Lost Boy

Chapter Three

The sun had set by the time Matt left the cemetery. He didn't mean to stay longer than he did. He always seemed to get carried away talking to his mother.

Matt wiped his eyes one last time and without realising, he accidentally stumbled into someone. He cursed at himself for not paying attention to where he was walking.

"Sorry," Matt mumbled.

"It's alright," the stranger replied. Matt didn't look up at the stranger, he just nodded his head and began to walk off.

"Hey, are you ok?" The stranger asked. Matt looked up at him. He was the first person to ask him that in months. Matt was surprised that this person genuinely looked concerned for him. Maybe it was because he looked tired. Matt doesn't sleep well after all.

How could he sleep with everything going on his life? The one person he thought loved him left, his father hates him, his mother is no longer here with him and everyone else in the town hates him. The people he thought were his friends left him when they found out he was gay. Was he ok? Of course not.

But Matt didn't know this stranger and he wasn't prepared to deal with the way this stranger would treat him if he told him everything so he said the one lie he's been telling himself: "Yeah, I'm ok."

"Ok then, it's been a pleasure to run into you?"

"Uh, Matt."

"I'm Thomas. It's been a pleasure Matt. If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm your person. See you around." He smiled at Matt before he walked off.

***

Matt sat under the tree him and Colin used to sit under all the time but it always felt different without him here. Matt missed Colin and being under this tree, next to where their names were written on caused him more pain than he thought it would.

"Hey Wilder!" Matt looked up and saw a group of guys. They were from school. They always liked to torment him at school and sometimes outside of school. Matt didn't react. He never did. He hoped that if he just ignored them, they'd leave him alone and sometimes they did.

"Your boyfriend still hasn't come back?" One of them said.

"He probably realised that he's actually not into dick after all," another called out before they continued on their way.

Matt closed his eyes, ignoring the words they said to him. It was always like this whenever he went out but he couldn't stay at home either.

When Matt would think about his dad, he would think of him alone at home because he couldn't accept his son for the way he is. In some ways it saddened him.

He remembered all the times they would spend together, especially after his mother passed away. They would have barbecues, Hannah would come over and they'd play board games. Matt would be lying if he said he didn't miss those days.

Matt quickly got up and began walking. He wasn't walking anywhere in particular, he just wanted to forget those happy memories that would seem he'd never experience again.

He saw the same group of guys from earlier up ahead so Matt quickly walked into the closest building to get away from them.

Matt had walked into a book store which also had a little café. The smell of coffee filled the store.

It was quiet here and Matt liked that. No one in the store looked at him with disgust and no one whispered words about him under their breath. Everyone was engaged in their books and coffee.

Matt began walking between the shelves, not really looking for anything. He thought about buying a book since it had been a long time since he escaped into a story.

"Looking for anything in particular?" Someone asked. He looked at the direction of the voice and saw the guy he ran into the other day outside the cemetery. It was Thomas.