**Shiloh's Pov**
As expected, I was the first to arrive.
The park that we were told to meet at was only around ten minutes away from our school. It was built in 1962 to commemorate our country's freedom from slavery, so it had many statues, paintings, and other art forms that represented a part of the country's rich history. The largest was the fifteen-foot statue that was in front of the park gates: two naked slaves facing each other, looking up at the sky.
I knew all of them like the back of my hand, not because I particularly enjoyed art, but because Freedom park was somewhere that I visited often. I enjoyed the peaceful scenery and the quiet atmosphere; when you live in a house where it was rare to hear yourself think, you grow to appreciate places like this one.
I liked to come here when I was having an especially terrible headache, like now. Maybe the house was just more noisy than usual these days, but this headache was the worst that I had ever experienced. It felt like something was trying to escape from inside my skull, drilling and setting off explosions to break through the bone. It wasn't just once that I felt like it was almost successful. This was that "put me out of my misery" type of pain.
'If it wasn't for the fact that being at home made the headache worse, and that David asked me to be here, I wouldn't have dragged myself out of bed to be here.' I winced and placed a hand on my forehead. I could only hope that David's plans were as good as he said they were so that no one would make my headache worse.
I didn't think it was going to go as well as he expected, but seeing the way he approached me after so long with such a strong light in his cartoony eyes made my heart crack a little. I couldn't bring myself to say anything. Being the asshole was Lith's job anyway.
Speaking of Lith... That was another headache to deal with. We hadn't spoken since we broke up, and I could feel the awkwardness already. It's not like we hadn't talked at all since, but it was only to check in with each other periodically and the most that we'd say is: "You good?" and some variation of "Yeah." or in his case, he'd say "Naturally."
The relationship meant a lot to me, so when we broke up, it took its toll. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but I could see through those empty eyes that he wasn't as carefree as he liked to pretend to be. I was a little worried about him, not that I would ever tell him.
A white limousine pulled up at the front of the park, slowing down to a complete stop at the bench that I was sitting on. My danger radars instantly went off. I didn't want to continue my acting career playing "the girl who got kidnapped in front of that park."
I rose from the bench when I saw the back door swing open with the speed that it did. Yep, I'm going, I thought as I turned to run.
"Abigail!" shouted someone from behind me. It was a familiar voice. Relief washed over me. Shiloh lives another day without being kidnapped.
"Don't call me tha- ack" I greeted back, but before I could even finish my statement, the sight of Wynn made my headache flare. The pain nearly tripled, and my legs buckled under the pain - not even my own body expected that one. A series of images flashed through my mind, all with Wynn as the subject.
Not this again! I tried to suppress the images, along with the pain. The last thing I needed was to go crazy. This was happening for the past few days: whenever I looked in the mirror or looked at one of my friends, I would see some outlandish things, things that a therapist would hand you to the police for. I learned that the best thing to do was to just let it pass, but I didn't want anyone to see me like this.
Eventually, the images slowed to a stop. Messages rushed in from the real world as my senses returned to me. Opening my eyes revealed I was back on the bench. Wynn was in front of me, an expression of worry carved into his face. He was pacing back and forth, trying to think of a solution to my unconsciousness, not realizing that I was already awake.
It was heartwarming to see him worry, also funny, but I interrupted him. "I'm fine."
His head jerked in my direction. I expected him to sigh in relief or something. Instead of showing that he cared about his friend, the first thing that came from his mouth was: "Please don't tell anyone about what you saw!" He pleaded, going so far as to get on his knees and put his hands together.
My heart jumped. Did he know about the visions?
"If Lith, Ashur, Calvin, or Howin find out about it, they'll make fun of me for the rest of my life." He pleaded.
'Ah, yes, the major problem here is you not wanting to be rich, not my being unconscious.' I sighed in disappointment, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the white kid's biggest problem is being rich.
"It's fine, Wynn, I won't tell them. Just don't call me that name again."
"Done."
He rose from the ground, surprising me with his height. Wynn towered over me. Even though I was sitting, the height difference was crazy. The little kid I knew before was gone... Until he opened his mouth at least. Wynn grew from a short, chubby, redheaded kid to someone who could be a model: chiseled jawline and everything. It was too bad that he did it all for a girl, or else I would be proud of him for making that change.
All the boys that I used to tower over were now taller than me. The world is so unfair. At least none of them let it get to their heads, or else I would have to beat them up like I used to.
"Your father bought a new limousine, huh?" I asked, trying to start a conversation before Wynn's illness kicked in.
"Yeah.. My brother ran away." The way he said it was too casual for the topic at hand. There was a loud silence that I did not have the words to interrupt. Honestly, the absurdity made me want to laugh, but I couldn't do that to him.
He must have caught himself admitting that he's not poor like the rest of us.
"Wait, what limo? I don't see a limo?"
I laughed. "It's ok to be rich bro, just share the wealth and I'll never say a word to anyone else."
Instead of laughing with me, he shifted his weight to one side as he tried to take his wallet out, and handed me a bill. He pulled out money from his wallet, and I was stunned by the logo on it. I couldn't help but look at him with pity. "I was kidding..."
"I knew that!" He put it back while his face turned red. That was one thing that I liked about Wynn and Howin; you always knew when they were embarrassed. Their expressions could be stone-cold, but their blood always spoke the truth.
"Why'd your brother run away?"
"My dad said that he was chasing women again."
"Do you believe him?" I asked, but realized how it sounded. I added something else to neutralize it. "Well, either way, we're here for you."
"Whatever B... I'm chilling."
A cringe ran through every vertebra of my spine. That was how Lith used to talk, calling people "B" ironically, so the rest of them adopted that way of speaking. Lith didn't know what B stood for, he just thought that it was funny. I found it annoying at first, but eventually, it grew on me. Anyone else made it sound cringy, especially Wynn.
I knew he got the message, but just to make sure, I put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to penetrate his cool guy exterior, and reach the nerdy comic-loving Wynn.
"But still... Don't you ever say that again."