As soon as I answered, she marched over to me and thrust the unidentified bottle against my chest.

"Drink," she commanded.

"What is it?" I asked, holding the bottle up, as if that would give me any indication.

She smiled and shrugged. "Who knows?"

Reassuring. I put the bottle to my lips. It tasted terrible and burned as it went down, which sent me into an immediate coughing fit. I held the bottle out for Saki, still coughing. She took it, laughing.

"I think I might've been wrong. You will be fun, after all. Come on." She jerked her head in the direction of the apartment.

I followed her around the back of the building.

"Where are we going?" I croaked.

She smirked over her shoulder. "You'll see."

The place could use a power wash, not to mention the state of the busted and boarded windows and doors. It'd probably been abandoned for a while. Saki led me up some stairs to a broken window on the second floor. She straddled the windowsill, and then pulled her other leg in, disappearing inside.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked from the darkness.

My life choices could definitely use some work. My heartbeat had quickened again. It was a warning this time. I was nervous. That didn't happen to me a lot. More. I needed more.

I placed my hands on the windowsill and entered the same way Saki did. She stood in the center of the room, waiting for me. We were probably standing in a bedroom, but it didn't have any furniture. There wasn't a lot of light to pick out fine details, but I did notice a collection of empty bottles and cans in the corner. A closet door hung off its hinges. It had certainly seen better days.

Without saying anything, Saki started moving again. Dry leaves, from who knows how many autumns ago, crunched under our feet as we walked down the hall. Outside was well lit from the clear sky and street lamps, but this building was so dark I could barely see Saki in front of me. Fortunately, she seemed to know exactly where we were going. We entered another bedroom. This one had the window intact, which brought in a little light. There was a rolled up futon and several partially burned candles sitting on a crate in the corner-dry, bubbled strings of wax stuck to its side."Do you sleep here?" I asked.

"Sometimes," she answered, trading her bottle for a baseball bat that was leaning against the wall.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because sometimes I don't feel like going home."

"Are your parents that bad?"

She let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled her head around to look at me. "Don't get all sentimental on me, idiot. Sometimes, it's just easier this way."

Dodging my questions again? That was fine. I wouldn't press it, not just yet. I couldn't have her running off on me again.

"What's the bat for?" I asked.

"You're in for a treat." She flipped the bat over her shoulder. "I had a special activity planned for today."

"Guess I'm in luck then," I said a little hesitantly.

"Although..." She wrapped her free hand around the other side of the bat and pulled it into her neck, leaning her head back. "I should have asked you this before, but is your girlfriend alright with you being out here? I wouldn't want to be the cause of a breakup."

Too late for that.

"I'm surprised you care about stuff like that," I said.

She chuckled. "Don't get me wrong. It just creates a lot of unnecessary problems for me."

I stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets. "Well, you don't have to worry. She broke up with me the other day."

"Really? I guess that's not surprising."

"It isn't?"

"Of course not," she said. "Love is a lie."

I laughed. "That's a little pessimistic coming from a high school student, don't you think?"

"No." She whirled the bat around and pointed it at me. "I think all you idiots are just in need of a serious reality check."

I shrugged. "I think all the happy couples might disagree with you."

"They are just confused." She rested the end of the bat on the ground. "Love isn't magic. It's just a bunch of chemicals in your brain encouraging you to breed."

I laughed again. "So this whole dating game is a waste of time? Casual sex is the way to go?"

"Maybe, maybe not." She shrugged. "Compatibility and good qualities are important in mates. It's how the species survives."

Her viewpoint sounded kind of warped, but maybe she had a point. It's not like I had any luck in my relationships so far. I couldn't say I agreed exactly, but I think arguing with her would have been a waste of time.

"I guess I haven't got any personal examples for a good rebuttal," I said.

"In any case, I'm happy she broke up with you. Now I don't have to hold back." She walked out of the room, bat in hand.

What did that mean?

I followed her out of the apartment all together and back outside to the ground floor. We stood several yards away from the building.

"We are going to play a game." Saki bent down and picked up a rock. "The idea is to hit the rock into the windows on the ground floor." She tossed the rock up and down in her hand. "Understand?"

"Won't someone hear us breaking windows?" I asked

"Doubt it. Most of the places around here aren't occupied. This isn't the first time I've smashed stuff around here at night."

I didn't doubt that.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Sounds kind of dangerous," I said.

Not to mention, illegal.

She grinned. "That's part of the fun."

She threw the rock up in the air, connecting the bat with it on the way down. It flew through the air and smashed a hole in one of the windows. She giggled and jumped up and down.

What had I gotten myself into?

"Your turn." She held the bat out towards me.

I took the bat and found a rock. I threw it up as she had done and swung the bat, missing the rock completely.

"You suck." She laughed. "Try again."

I grumbled and picked up the rock to try again. I hit it into the wall of the building.

"Again," Saki urged.

I got a different rock and tried one more time. It hit the side of the building again.

"Stop." Saki walked in front of me and held out her arms. "Your problem is visualization. This game is meant to act as a stress reliever. Picture something that pisses you off and imagine that as the window."

I thought about it for a moment, but couldn't think of anything. I wasn't really enjoying most things I did, but none of those things made me mad.

"I don't think I have anything like that," I said.

"Well, aren't you just Mr. Lucky?" she scoffed. "Don't be an idiot. Everyone has something that makes them mad."

I shrugged.

She sighed. "What about your parents? Still pretty much out of the picture?"

"How did you know?"

"Weren't you the one who asked me if I remembered you? I've been to your house. You said they left you alone all the time, for days at a time even. Who the hell leaves a thirteen year old alone for that long?"

I looked down and rubbed my shoe across the dirt. "My neighbor stopped by to check on me a lot."

She let out an exasperated sigh and titled her head back. "Seriously, Kaito? I suppose it was all alright then? You're a perfectly well adjusted individual?"

"I didn't say that."

"No shit you didn't, because healthy people don't seek people like me out. You think all the happy people are out at eleven at night smashing rocks into windows?" She pointed at the building.

I chuckled "Probably not."

"Exactly. Your face is not the face of someone who is fine. Bottling up emotions is not good. This is a release. So, pick up the bat and get mad." She took a few steps back.

My face, huh? Was it that obvious?

I took a deep breath and tried again. It smashed into the same window Saki hit. The glass shattered and crumbled from the window. There was something very satisfying about that sound. I smiled.

"You're still not doing it right," she said.

"What are you talking about?" I pointed at the window. "I broke it, didn't I?"

"Breaking it is not the point. I told you it's meant as a stress reliever. It's therapy via destruction."

"You didn't say that in the beginning. You just told me to break windows."

"Well, I'm telling you now." She folded her arms. "You're playing the game wrong."

I shook my head. "I don't understand."

"I'll show you." She walked over and took the bat from me.

I moved away and watched her hit a rock into another window.

She giggled and clapped. "See?"

I didn't at all. I walked over and took the bat from her, then hit another rock, trying to match her stance and facial expression. It smashed into a window. She sighed and hung her head.

"No good?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Let's try a new approach. How do you feel when you actually talk to your parents?"

I shrugged. "Fine, I guess? I only talk to them once a week."

"They only come home once a week?" she asked.

"No." I shook my head. "I talk to them over the phone. I only see them in person a few times a year."

"What are they doing?"

"Working, usually."

"Usually?"

I nodded. "Sometimes they take vacations."

She gave me a confused look. "Without you?"

I nodded again.

"That doesn't piss you off?"

"Not really." I shrugged. "I get the whole house to myself all the time. I can do whatever I want."

She clicked her tongue. "That's such bullshit, Kaito."

I gave a short laugh. "It isn't."

"Really?" she asked. "Then why does it sound like a line you've been feeding to yourself?"

That really wasn't fair. How could she see inside me so clearly? I couldn't read her at all. I had no idea what she was thinking.

"Try again," she said. "This time, picture your parents in the window."

"That seems a little violent."

She smiled. "Of course it is."

I shook my head, picked up another rock, and hit it into a window. There was a stinging in my cheek. I rubbed it with my fingers and brought them to my face. Blood. What had I cut myself on? Had a shard of glass flew all the way back here? A piece of rock, maybe? At least it hadn't been my eye.

"That's worse you know," she said, walking towards me.

"Hm? What is?" I asked.

She got close. So close, I could smell the alcohol on her breath. She pressed up against me and cupped my face with her hand. A normal person might have moved, but I didn't want to. Her body felt good pressed against mine and I was dying to see what she would do next.

"If you're not mad, it means you've gone numb." Her voice was much softer than before. She brought her lips to my ear. "But, not to worry." She slowly slid her tongue along the cut on my cheek. "I'll wake you up."

I thought my heart might fly out of my chest.

"My turn." She grabbed the bat and twirled away from me.

I stood back. What the hell was that? Was that an example of not holding back? I should've been freaking out, I guess. Who goes around licking people's wounds? But I wasn't. I was more intrigued than anything else. What did it mean? Was it sexual? It certainly felt that way to me, but she wasn't exactly normal. Part of the game? A test? Was it just drunken weird behavior?

"Kaito!" she shouted.

"Huh?" I said, snapping back to reality.

"Are you falling asleep over there?"

Falling asleep? I don't think I'd ever been further from sleep in my life.

"Sorry," I said. "Spacing out. Is it my turn?"

"Yep." She tossed me the bat.

I caught it and went over to stand next to her.

"What do you and your parents talk about when they call?" she asked.

I shrugged. "The usual stuff, I guess. They ask me about school."

She titled her head back groaned. "Come on. You're not giving me anything to work with here."

"Sorry." I chuckled.

"Why do you even answer the phone? Do you like talking to them?"

"I only ever talk to my mother, but if I don't answer the phone she will just keep leaving messages."

"Keep leaving messages? So you've tried to ignore her before?"

"I just wanted to see what they'd do." I started grinding the head of the bat against the ground. "About a year ago, I didn't answer the phone for five weeks in a row."

"What happened?"

"She just kept leaving the same message over and over again, 'Sorry we missed you. Hope you're doing well.' After the fifth week, they finally sent a neighbor over."

"That!" Saki shouted.

I jumped. "What?"

"The look on your face. I saw it just now. The hurt and anger." She pointed to the window. "Focus on that and hit the rock." She stepped away from me.

I picked up a rock and threw it up in the air. As it came down, I pictured listening to that stupid message week after week. It was always the same one, never the slightest fluctuation or notes of concern in her voice. She couldn't even muster up something like, "I hope you're okay." I swung the bat with a yell. The rock flew into the window, shards of glass splintering everywhere. The sound was even better now.

"Yes. Yes. That's it!" Saki cheered and danced in a circle.

"That felt really good." I laughed.

"Right? You want to keep going?"

I nodded eagerly. "Absolutely."

We took turns at bat. Every time it was my turn, I'd think of something different. Absences from school functions; another window. Missed birthday parties; another window. My father not ever bothering to pick up the phone; another window. Before I knew it, we had reached the end of the apartment, and we were out of windows.

"So, how do you feel?" she asked.

"Amazing. I haven't felt this good in a while, actually." I was a little out of breath.

"Good." She nodded.

I pulled out my phone.

"Shit. It's after midnight." I held the phone out, showing her the time.

She laughed. "So, what? Afraid you're going to turn into a pumpkin or something?"

"No." I put the phone away. "We do have school tomorrow, though. I should probably get going. Shouldn't you be getting to bed too?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

"You want me to walk you home?" I asked.

"No." The joy from her face faded and she pointed a finger in my face. "You can never, ever come to my house. Do you understand? If you do, you'll regret it."

I put my hands up. "I understand."

"Good." She put her finger down.

That mood shift sure was quick. It really bothered me. I could never go there? Why? What was so bad about that place that she was hiding out here? I decided to let it drop. It would have to be gently probed at another time. Right then, I just needed to make sure I saw more of her.

"You are coming to school tomorrow, right?" I asked.

She snorted. "Why should I?"

"Because, you've already missed two days," I said. "Plus, I get the feeling school is going to be a lot more entertaining with you there."

She grinned. "Alright, I suppose I'll come, but just for you."

I smiled. "Good. I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight."

"Night."

I gave her one last wave before turning the corner to the front of the building. I started smiling for no reason at all. That stupid smile stayed plastered on my face the whole way home.