Chapter 47

November 1. Ten years ago.

With a casual movement, Aaron pushed back his hood.

The familiar wave of noise immediately washed over him in the school corridor: bright voices, laughter, doors slamming, the smell of sweet chewing gum and damp jackets. It all blended into an endless, monotonous background he had long since grown accustomed to.

He shifted his heavy backpack from one shoulder to the other, made his way through the crowd on autopilot, and stopped at his locker. He entered the combination, the lock clicked, and, right on schedule, a heap of perfumed notes spilled out.

Again.

Aaron caught them with one hand while holding the locker door with the other. Frowning, he glanced down. Almost all of them had been folded into neat little squares, some sprinkled with glitter, one even decorated with a silly golden heart. The handwriting was different on every note, but the messages were all the same:

“Hi, I like you.”
“Would you like to go out sometime?”
“I saw the way you looked at me…”

He barely managed to keep himself from rolling his eyes.

He hadn’t looked at anyone.

Aaron lazily sorted through the scraps of paper. Today there were notes from Polly, Victoria… Zach.

His gaze lingered on the name for a second. Then he moved on.

Sandy, a couple of anonymous ones. But not a single note from the person he wanted to hear from.

The unpleasant knot in his chest tightened around his ribs.

Aaron exhaled sharply, crumpled the notes in one impatient motion, and tossed them into the trash can. The paper landed with a soft slap against the plastic.

No relief.

He braced one hand against the cool metal of the locker and closed his eyes for a second. The memory flared up so suddenly that it felt as though the air itself had contracted.

Rick, drunk and flushed, his hair a mess. One girl sat on his lap, kissing him hungrily, while another pressed against his side, running her fingers through his hair.

The way Rick returned their kisses and pulled them closer himself. The way his hand slipped beneath a short skirt.

The moment last night came back to him, Aaron’s jaw clenched with anger.

Yes, it was stupid. Yes, it was childish. Somehow, that only made it more infuriating.

He opened his eyes, tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear, the movement jerky and nervous, and reached deeper into his locker for a book. But before he could close the door, a familiar voice, far too cheerful for his current mood, sounded beside him.

“So, what’s your plan of action?” Katie asked.

She was so short that Aaron hadn’t noticed her at all until he looked down.

Katie stood right in front of him.

Her eyes sparkled as though a little flame were burning inside her. Freckles were scattered across her cheeks, and her slight smile made her face look even warmer.

Her blond hair was tied back in a ponytail decorated with dozens of glittering clips. A pink jacket, purple pants, a red backpack, and a matching bright scarf. Against the gray city, she seemed almost too colorful.

“Hi to you too,” he muttered, tossing the book into his backpack. “What are you talking about?”

He asked more out of politeness than because he actually wanted to listen.

Katie covered her mouth with one hand and whispered, though her voice was still far too loud for the crowded corridor.

“Rick, obviously!”

Aaron froze. A chill ran down his spine. There were too many people around. He quickly glanced about to check whether anyone had heard. His eyes caught Lucas standing by the wall. He was lazily staring at his phone and apparently paying them no attention at all.

“I’m not going to do anything.”

Katie blinked.

“What? Why?” she asked in genuine surprise. “You need to act immediately!”

“Give it a rest,” he snapped, closing his backpack.

“Oh, no. You can’t fake something like that…”

Aaron frowned.

“You’re just afraid to face the truth,” Katie continued. “There’s something going on between you two.”

The locker door slammed so sharply that a younger student standing nearby flinched.

Aaron leaned toward Katie.

“Listen, Katie. I don’t want to be rude, but… why do you care about all this?” he asked, his irritation now unmistakable. “We’re not even friends. We smoked together once. That’s it.”

Katie only smirked.

“You can call me naive, but I like fairy tales with happy endings. If two people are meant to be together, they will be. No matter the time, the distance, or the obstacles.”

“Not every fairy tale has a happy ending. The world is cruel.”

“Cru-el. Wow, what a personality. You’re unbearable… Has anyone ever told you that?”

“No. You’re the first.”

“Lucky me,” she said sarcastically. “Pessimism, sarcasm. The whole package. With that attitude, you’re never going to win Rick over.”

She looked at him more closely.

“How long have you been chasing him now? A month? Two?”

The bluntness of the question made Aaron feel slightly self-conscious.

His fingers found a candy wrapper in his pocket. He squeezed it and shifted his gaze to Rick’s locker.

Gray metal, not a single dent. Fourth period was already over, and the door was still perfectly shut. Aaron had hoped until the very last moment that Rick would show up.

But he still hadn’t.

Most likely, Rick was at home right now, feeling damn pleased with himself, lying under a blanket and probably considering it one of his best stunts yet.

Aaron gave a short, dry huff.

At least someone at this school had finally put John in his place. And he’d done it so spectacularly that the corridors had been buzzing about it since morning: stories, retellings, rumors about some brave idiot who had punched the rich kid King right in his own house… and somehow managed to leave. Alive.

It was bold, all right. And incredibly stupid.

Aaron looked back at Katie.

She was watching him, clearly waiting for an answer.

“What difference does it make?” he finally breathed.

“A huge one!” she blurted out. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll regret it later? That you’ll miss out on time you could have spent with him?”

Aaron frowned.

“And how exactly do you imagine that happening?” he asked. “I walk up to him and say, ‘Hi, Rick. How’s it going? You look great. Oh, by the way, want to go on a date? And, by the way… I’m so crazy about you that every time I see you, my knees buckle and my palms sweat?’”

He deliberately raised his voice and grimaced, acting out the ridiculous scenario.

Katie squealed with laughter. Aaron didn’t even notice the corner of his mouth twitching upward.

“Oh, God… no! Of course not!” she said, wiping the corners of her eyes. “That would be terrible!”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Thanks.”

Katie’s expression softened.

“It’s just… I believe in love,” she said more quietly. “If it’s real, it doesn’t go away.”

She looked up at him.

“I’ve seen the way you look at each other,” Katie continued. “It’s… real.”

Aaron tightened his grip on his backpack strap slightly.

Shit.

She really did notice too much.

He wanted to leave. To end this conversation as quickly as possible, before Katie got anywhere near the things he was trying not to think about himself. But for some reason, he was still standing there.

The corridor buzzed around them. The flow of students occasionally parted them, but Katie stayed close, calmly waiting for an answer.

Aaron had already opened his mouth to say something when his gaze caught first on a tall girl with black hair, then on the redhead walking beside her.

He recognized Misty and Emma immediately.

As they drew level with him, both girls fell quiet. But the moment they had walked a couple of yards past, Aaron heard their hushed whispers.

“Is that Katie standing with him?!” Emma exclaimed. “Did you see that?”

“Yeah. I’m shocked…” Misty whispered.

Emma glanced over her shoulder and met Aaron’s eyes.

“Should I go over there?” she asked.

Misty jabbed her in the side with an elbow.

“Are you stupid? He turned you down!” She took Emma by the arm. “If that happened to me, I wouldn’t leave my room for a week…”

Aaron grimaced and abruptly pulled up his hood.

“Great. Just what I needed right now…”

“What, is it that bad?” Katie asked. “She confessed to you yesterday, didn’t she?”

Aaron turned to her, blinking in confusion.

“How do you know that?”

Katie snorted.

“Aaron, this is school! Two people whisper something in a corner, and five minutes later absolutely everyone knows about it.”

She nodded toward Misty and Emma, who were already disappearing around the corner.

“Besides, Emma came in this morning with puffy eyes. And I know she’s liked you for ages. It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

Aaron remained silent.

Katie sighed softly and lightly touched his elbow.

“You did the right thing,” she said. “It’s better to be honest than to give someone false hope.”

“Are you always this righteous?”

Katie smirked.

“Of course not.”

“And right now?”

“Right now, I’m just right, and it annoys you.”

“Hah. Well, would you look at that,” Aaron said, raising an eyebrow slightly. “You actually are.”

Katie took a deeper breath. Her cheeks turned faintly pink, and she punched him in the shoulder.

“Go to hell, Lake!”

Katie laughed softly. Aaron couldn’t help smiling either.

Unexpectedly, he felt a little better.

“Wow,” she breathed.

“What?”

“You actually have a sense of humor! Congratulations, your chances just doubled.”

Aaron rolled his eyes.

“Fantastic.”

“Then,” she continued, “I think we should start by…”

Aaron suddenly felt someone watching him.

He glanced to the side instinctively.

Lucas was still standing by the wall, phone in hand. Something about the scene seemed off. Aaron tensed slightly as he kept watching him, trying to figure out what had caught his attention.

Then he noticed: the phone screen had gone dark a while ago, but Lucas hadn’t seemed to notice.
He was looking straight at them.

For a second, their eyes met.

Suddenly, Katie tugged at his sleeve again.

“Hey. Are you even listening to me?”

He blinked sharply.

“What?”

Katie repeated herself, now with a hint of concern.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!”

Aaron looked back at the wall. Lucas was gone. Two girls who noticed his gaze turned away awkwardly and disappeared into the crowd.

He scanned the corridor once more.

Maybe he’d imagined it.

“Enough,” Katie said. “You look like you’re a million miles away.”

He frowned.

“Everything’s fine. I’m just thinking.”

But he didn’t get a chance to finish. Katie grabbed his sleeve and pulled him toward the exit.

“Hey, where are you dragging me?” he protested.

“You need a change of scenery. To breathe. Clear your head.”

Aaron tightened his grip on his backpack strap.

“I have a class starting any minute. And practice afterward.”

Katie only smiled wider and tightened her hold on his sleeve.

“School can wait! Come on. You’ll like it.”

***

Katie walked ahead along a narrow path winding between juniper bushes, turning around every so often to make sure he hadn’t fallen behind.

Aaron had the feeling that her face grew brighter with every step.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Secret!” she called back cheerfully.

Katie turned away again and continued along the path. Aaron followed, trying not to lose sight of the red backpack in front of him.

Every so often, he had to step over roots and push aside overgrown branches. The path grew narrower, and the bushes pressed closer.

“Do you even know where you’re going?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“Doesn’t look like it. It feels as though we’re lost.”

“We’re not. You just don’t know me,” she said with a smile. “Even if we did get lost, I’d still find a way out.”

“That sounds promising.”

“Admit it.”

Aaron huffed. Steve had once said there was no point arguing with her, and he’d been right.

They walked a little farther. An old stone wall appeared beyond the bushes, barely visible at first among the overgrowth, then rising higher and higher.

Katie turned around triumphantly.

“We’re here.”

The overgrown path led them to an old water tower. It stood above the city on a slope, almost entirely hidden by trees. Tall and built of stone, with chips and cracks in places, but beautiful in its own way.

Judging by how heavily overgrown the approach was, Aaron guessed the tower hadn’t been used for its original purpose in a long time. Off to one side, he noticed a metal ladder leading somewhere above.

“Climb,” Katie said with a smile.

“What? Up there?”

“Yep.”

Aaron ran his fingers over a rusty rung. The surface was cold and rough. His gaze involuntarily caught on the mounting brackets, rusted in places.

“It’s beautiful up there,” Katie added. “I promise you won’t regret it.”

Aaron studied her for several seconds, as if checking whether she was joking. But there wasn’t a trace of mischief in her eyes, only light, sincerity, and a quiet trust me.

The first rung creaked almost inaudibly. Aaron climbed another, then the next. The metal chilled his palms, and the ladder swayed slightly beneath his feet. He took his time, testing each rung before shifting his weight onto it.

“Come on, hurry up!” Katie called from below.

He didn’t answer, only rolled his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

Finally, his fingers found the edge of the platform. Aaron pulled himself up, planted a foot on the metal, and straightened.

Then froze.

Dumpfield stretched out below him, bleak and damp… yet unexpectedly warm. Golden light shimmered in the windows of houses and apartments. Narrow roads wound between the blocks, cars moved slowly along the streets, and their headlights blurred in the reflections on the wet asphalt.

Mountains rose along the edge of the city, dark and densely covered with fir trees. A thin veil of mist lay over their peaks. Aaron drew a deep breath and immediately caught the scent of pine.

“Do you like it?” he heard Katie ask as she climbed up behind him.

He simply nodded. A surprisingly pleasant stillness settled in his chest.

The city had always seemed gray and cold to him. But from here, it looked completely different. He took in the details carefully: the faint steam rising above the bakery roof, a flock of ravens gliding through the sky, a solitary traffic light frozen in its yellow glow, the silhouettes of people in the distance who seemed to be in no hurry to get anywhere.

Surprisingly, Katie had been right. The view really was mesmerizing.

His lips curved into a barely noticeable, entirely genuine smile.

“Rick would like this…” the thought suddenly crossed his mind.

He imagined Rick’s warm eyes lighting up. The way he would excitedly examine every detail, probably rush straight to the railing, then say some strange but endearing nonsense.

Embarrassment immediately warmed Aaron’s cheeks and the tips of his ears. He looked away, as if afraid Katie might read his thoughts.

She took off her backpack and leaned it against the wall.

“It can be even more beautiful here,” Katie said, adjusting her hair tie. “Especially at sunset. The sky lights up pink, purple, and peach, and everything around you looks completely different.”

“It’s already beautiful,” Aaron said, giving her a brief, grateful glance.

“I’m glad I managed to surprise you,” she said with a broad smile.

Aaron hadn’t felt this way… in a very long time.

Not since childhood, perhaps. Back when there were no heavy thoughts, only laughter and arms that were always there to catch him.

He remembered how Aunt Becky and Uncle Noah used to take him on their little outings. Nothing special to them. A whole adventure to him.

His aunt would bustle around the kitchen, gathering supplies and stuffing freshly baked homemade biscuits, apples, and a thermos of warm tea into a backpack. Meanwhile, his uncle would check everything against a list, pretending he had the situation under control. Of course, at the last minute, it would turn out he’d forgotten something anyway, whether it was the hiking knife, the matches, or the compass.

Aaron would try to help, but his little hands kept reaching for one thing and then another. He only made a bigger mess of everything. His aunt would laugh, wrap an arm around his shoulders, and kiss the top of his head.

The most magical part began toward evening.

When he’d run around so much that he could barely keep his eyes open and his legs seemed to bend on their own, his uncle would, as always, scoop him up effortlessly and settle him on his shoulders. The world changed at once. From up there, everything looked tiny: the road, the trees, even the people.

His aunt would walk beside them, telling funny stories or softly humming her favorite songs. And when Aaron rested his cheek against his uncle’s hat and his aunt gently, playfully booped the tip of his nose, he knew for certain that he was loved.

Back then, he had thought it would always be that way. And if he closed his eyes, he could still imagine the warmth of his uncle’s hat against his cheek.

But every time he tried to return to that feeling, there was nothing there anymore.

Now he knew the past could never be brought back.

And yet, for some reason, the feeling itself had never disappeared. It remained inside him, hidden among those old memories.

Aaron quietly breathed in the cold air and turned his gaze to Katie.

“Why did you decide to show me this place?”

Katie gazed delightedly at the distant hills submerged in milky mist, watched a cat dart from one side of the street to the other, and only then turned back to him.

“Why?” she repeated. “I don’t know.”

She shrugged.

“Maybe I got the feeling that you’re not the person you have to pretend to be.”

Aaron frowned, but she continued.

“Everyone around here sees the same thing when they look at you. An attractive guy walking down the corridor, with everyone turning to stare. And that’s enough for them.”

Katie fell silent for a moment. A light gust of wind blew a strand of blond hair loose.

“They don’t give a damn about who you actually are. What’s going on inside you, what you think about, what you feel. They’re only interested in the image.”

She leaned her hands against the cold railing.

“But I see something else.”

Katie gave a short huff.

“The way you look around. How attentive your eyes become when you think no one’s watching. How you react to people, to silence, to little things. How you notice every detail, as if you need to keep everything around you under control.”

Katie smiled slightly. Something warm, almost sad, flickered in her eyes.

“You’re always on guard, Aaron. Even when you smile. And that’s… very lonely.”

She tucked a loose strand behind her ear and exhaled softly.

“I know what it’s like to be surrounded by people and still feel empty inside. When staying silent is easier than explaining yourself.”

She looked into the distance.

“That’s probably why I brought you here.”

Katie turned back to him.

“I just thought… maybe you need a place where you don’t have to be ‘that handsome Lake guy,’ but can just be Aaron. Yourself,” she said with a gentle smile, tilting her head slightly. “Even if only for a little while.”

Aaron studied her for a while, a little longer than usual. Then he frowned and looked away. He remained silent for several seconds, as if trying to find an answer, but nothing suitable came to mind.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her push away from the railing, step closer, and rise onto her toes.

Suddenly, he felt her warm palm settle carefully on the crown of his head.

Katie ran her hand gently over his hair a few times. Aaron tensed almost imperceptibly but didn’t pull away, only lowered his eyes. It felt unfamiliar and a little awkward, yet, for some reason, peaceful too. Almost like being at home.

Katie lowered herself back onto her heels and tugged at her jacket, as though trying to hide her own embarrassment.

“There,” she said a little louder. “Now you’re not as lonely as you were five minutes ago.”
Aaron looked up at her.

“Thank you, Katie.”

She nodded.