than a blue smudge above the trees which quickly blended with the sky. All had yawning windows, inviting natural life and light in and yards which were so sharply slanted that they were basically useless. Callie’s room was at the back, right hand corner of her house and Hunter’s at the back left-hand corner. Only a squat, stone hedge ran between their properties, so low that it served no purpose but to decorate. With the shades up and the lights on, Hunter was practically able to copy the answers out of Callie’s homework if she left it open on her bed.
Hunter lived in Sunrise court for one reason alone; his father was the architect who had crafted every single house upon it. Their home had been the first built and had been replicated again and again along the hillside. That had been exactly nine years ago. When Callie had moved into the house next to his, she and her parents had been its very first occupants.
Ryan lived up on Solar terrace, the most exclusive neighborhood in Horizon which was nestled within a grove of trees halfway up the mountain. There was only one heavily gated road in, and aside from his family, and Meredith’s, Hunter didn’t know a single person who lived in the other four mansions because they never seemed to be around. They kept their gates locked and their tinted windows tightly shut.
Hunter loved hanging out at Ryan’s place, because he had a pool and a music room, and because his mother, a solicitor, worked so many long hours that his parents actually employed a cook who would bake them cookies and whip up mocktails for the kids, which they’d then spike using Mr Weaver’s liquor cabinet. Hunter didn’t like Ryan’s parents- they were as attractive as their son, but nowhere near as nice. Ryan’s mother Jade was from Japan and had a very formal manner and John Weaver was a Magistrate in Araulen Valley, so they were intense people who always seemed to be too mentally preoccupied to bother with small-talk or their son and they both looked at Hunter like they’d just scented curdled milk. Hunter knew that Ryan got lonely, and yet Ryan kept himself as occupied as his parents did, usually with an instrument in hand.
Hunter’s parents on the other hand, treated Ryan like a second son. He came over every Sunday for roasts and sometimes, when Ryan’s parents went overseas for a couple of weeks, visiting Ryan’s mother’s family in Japan, Ryan would come stay with them.
Yes, Ryan and Hunter were close. Closer even, then Callie was to either of them, and he couldn’t help but feel irked by how they’d both abandoned him that night together. If anything, he and Callie were always the ones who went home together; a habit born from proximity. But the way she and Ryan had left without saying a word hurt. One minute he’d been making out with Meredith and the next thing he knew, Callie and Ryan were gone and he had not liked the way it had felt.
‘What the hell happened to you guys tonight?’ He demanded, lighting one of the candles on his windowsill. He had a line of three, all protruding from empty Malibu Rum bottles that he’d scavenged after his father’s fortieth birthday party from the ruin that had been their front porch. Over the years, he’d lit so many different colored candles within them that multicolored wax now dripped down the sides, obscuring the labels. He moved onto the next, lighting it, and then the next. ‘I look away for twenty minutes and you ditch me?’ When he was done with the candles, he hit the play button his stereo and Pantera’s Walk blared out too loudly for a few beats before he turned the volume back down.
Callie yawned. ‘Vulgar Display Of Power?’ The words were distorted by her loud, chasm-like breath. ‘Geez Hunter, we ditched the party, not you- there’s no need for mood music.’
‘It’s the same thing!’ He saw Callie’s silhouette rise from her bed and pass before the window, hunching over. He heard a thunk down his end of the
Hunter lived in Sunrise court for one reason alone; his father was the architect who had crafted every single house upon it. Their home had been the first built and had been replicated again and again along the hillside. That had been exactly nine years ago. When Callie had moved into the house next to his, she and her parents had been its very first occupants.
Ryan lived up on Solar terrace, the most exclusive neighborhood in Horizon which was nestled within a grove of trees halfway up the mountain. There was only one heavily gated road in, and aside from his family, and Meredith’s, Hunter didn’t know a single person who lived in the other four mansions because they never seemed to be around. They kept their gates locked and their tinted windows tightly shut.
Hunter loved hanging out at Ryan’s place, because he had a pool and a music room, and because his mother, a solicitor, worked so many long hours that his parents actually employed a cook who would bake them cookies and whip up mocktails for the kids, which they’d then spike using Mr Weaver’s liquor cabinet. Hunter didn’t like Ryan’s parents- they were as attractive as their son, but nowhere near as nice. Ryan’s mother Jade was from Japan and had a very formal manner and John Weaver was a Magistrate in Araulen Valley, so they were intense people who always seemed to be too mentally preoccupied to bother with small-talk or their son and they both looked at Hunter like they’d just scented curdled milk. Hunter knew that Ryan got lonely, and yet Ryan kept himself as occupied as his parents did, usually with an instrument in hand.
Hunter’s parents on the other hand, treated Ryan like a second son. He came over every Sunday for roasts and sometimes, when Ryan’s parents went overseas for a couple of weeks, visiting Ryan’s mother’s family in Japan, Ryan would come stay with them.
Yes, Ryan and Hunter were close. Closer even, then Callie was to either of them, and he couldn’t help but feel irked by how they’d both abandoned him that night together. If anything, he and Callie were always the ones who went home together; a habit born from proximity. But the way she and Ryan had left without saying a word hurt. One minute he’d been making out with Meredith and the next thing he knew, Callie and Ryan were gone and he had not liked the way it had felt.
‘What the hell happened to you guys tonight?’ He demanded, lighting one of the candles on his windowsill. He had a line of three, all protruding from empty Malibu Rum bottles that he’d scavenged after his father’s fortieth birthday party from the ruin that had been their front porch. Over the years, he’d lit so many different colored candles within them that multicolored wax now dripped down the sides, obscuring the labels. He moved onto the next, lighting it, and then the next. ‘I look away for twenty minutes and you ditch me?’ When he was done with the candles, he hit the play button his stereo and Pantera’s Walk blared out too loudly for a few beats before he turned the volume back down.
Callie yawned. ‘Vulgar Display Of Power?’ The words were distorted by her loud, chasm-like breath. ‘Geez Hunter, we ditched the party, not you- there’s no need for mood music.’
‘It’s the same thing!’ He saw Callie’s silhouette rise from her bed and pass before the window, hunching over. He heard a thunk down his end of the
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