We Live Among Ghosts

[almostinhuman]

"I'll fight them on this. I promise."

She meant it, too.

"Thanks for this. I think... I think it helped."

She could sense the conversation winding down. He'd be leaving, and she wasn't sure if she wanted him to or not. But they'd probably already said all they were gonna say, so there wasn't much use fighting it. Especially when, all things considered, he was a still a bit of an awful reminder of them both. Just because she didn't hate him so bad anymore didn't make him any less painful to look at.

She looked up at him, searching his eyes already for an answer to a question she was about to ask.

"See you around?"

She knew what his answer would be, but she wasn't sure if he'd mean it.

[Catche Jagger]

“Yeah. I’ll see you around.” Alan smiled, giving her a nod. He wasn’t even sure himself whether he was telling the truth when he said that, or just bullshitting, but he hoped it was the former. Giving a somewhat uneasy wave, he slowly made his way back over to the bike, rubbing his eyes as he hit the kickstand.

There wasn’t a whole lot to be gained from talking to Karen here, it turned out. After even a brief interaction just came out feeling more confused about the Greenes, and how he was supposed to deal with what happened.

But that’s the way it was going to be now, wasn’t it? Of all people, Alan was going to have to get all philosophical and learn how to make sense of it on his own. At least a cruel, uncaring universe still found ways to be darkly funny.

“You’re a good kid, Karen.” He said aloud, not turning to see if she’d actually heard him before he began to pedal off and begin on the road home.