an angry man.