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And the grass where you lay left a bed in your shape, I looked over it and I ached. |
—Mitski, "Strawberry Blond" | |
An Outline in His Shape is a 2019-introduced ficlet written by amatoresx. The ficlet is centered around the characters Everett Horn and Kaden Radcliffe as younger boys both aged ten. The story itself is written from Everett's perspective in third person point of view, with the setting being just outside the Village of Book End, in the year 2008 – six years before the current events of the canon involving my primary characters.
Story[]
"Everett?"
Kaden asked; he lay comfortably on the bed of grass, alongside his dearest friend Everett, who lied to his right side. His blue-gray eyes still maintained a solid gaze at the cerulean skies filled with puffy, white clouds of various amorphous shapes. Everett, hearing his name, turned to face him.
"Yes?" He answered with a question, curious of his friend's inquiry.
"We'll be friends forever, correct?"
Everett sat up and looked over to his friend, who was still staring up at the sky. As he sat up, the gentle wind blew his brunet locks slightly. Though he felt amusement at such a question, he also couldn't help but feel the corners of his mouth form a soft smile as he observed his and his friend's own state of tranquility, and at the question he'd just been asked.
"We will never be parted."
Saying this, Everett laid his right hand on Kaden's left hand. Kaden's stare towards the sky broke as he noticed the soft touch of Everett's palm suddenly laid on his. He sat up and glanced at his hand, then looked at Everett. A soft chuckle escaped from his mouth as he found himself grinning at the gesture. Soon, another hand laid itself on Everett's hand – it belonged to Kaden.
"If you say it," Kaden said, glancing at Everett, "then it must be correct."
"Hmm," Everett hummed. His expression softened at the sight of Kaden's other hand on his. With curiosity in his tone, he asked him, "Why did you ask?"
As he waited for a response, Everett watched as Kaden drew his hand away – the one he laid on top of Everett's hand – and moved the hand laying underneath Everett's in order to allow their fingers to intertwine together. Soon enough, as they lay in the grass, their hands were locked. Everett felt time had frozen around Kaden and him. To him, there was no wind blowing, nor where there rolling fields all around them.
"Oh," Everett whispered as he examined his and Kaden's hands. He felt the tender touch of a thumb rubbing his palm. Then he looked to examine Kaden's image, whose attention was once again towards the cerulean skies overhead. "Hey," Everett said, in an attempt to gain his friend's attention, "Kaden?"
"Hm?" Kaden turned to Everett after hearing his name called. "I'm sorry, were you calling for me?"
To Everett's dismay, Kaden also released his hand from his and drew it towards his side. Not even a minute passed before Everett began missing the touch of Kaden's fingers locked with his. As he left an empty and lonely space in Everett's palm, he also left a empty feeling lingering in Everett's heart and fingers.
"Ah, well," Everett mumbled, with the thought of Kaden's hand still in his thoughts, "I simply wanted to know why you had asked me that question earlier."
"Oh, well," Kaden shrugged, gazing up at the skies again. "To be frank, I asked on a whim. I don't really know why I asked you, honestly."
"I see," Everett replied. He turned his face away from Kaden's, then he found himself relaxing as he began to recline on the grass. The breeze seemed to return, and so did the rolling fields.
Kaden suddenly rose from the grass. Once he was on his feet, he began to slowly walk in the direction of the Village of Book End. "Auntie said she wanted me home soon," he said, turning to speak to Everett. He gave his friend a half-smile and a farewell-wave before his slow walk quickened into a fast pace towards the village.
Everett, sitting up, watched as Kaden's back became smaller, and the strawberry blond locks of his hair flowing in the breeze. Soon Kaden disappeared into the village once he escaped from Everett's view. He then looked over to the spot where Kaden had lain, and noticed an outline in the bed of grass – an outline in his shape.
Noticing this, Everett breathed out a weary sigh. He laid his hand on the same area of grass his and Kaden's fingers were intertwined together, where the outline in the grass was. The gentle gust of wind that had been blowing intermittently earlier calmed down again, and once again, time seemed to have stopped for Everett.