Saxum and Alex

               "I've always loved turtles." He said as he let the animal crawl out of his arms and onto the grass. It settled in a puddle and opened its mouth in response to Alex's treatment. "Does that mean it likes me?" Sax was busy picking rocks from the ground. "I think it's thirsty." 

              Sax showed Alex the stone he found. "This one looks like pyrite, which is odd for a forest to have." It stunk like eggs. He liked it, and he put it in his fanny pack. He picked up another rock. "This rock is metamorphic, but I don't know what it is. I do know that this stone is made of, like, lava that cooled. At the top, there are these lesions that popped, and you can even see the holes." Alex was happy to have Sax back in his life. He didn't say anything; Alex wanted to wait until Sax was finished talking about his rocks. What he said a long time ago made him learn how to shut up and listen. "This one has this congealed film on top of it, and that was, probably, the lava. And down here," he turned around the rock, "it looks like it fused to another rock, and there are petrified leaves inside it. This is, literally, a story in history." 

              Alex smiled at Sax and noticed that the turtle crawled into the trees. "It does look like that. It makes me want to paint it. Were there dinosaurs there?" 

             Sax looked for more interesting rocks in the dirt. He shrugged and dropped more in his pocket. "It has really old strata, so maybe it is from a non-mammalian era?" Sax didn't have an answer proving it was from a time with dinosaurs, and Alex set off on a journey for different leaves. "Hey, ask the tree if you can take them; don't be mean to it. You wouldn't want it ripping out your hair." Sax tied his shoe.

              Alex laughed, but the sound got lost in the wind. Sax's hard-of-hearing ears couldn't pick up on it. He ran and caught up to Alex, who was already far down the nature walk. "Wait!!" 

              He caught up to him, and Alex already had a bag full of leaves he took from the trees. "I'm going to take pictures of the branches, and then I'm going to burn them. Do you want to have a bonfire tonight?" He took out his lighter and saw it still had juice. 

              "What are we going to eat? We could find mushrooms. Oh no, we're staying the whole night!" Alex noticed Sax's back and saw there was a missing backpack. "We left the food in the car," he paused and processed it himself, "which is too far away to go back to right now." Alex kneeled and picked up vegetation. 

              He showed them to Sax. "We will eat a feast tonight, and it will have leaves and fish and mushrooms. We'll eat these leaves!" He held the bag of tree branches in the air and counted with his fingers each item on the menu as he spoke.

              "Alex, we don't have fishing rods. I really should have planned better for this trip." Sax viewed in the distance for a body of water.

              Alex searched and found a pond. "Let's just fish with our bare hands." In his eyes, he had a plan. He never meant something so seriously, unless he had a smile on his face.

              "You're gonna fish with your bare hands?" He laughed as he imagined the scene of him diving in the water. "I wanna see that; I'm gonna record it."

              Alex put the leaves in his backpack. "I will fish with my bare hands, and I will love it." Saxum laughed and carried on walking. "I'd love the views, by the way! I want more followers." 

              He ran to Sax's side. "On all your social media?" He asked, watching for a place to settle for the night. "I'm taking a break from my apps. It's too much work keeping up with notifications."

              "You could turn off the notifications." They went deeper into the thicket. The light left their visions, and they walked into the shadows.

              "Yes, but what happens if I miss something?" He spoke with his hands and signed why. 

              "It's alright to take breaks from it. I don't know how I keep up with social media anymore. I kind of wish the world could go back in time, but that wouldn't be nice to see. We'd only regress." The sky turned a little more orange.

              "And if we stop moving society forward, we stop society." Sax eventually noticed the orange sky.

              "Yeah, it's better to keep the past in mind, while coping with the future. And starting the future's even better!" Alex became more aware of the setting sun.

              "I'm sorry for the past, Sax." Sax grabbed his hand and ran into the woods. 

             "I forgave you a hundred times for the fight. We're running out of daylight!" They went to the nearest opening and got to work."It's my fault for this mess, Alex."

*****

              Alex sat in his room, and his backpack was still on his back. There were clothes littered on the dirty bed, and he wore the same shirt he wore for a week. Everyone in eighth grade knew him by that shirt; it bore the logo of a dead energy drink brand. Some people said he was cool because of it, and his teachers talked about how they used to like them. One teacher said it was good that the brand disappeared, but he didn't seem to get what they meant.

              It was a while since Alex and Sax last spoke. The last time they saw each other face to face was too long ago; it had been over a year. They used to live five minutes away from each other's houses, but Sax moved out of state, leaving Alex where they'd always been.

              They both took it well after he moved, but slowly they began to drift. Time broke the old rift, and Alex was the first one to say something. When the text fight started, Alex thought he was right, and Sax desperately wanted to know what was happening to them. Alex started one final conversation; he unlocked his phone and went to his messages.

              Hey

              He sent the text.

              Immediately, Sax responded.

               Hey

              Do you want to fix this? His face showed no feeling; his body was so tense. 

              He didn't respond for a few minutes. 

              Sorry, I was with my girlfriend Asa.

              I thought Leah was your girlfriend. 

              We broke up after I moved. Alex couldn't see any tone from Sax's messages; he saw a different person send this round of words.

              Oh. Alex sat in bed, and the light on the ceiling bothered his eyes. He took a breath before returning to the conversation. He saw more notifications, but he let them sit. He looked at his phone and waited for the minutes to pass. He waited for 8:58 to become 8:59, and he waited for 8:59 to change to 9:00. He wanted 9:00 to be the time he looked at the texts, but 9:02 was the time he opened the phone.

              Who is this? He sent.

             Um… me

              How do I know? You never talked about Asa.

              I'm sorry. I thought you knew

              I'm blocking your number.

              No!

              Now you're suspicious. How do I know this is you?! Sax's response scared Alex, and he stopped responding. Alex continued sending texts proving his identity, but he didn't get anything in return. He put down the phone and processed what he did, and he wondered what Sax was doing without him. Was he happy they were no longer friends, or was he crying, like Alex? Alex went to bed, and he wished he'd never wake up from this sleep. 

*****

              Beep. beep. beep. "Your total is $9.18." They gave him the money, and he placed it in the till. "Have a good day." He closed it with his hips. 

             "You too." They walked to the door, and he stood in the silence of the store. He lived his day as a cashier, as he normally did on the weekends. He had his breaks and bought items he needed. He looked at new types of candy for sale, and he carried a candy bar back to the register. "Maybe." He muttered as someone walked to the register with a shopping cart of items. 

              They had common groceries, with bread, milk, and eggs, along with an impulse or two. They had chicken nuggets, peas, green beans, potatoes, rice, and a pan." He did his job fine enough, but how can you excel at manning a register? Time passed through the day, and he went home. He checked the mailbox, and he found a letter hiding in the junk mail and newspapers. It was a letter from Sax and his family. He opened as he stood on the side of the quiet road.

              It was an invitation to Sax's high school graduation ceremony in a month. He saw pictures of Sax in a few tailored suits with his hair done, and his face turned red. He had to catch his breath, and he coughed a few times. He wheezed, and he gagged. He teared up and saw he never changed fashion-wise. There were a few pictures of him in casual clothes, and he still wore the same flowy aesthetic. He looked back at his style and saw he never changed, in any perspective. He reread the purple letter and cherished every moment. He went inside to tell someone.

              He took time to look at the pictures again, looking at how he grew. He had a completely different body type, which wasn't something Alex thought would happen. Alex physically changed, except he got smaller. He left his room and told the rest of the house.

*****

      Alex waited by the phone day and night. The strings were pulled, although he didn't like the way it played. He got Sax back in his life. He saw he had a text, and he wanted it to be Sax. Alex needed Sax to say something; he didn't have his number, and he didn't want to talk to him online. This was a test to show if he did want him back, and he was ready to listen.

              Hey, this is Sax! My dad said you wanted to text me. He didn't expect the text to arrive that quickly. 

              Hey, this is Alex. He was typing on his computer, copying and pasting code from a website, and running code after fixing every bug.

            Do you want to call maybe? He yearned to hear his voice again to see how it changed and how grown-up he sounded.

              What's up? A few minutes passed, and he fixed some syntaxes.

              Sorry, I was making food. I might want to call later. I'm not doing much right now. Rn, I'm eating nachos and thinking of what I'm going to do with my life lol. He waited another minute before responding and looked out the window at the sun outside. "I shouldn't look at screens this long." He spun his chair back to the desk and finally checked his phone.  

              I'm working on an AI. It's supposed to read faces. I might make it play games or teach math. I don't know what I want it to do yet. He responded and continued coding.

              My health is better now. Alex sent the text as he thought about the past months. Every day was another health issue, and at least once a day, he'd say his body hurt.

              That's nice. I had a coding class in middle school. I hope you get better. I've been sneezing all day. Saxum always had allergies, and he liked the smell of cut grass; he couldn't breathe it in, but he loved the smell. He also couldn't pet cats for too long, and Alex had a lot of cats. The memory of Sax moving a recliner with a moody cat on the top of it played in Alex's head. The cat scratched his hand, and he went home. 

              I could see you as a teacher. You taught me a lot. Alex thought he wanted to be a teacher, but it turned out he wanted to know more about his favorite topics.

              I don't know. He smiled at the phone and made a dumb laugh.

             What do you want to do? Alex always saw him as a healer of sorts. He was always caring and a little hyper, and he always wanted people to be happy with him.

              Sax typed and Alex waited for the message. For now, I'm spending some time doing hobbies, figuring out my future, and just thinking in general. I've been thinking of going into law enforcement and going somewhere else a few years later. 

              Hey, I have a question.

              What is it? He ran the code, and the next bug stopped the program. He whined and looked for the error message. "Syntax error: Line 24. End.program() not defined." He read it out and encapsulated line 24.

             Do you want to go camping with me after the graduation ceremony? There are these woods and I can drive there. Alex thought about it and stopped working on the code for the day.

*****

              They sat on the ground by the campfire. The sun had set, and Sax found a bag of marshmallows in Alex's backpack. He looked for sticks on the ground, while Alex opened his bag and got some metal sticks; he didn't tell him I had utensils on him. He went back to fixing the tent. He used the hammer he found in the attic at home and hammered it into the pegs. He redid a few of them, but in a few minutes, they could go inside the pitched tent. Alex fixed the sleeping bags and sat the backpacks and other containers in the corner by the heads of the beds. He turned off the flashlight on my phone. Sax crawled inside the tent and gave him some marshmallows. "The fire's done, but it'll take time for it to get bigger. It's a good thing we had marshmallows." He finished fixing the sleeping bags and ate the marshmallows in his hand. 

              Alex went to the fire and used the utensils he brought with him. Sax looked at them and looked at his stick. "Can I have one?" Alex gave him one and took in the night scene. Sax sat a few feet away from his old friend, and Alex wanted to get closer. It's been 4 years since Alex last saw him; he missed him so much, and somehow he was back. He moved closer to him and hugged Sax. He got so big, and he thought he would stay small. He guessed that's what happens when you haven't seen someone since they were fourteen. 

              "I missed you." The wind howled.

              "I missed you, too." They left the hug.

              "And you're really not mad at me?" Alex looked at him, but he was busy with the fire. 

              "I wanted to be like you if anything, but I never hated you." His face meant that statement. 

              "What do you want to do, after you work in law enforcement?" He thought for a minute.

              "I think I'll stay in that job until I can live off my clothing line." He slumped his back but fixed it when he noticed he was doing it. "I'll figure out the rest later. For now, all I know is I just finished high school. I have a car, and not a lot of people in this generation drive. I think that's special."

              "When did you start the business?" Alex's anxiety left for the first time. He felt happy for the first time in a while. Hearing Sax talk made him feel like there was no reason to worry. Alex didn't have anything to prove now; all the people he tried to please, so he could feel something, suddenly didn't matter.

               He yawned after the long drive and campfire-making procedure he did using his phone's light to see in the darkness. "I started a few months ago, but I haven't had any sales. I put a few shirts on the website, and so far there are a few views."

              "It'll take time to build your brand. You'll make it.!" My marshmallow burned in a way that made it taste better, but it fell in the fire. The air smelled like burnt sugar.

              "Thanks. So are you going to college? It was an honor to have you on the phone when I saw the acceptance email; it really was an honor." He watched the marshmallow turn brown on the fire, and watched Alex eat them raw. "You should roast them instead, you dork." Sax chuckled. 

             Auri placed three marshmallows on the prong. "I like them either way. I don't know if I'll go to college right now, but I'm getting everything ready for if I do. I need to think about these long-term decisions." He burned it again but removed the burnt areas.

              Sax took some pictures of the sky on a camera he bought on the way. "That sounds like a smart plan. You've always been wise." He picked a mushroom from the ground and stabbed it with the prong. "And if all else fails, you'll figure out something to help you. If that fails, it'll be better eventually."

            Alex kicked his legs, almost touching the fire. "That's an interesting way to think, and I like it. What was your least favorite memory from school?" They continued to talk until the flames died. Alex had a few days with Saxum, and he made sure to take these days slowly. He stabbed and roasted the leaves. "I told you I'd eventually burn them."