LMAO
Author's note: The events that take place in this story take place before the events that have taken part in previous part's of the story. And there are also some plot hints in it too, for you greedy people.
Also, Seoul lives in a world much like Earth, perhaps even an alternate universe if I were to go that far ahead. Who knows? Even I don't.
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A new little boy moved in next to us.
He was almost my age, but towered over me by what seemed miles. Of course, I had only had the privelege of seeing him at a distance so far, but nevertheless, my new neighbor was a giant. And it seemed he was quite an clumsy giant from the looks of it.
The neighborhood children who had already had the good or maybe bad fortune of meeting him, watched him from secret hiding places around his house. His tall form had given him long, lanky limbs that seemed to be moving of their own accord as he walked down the stairs one day or rather stumbled down them into a big pile of limbs and blue shorts. Part of me wanted to help as I watched through the open screen panels of my front door, but I hesitated as the children surrounding his house burst out into the giggles. I didn't want to be subjected to the same.
I had never been an especially bold or adventurous child, I usually stuck to playing in my own yard, alone or with one of my siblings. I wasn't one of those kids who played almost habitually with other children. I didn't want to. I prefered playing alone when I could in the comfort of my own backyard, imaging I was somewhere where there was an adventure to be found. Western fantasies were my favorite, and as I watched this new kid on my street being terrorized like the poor citizens in a western film. My mind cried out in shame. You could be helping him! Be just like the western heroes you idolize so much! I cocked my imaginary guns and stuck them by the just as imaginary holsters stapped to my waist. I was going in.
If only I had a cowboy hat! My courage failed my for a second and I retreated behind the door again, watching the new kid struggle to get up then fall down again purposefully, resigning himself to the laughing and embarassment. Sadly, I had left it in my room on a high shelf today, instead of taking it outside and carrying it around like usual. I puffed my chest out boldly, arms out by my sides in a macho pose. Real cowboys didn't need a hat to prove themselves.
"Hey! You kids stop laughing at him!" I yelled through a cupped hand as loudly as I could without upsetting the neighbors. The children stared for a second, then left, staring incredulously over their shoulders at me. They had never even seen me talk.
As far as I was concerned, it wasn't worth the waste of breath. I hmphed, then stuck out my tongue at them as the began to break into a quicker stride. I had scared them away.. and it almost felt good. I was brought back down to the ground as the kid tugged on my leg insistently from his akward postion on the ground. I helped him up with one hand, standing by in silent waiting as he brushed the dirt and grass off the front of himself. He sneezed.
"I haven't met you yet, have I? The other kids talked about you before, more gossip than anything real though. They said you don't talk much." The young boy in front of me extended a long arm and a huge hand. I shook it, a bit out of my own comfort zone. "I'm Krao."
"I'm S-Seoul." He shook my hand with a solid grip, so much so my hand throbbed when he let go. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Do you like cowboys?"
"Like them?" The boy raised a brow, and I began to sweat and fiddle with my hands behind my back. Maybe he doesn't like them at all... "I love them! Do you want to play cowboys with me? No one has asked me to play since I got here, only laughed."
"Sure! We can both be sheriffs or cowboys or whatever you want! As long as you don't fall down too much." I smirked, feeling more comfortable around him than I had ever felt around anyone else my entire life. "I won't laugh at you... at least not too hard."
"Deal!" We ran off towards my backyard, and I told him to wait while I got my cowboy hat along with my other cowboy toys from my room. I slammed the screen door open, almost running into Mother.
"Seoul! Watch were you are going, dear!" She waved a hand, then went back to folding the laundry she had fetched from the backyard before we had gotten there. She smiled to herself, knowing I had finally found a friend to play with, for she had been watching out the screen door ever since she had heard me yell at the top of my lungs. Her eyes shone proudly as she continued to fold the laundry, whistling a tune, as I whipped around the corner, almost sliding into the wall.
My room was tidy, almost perfectly tidy, abnormal for a kid my age, but normal for me. I climbed onto my bed at grabbed all the cowboy things I could grab on the high shelf. I plopped onto my bed, then slid off it as fast as I could with my treasures in the nook of my arm. I went quietly past Father's office room this time, the sound of him arguing into the phone went through the walls as if were standing right next to me. His boss, Mr. Valentine, was trying to get him to move to the city sometime in the next year. Father wanted to stay here as his fevered arguement suggested. Uncaring as a child should be, I snuck out the screen door and sprinted towards the backyard carefree.
"What took you so long?" Whined Krao, in that sort of high pitched voice that only a young boy can accomplish.
"I went fast!" I argued, pouting with the guns and my hat in my arms.
"Nu uh. I could have gone faster, even with my tripping!"
"I went as fast as I could! Now let's play!" I handed him one of my spare guns and we set off into the deep forest that was behind my house. "Isn't this place great for playing cowboys in? We can have shootouts!" He followed close behind, actually quite fast when he wasn't trying to be.
I knew we were going to be great friends. Even if I was going to move, I would still enjoy the time we had playing cowboys together in the back woods every day until the very day I moved away to the city. Part of me felt I was meant to meet him, and he was meant to meet me like some sort of pre-determined destiny.
Maybe we'll meet again.
