Saturday by the Lake

[kylo]

Kylo chuckled, now twirling the stick in his fingers. One moment, it was on the palm, through a finger, out another, twirling, twisting, as if it was dancing wildly to an unknown beat, He looked at her in the eyes, and saw a slightly wistful look in her eyes. He guessed, that like him, she had a pathological love of the beach, of water. Where he had lived, the whole place was sand, white sand, dry grass on tall dunes, red stone walls, huge cliff on one side, where the waves her so large that they would bowl you over before you could blink. The surf was great, it was like a heaven, except for the sharks.

"The whole place is beach!" He said, smiling his idiotic, quizzical grin. He had been on of the best surfer's, which was odd, because on land he couldn't walk a step without falling on his face. The water was a pearl blue, and pink shells scattered the area. But the sharks- he pointed to his scar, "This is one of things that happened their." He said dismisivly, thinking she might not be interested.

[Susan Matthews]

The way Kylo spoke of the beach, it seemed it both loved and missed it very much. I must be hard, Susan figured to live in a place like that, with the beach everywhere, and then to come here. The lake in front of which they were currently sitting, seemed so insignificant compared to how vast or great the ocean could be. A concerned look overcame Susan when Kylo mentioned his scar. She had a feeling he was looking for someone to confide in. She was touched that he had brought it up with her, that he trusted her enough to at least brush the concept of wanting to tell a secret. That was if he had intended for his comment to mean that in the first place.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Susan asked carefully. She didn't want to pressure Kylo into speaking of something that made him uncomfortable. She knew what it was like to keep a secret and what it was like to finally confide. She remembered how long it had taken to trust Dylan and vice versa. She wondered what had brought up such a trust in the two of them. She did feel drawn to Kylo, Susan found. She leaned a little closer to him, waiting to hear if he was alright with sharing the story behind the scar on his face.

[kylo]

Looking out at the lake, he thought how small it was combared to the vast ocean. But it was pieceful, bliss, tranquil.(except for the slimy tentacles that drifted above the surface on ocasion) The ocean had a dangerous beauty, one that would carress you one moment, and lure you out to sea, where you would fall into the grasp of the under toe, and pulled to your death. At half-tide, the waves came crashing together with enough force to crack a skull, killing you if it slammed into you, or dragging you over ragged and brutal rocks. But at sunrise, the sun peeks over the water, dazzling you with brightest gold, to calmest azul. A sight worth every rock it dragged you under.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He stiffened slightly, torn away from his thoughts. Confused for a minute, he mouthed it in his mind, the realized what she had said. "Oh, uh, sure." He said. His scar was something he didn't tell many people, it involved many things he didn't want to say. But for some reason, he felt he could trust her. He remembered the note, still crushed in his hands, torn, water-logged, burnt.

"Well..it was getting dark, you see." he said in a low, soft voice, "I was surfing, though I was not susposed to when it got dark. It's dangerous when you cannot see the sharks swimming below, or the douple crossing tide. Then had set deep or the horivon when I surfaced from the last wave. Only a silver was left." He hesitated, looking at her, making sure that she really wanted to know.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan's eyes lingered on the scar for a while before steadying themselves on Kylo's eyes. She was glad that Kylo felt comfortable sharing with her. Looking into his eyes, she leaned closer, eager to hear the whole story. From his long-winded introduction, Susan learned that not only did Kylo live at the beach, but he was a surfer too. Susan who was a fan of surfing, but could never manage it herself smirked at the stereotypical surfer that was far from anything similar to Kylo. Blond, tanned with intricate henna tattoos, confident, with the word "dude" prominent in their vocabulary . . . This wasn't Kylo at all. This made Susan happy. She loved breaking stereotypes. In fact, she lived for it.

[kylo]

Kylo bit his lep, looking searchingly in her pale blue eyes. What should he do? Tell the truth? Lie? Or only tell the parts she'll get, she'll understand, the parts that wont make him look like a freak? He decided he would carry on, until he got to the part, where he would think.

"Well," His voice was slightly raspy from akwardness, but he continued never the less. "Clouds were coming across the sky, faster then I could swim out. They were a purple mass, blossoming like a poisonous flower. Streaks of lightning flashed everywhere, and in five minutes, you couldn't see a think but the stormy clouds and waves frothing like rabid dogs. The noise was so, so loud, and I was stuck in the water." Half paying attention, he added in a whisper, "The noise was so colorful, so overwhelming.." But then, realizing what he had said, he looked up sharply, smacking himself. Oh well, she probably had no clue what he was talking about, and now thought he was raving. He'd half to explain..he mustered his courage, and could still vaguely remember the colors, the black blob of the thunder, the chalk baord white lines of thunder.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan listened intently to the continuation of Kylo's story. She could feel herself slipping into the story, imagining a much younger Kylo out at sea. His imagery was amazing in the fact that Susan could picture exactly what the clouds looked like and how the water felt to him. Susan heard the phrase uttered by Kylo,

"The noise was so colorful, so overwhelming.."

Susan had taken it as another perfect description of the boom of the thunder and the crack of the lightening. She was startled and brought out of her day-dream of Kylo's flashback. She had jumped when Kylo smacked himself. He had a look of regret on his face.

"What? What's wrong?" Susan asked worriedly. She had the notion that she had missed something in the story so far, or that Kylo was leaving something out. Her eyes focused on Kylo, she expected him to explain his random violence toward himself.

[kylo]

Blushing brillently, he looked at her, covering his mouth with his hand. He gave a small sigh, and looked at his feet. What did she think? Maybe she thought it was a description, or..not now that he smacked himself. He thought for a moment, then said quietly, "What I said about the colors being so overwhelming..does it make sense to if, at that time, I couldn't see, think, or hear anything because of them?" This was, in a way, the answer to her question.

IT was true though, the color of the noise had been so forceful he was blinded as they over lapped his vision, and he didn't notice the shark come until it was far to late. She looked worried, and he gave an apoligetic grin, but didn't explain himself further until she had answered it.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan took the explanation given to her. She sorted out Kylo's words in her head until she thought she understood. She related Kylo's description of how the noise was so loud that he could not see, hear, or think clearly because of them to a concert. She closed her eyes to remember the feeling that had come over her. It was a couple years ago, but she remembered it clearly. Surrounded by her friends, the mosh was packed, and the speakers were booming. She had remembered jumping and dancing and singing, but there were times when everything was black except for that distinct feeling of pure bliss. Susan realized that Kylo's feeling was certainly not bliss. But she figured that must have been was he was trying to get across.

"I think I understand," Susan told him. Putting all of her scattered thoughts into one sentence she said, "There was once a time when the music was so loud, I could see or think or even hear properly," she recalled the booming in her ears. She opened her eyes again, coming back from her own flashback this time. She looked to Kylo for a reply.

[kylo]

He watched her face curiously, with a hint of worry. She seemed to be having a flashback, and her eyes were slightly dreamy. He relaxed for a moment, though, in relaity, his muscles were winded tighter then a spring. Kylo gave her small, quizzical grin. That sounded a little like what he was talking about, except for the colors, of course. He decided to tell the story, and if she didn't uunderstand, he'll explain. He nodded, and said, "Yeah, the feeling was sort of like that..except..uh..well," Then, his motions hesitent, yet excited, he picked up the twig he had been playing with, and waved it in front of her.

"Now, tell me, what is this?" He asked, to her, out of the blue, but she would get it in a minute, perhaps.

[Susan Matthews]

Kylo didn't act as if Susan's description was what he was talking about, even if he sort-of agreed out loud. She waited for Kylo to decide what to do next. He had paused as if deciding how to tell her something. Unexpectedly, Kylo had picked up a twig and held it in front of the two of them. He asked her what he was holding. Susan stared, confused for a moment at the twig. Was it a trick question?

"Kylo, that's a stick," she said bluntly. She couldn't think of anything else Kylo could have been asking for. She winced slightly, waiting for his reply, knowing that "a stick" wasn't the answer he was looking for.

[kylo]

Kylo nodded, a small, sad smile on his face, he already knew the answer, that she would see what he saw, she couldn't see the flash of lime green, shaped like a egg, with purple dots on it when she heard the word. Now, he asked another question, knowing the answer, and in a sad voice, asked, "Tell, me, what colors do you see when you say, 'stick'?"

Now, whatever she said, he would have to explain how much of complete freak he was, that he could see things that others couldn't. Aw well, it's easier to bare if more people know it. He thought, nervously twirling the stick in his finger's.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan stared at Kylo for a moment, before returning her eyes to the twig. It was a small twig, thin but stiff. Stiff like it had been detached from its tree for a few days now. It was kind of crusty to break it, it would take more than a small tug. When it did break though, it would be a clean break and it was sure to have a distinct snap.

"I see a brown stick," she told Kylo, becoming frustrated. "What are you getting at?" she said with a stronger voice. She had the feeling that Kylo was messing with her. Susan didn't like being made fun of. What was she supposed to say? Did he know something about her affinity to Earth? Or was it simply a prop in some trick? Susan furrowed her brow staring at the twig. To her, it was just a stick. She had the feeling that Kylo was hiding something from her, that he wasn't letting on to something. The something that was a key point in his story.

[kylo]

Kylo nodded, giving her a small, apoligetic smile. Seeing she was fustrated, he began nervously twirling the stick at an even higher speed. He knew that he was probably making her upset, so he decided to end it was quickly as possible. He took a deep breath, and fixed his mind on a blade of grass. Grass, that was dark blue with soft green streaks, and it flaoted in the air for a few seconds after the sounded.

"Now..have you ever heard of a..a condision..called synesthesia,?" Yes, that was what it was called, the abilty to see colors when you see or hear things, words, sounds, letters, numbers, they all had an unicue color.

[Susan Matthews]

Susan looked up quickly as she recognized the work spoken. Synesthesia, thought her her self. Her Greek and Latin vocabulary working a definition in her head. She struggled to remember where she had heard the word before and what it had meant. It was obviously a sort of condition, as Kylo had mentioned. Susan also concluded that it had something to do with colors if it pertained to Kylo's question's about the stick and the comments on the noise and its "color".

"I've heard of it before," Susan told Kylo slowly, still thinking of what it could mean. Was it bad? Could Kylo be sick? And was he going to die? Was it a Learning disability? Did it affect his brain or his heart? Was it contagious? Questions flew through Susan's head as she struggled to come to a conclusion.

[kylo]

Kylo nodded, still acting nervous. He chanced a look at her face, and saw looks flash before her face, as if she was thinking of a million questions at once. He tried to think of how to explain it, she might think he was ill, mentle, needed a sycitrist or a doctor perhaps. He looked at her in the face, his expression slightly pleading.

"Listen, it's not like I'm sick..or mad, or loney. It's..like a condtion." His voice was quiet, unsure, and he held up the stick. "When you said stick..I saw the colors of the word, as you can see the bark, it's just floating in the air, they were lime green, shaped like a egg, and had purple dots on it. When I see letters, or here sounds, or words, or numbers..I see colors, for a few seconds.." He looked away, at the lake, then whispered, "I'm not mad.."