Prolouge

Friday, October 3rd, Sunset

Dennis is the name of the boy sitting on the wooden bench. Actually, there is two boys sitting on that bench in this particular park. The park is in New Beach, California, even though there are no beaches. The only thing even close to a beach is the dried up lake by the Wal-Mart. They myth goes that in the late 50's the name was changed from Tree Beach to New Beach. Nobody can recall this, so it's been passed down a few generations. It's said that it was changed to lure more tourists to visit, and when you think about it, it makes sense. If nobody actually knows anyone that was around when it was changed, nobody can recall any name, then it must have been that nobody was around. Dennis says his grandmother moved in here in the 60's. Her life long dream was to move to California and live by the beach. That's why most people move here. It's also probably why this place has no soul.

I'm the boy sitting next to dennis. We're holding hands. There is a girl walking past us, and she sees us. She assumes what is obvious, and deliberately looks away in fear. She's not disgusted or intimidated. She's afraid. She's afraid that we will see her glance, and assume she cares, and probably glare at her. She's walking faster now that we've seen her, and she doesn't look back until she's far, far away, at the edge of the park. This girl then walks around the entire park, and re-enters a path that doesn't pass us. The way her heels quickly clanged against the pavement, and the long strides she made, made Dennis assume exactly what she didin't want us to think.

I hated this girl now, how she had made his soft, girlish face fold up into an upset frown. I hated how she put on a costume, a mask, and pranced off, pretending she didin't see us. Pretending that what she saw was completely ordinary. She knows that what she saw was not ordinary at all. Why couldin't she just smile, or act surprised, or shake her head? It's because of the fear of being hated by strangers, of being judged, that the most hated people don't even know it. I hated the fact that I would have done the exact same if I was a straight girl walking casually in the park.