Our Childhood Memories

Keegan thought he had the bullies all figured out.

They would be the biggest kids who liked to push people around. They would be the snooty girls or the loud boys who walked like they owned the playground. It would be the boys who won every game, the girls who curled their hair and dressed all pretty. They would be the ones who would push the little kids down, ban them from the slides, and chase them away from the swings. Those were the bullies, the ones who always got the best snacks and always had the teachers attention. That was them.

He knew their victims and their lackeys. The victims would be the little kids, the one who might dress a little off or wear glasses. They would be the good kids in the class, the ones that would sing to themselves or draw everywhere. The ones that would sit by themselves and be quiet. The lackeys would be the kids who might have been bullied once upon a time but did something for acceptance from the higher-ups. They would be the ones who looked for praise and were more of a follower than a leader.

Yes, he thought he had them all figured out right down to the last letter.

Of course just because he knew about them didn't mean that he could avoid them. They hunted him down just like every other different child. He was pushed over and kicked around. His knees and face suffered abuse of being throw into the dirt or into the grass. His clothes were stretched out from being grabbed or from being tripped into the ground. Keegan was chased away from the toy houses, pushes off the swings, and banned from the jungle-gyms. No one would play with him and they would stop playing because he asked to join. He had to play by himself and make friends with the leaves or sticks that littered the floor.

So, he made a friend. Literally.

Just someone to talk to, a friendly face and welcoming arms. He spent most of the time with his new friend. They ran races and Keegan usually let his friend win but sometimes he'd win. They would climb over mountains and slay the dragon. They would build castles and stop the intruders, the ideas and possibilities were endless when they were playing.

Of course that had been many years ago.

Keegan had grown up from those lonely days. The games with his friend turned into late nights on the computer or hours on homework. The playground bullies, lackeys, and victims turned into friends and shallow waves in the hallways of school. He met a few people, bonded over things like girls or video games or fun stuff like that. He didn't really have a need to pause and think about that friend from yesteryear that he couldn't see. He had real friends, flesh and blood friends. Friends who could talk and be there for him actually. He soon forgot the lines of his friend, the face vanished from his mind and then he couldn't remember the name. It was a memory from the past that he no longer recollected on. He wasn't bothered by it, he too many things he was caught up in to stop and remember. Such as school and how tight Betsy's shirt was.

The sixteen year old hunched over his desk, rubbing a hole into his paper with his pencil. The answers of the math problem failed him at that moment. He took a deep breath, brushing the tiny pieces of eraser off the desk. He was tired of doing homework this late and his eyes were growing heavy with sleep. He glanced over to his soft bed, a bad taste lingering at the back of his throat. He tossed his pencil across the face of the desk and slowly sat up from his chair.

"Screw this, I'm tired." He mumbled, running his tanned fingers through the dirty blonde mess of hair. "I'll do it later." He said taking his glasses off and placing them on the desk, stumbling to his bed. He plopped on his bed tired, glancing the glaring clock that read 12:43 am. Keegan rolled over and groaned, he had to stop staying up so late for damned school.

It felt like minutes.
Minutes since he'd gone to sleep. Nathan never slept, so this should have come as a shock to him, but it had never occurred to him before. If it had, he would've noticed a lot of things that were odd about his life.
He'd never had to eat, or sleep, or wash, or anything. The days were a series of games, and fun, and sometimes, he had no idea how he'd gotten to certain places, and simply accepted that he was there. He'd never put thought to the fact that no one else spoke to him, only Keegan, but he'd never ever questioned it, not once, until his 'sleep.'

But of course, these had never struck him until he'd 'woken up', and found himself grown over night. That's what it seemed.

He glanced about the unfamiliar area, sharp green eyes narrowed in confusion and resting on the glass of a window. When he'd been younger he'd been chubby, short and ginger. Not exactly an appeal, though no one seemed to tease him about it at all. The freckles that had once smothered his pale skin, scattered very finely across the bridge of his nose, and with height, his weight had disappeared, spreading out to fill in his new form. The ginger had faded to a brown, and he brought a hand up to touch it, confusion etched into his features, the wispy curls spreading out and teasing at his features like spider webs.

Stumbling backwards, he nearly fell on his backside. He'd never once doubted he was real-Keegan believed he was, and therefore he was, but a lot had changed in a space of only minutes (to him at least), and there were few explanations that could make this less frightening than it already was.

Moving swiftly, he pulled a door. Cupboard. Another. Bathroom. And then a last one, a bedroom.

Knitting his brows together in a frown, he wandered in. The space of years it seemed had past physically, and though the male in front of him was a bare shadow of what he'd been as a boy, for some reason, he could still recognize him. Some pull in the corner of his mind was what did it, and slipping to the edge of the bed, he crouched down beside it, giving the male a jab with his finger, a goofy grin spreading across Nathan's features, at least, when he'd worn it as a child, it had seemed goofy, he'd grown into it by now, and it was somewhat warning, if not a little mischevious.

"Keegan?" He whispered, wrinkling his nose, maybe he was wrong. Though something told him he wasn't.

(Sorry if it's crap x.x I was somewhat distracted.)

Keegan noticed the jab with a groan and he squeezed his eyes tighter, pulling into a ball. He didn't want to get up as he knew if he did then he would be drawn to the unfinished homework. He knew he would stay up another extra hours fiddling with new lessons and he couldn't afford to stay up that late anymore. His mother hated practically dragging him out of bed and he didn't like the warnings he got from teachers. He shoved the side of his head into the soft mass of his pillow and mumbled something that ordered whatever jabbed him to stop. He wanted to sleep.

Hearing his name, Keegan opened his eyes and looked at the clock as only a few minutes pasted by. He sighed, unfurling his body and closing his eyes. Slowly he turned around, getting ready to throw a punch at whoever it was. They had better have a good reason for this. Then he noticed something, his name was spoken in a male voice. The only other male in the house was his dad and he was sleeping.

Keegan shot up from where he was sleep, throwing his arm out to whoever it was kneeling beside his bedside. "Wh-who the hell!?" He screamed but quickly clamped his mouth shut. He silently begged that his parents didn't hear that. "Who the hell are you?" He hissed in a lower voice.

Giving a startled look and quickly moving back from the hand, Nathan stumbled over his feet and fell on his backside, mumbling complaints under his breath and glancing up at Keegan with a confused look lacing his features, his left brow risen just slightly in that questioning manner he'd used many a time.

"Keegan-You don't recognize me?" He asked, picking himself up off the floor and walking towards the male with a grin on his face, "Nathan-It's Nathan," He smiled, "I've woken up-And oh, you changed too," He spoke in amusement, "But I knew it was you," He added in a knowing tone, "But you don't recognize me? That's really weird," He decided with a frown, reaching a hand up to ruffle through his own hair with a bored look on his face.

"You sound pretty grumpy," He pointed out in an obvious tone, wrinkling his nose, "You didn't want me to come over?" He complained under his breath. He was obviously reacting to this in a less than normal way, as if it were completely normal for him to be in someone's room in the middle of the night.

Keegan thought this new person was being utterly unbelievable. He stared at him with wide eyes, looking him over again and again and trying to match him with someone he knew. Nothing came to mind when he saw him, no long lost memory rang in the back of his head. Maybe it was a robber? Keegan looked to the window and was about to call for his parents but why would a robber stop in the middle of his heist to wake him up? He shook his head, no he wasn't a robber.

Nathan? Keegan really had to storm the memory bank for that name but it was there, covered in dust and cobwebs. He remembered that name, Nathan used to be his favorite name besides his own. He remembered the playground, the castles, the knights in shining armor that him and Nathan used to play in. Keegan stared at him and tried to think. No, this could not be Nathan. His Nathan was shorter, kid-sized, and looked like a guy Betsy. "Recognize you? I don't even know you." Keegan hissed, crawling off the bed and stepping away from Nathan wearily.

"Look, I ... don't know a Nathan. So you - you got the wrong guy alright." He said and then the door swung wide open with his father stepping with a wild look on his face.

"What's going on, Keegan? What's wrong?" He asked and Keegan saw the figure of his mother step behind him. They both looked frazzled and tired, Keegan felt guilty for waking them up with his misplaced screaming. His father stepped into the room, looking at him and then at the desk light that was still flicked on. Keegan had forgotten to click it off when he went to bed. "How late have you been up?" He complained, "Go to bed Keegan. It's almost one a.m."

"Ye--" Wait. Keegan took a hard glance at Nathan. He was standing right where they could see him but neither of then took notice of him. After a weary goodnight kiss, they left him with this brand new stranger that neither of his parents could see.

"They couldn't see you..." He pointed out, his voice whispering as to not upset his parents again. "Why couldn't they see you?"

Pausing, Nathan fixed Keegan with a bemused look, the corner of his lips flaring upwards slightly and his left brow raising a few inches. He brought up his arms and folded them over his chest.

"They never see me," He answered in a blank tone, "They never used to, either," He informed the other male, his face falling a little as he surveyed Keegan. It was like years had passed physically, but it had been only moments he could swear. His arms lowered to his sides and he frowned slightly, wetting his lips in a nervous manner, something he'd picked up on though he needn't have bothered. He didn't get dehydrated. He'd never required that sort of thing.

"You...You don't remember me?" He asked, looking confused, taken aback and somewhat disappointed. They'd been best friends, you didn't forget friends like that. But then, you didn't fall asleep and wake up to find years had passed, probably a decade even. That sort of thing didn't matter. His shoulders slumped slightly and he glanced back at Keegan with a sheepish smile.

"Come on-You have to remember me. We used to play together all the time-Just us two," He insisted, his tone strange. He needed Keegan to remember this-He needed the man to realize who he was. His lips pursed together in a grim line, "You don't just go forgetting things like that," He continued, turning and pacing back and forth, his brows furrowed, trying to figure out anything that could explain this though his brain kept pulling up blanks.

(Bah x.x Brainblock. And sorry if there's spelling mistakes, there's no spell check on this computer.)

Used to? There has never been a 'used to'. Keegan knew that he hadn't ever seen this guy before. The name was all too familiar but he just couldn't match a name with a face. The Nathan from long time ago had faded from his memory, the cute little kid that did what he asked and there wasn't any questions asked. Keegan drew a long deep breath and went to his desk, plopping down into the chair and sighing. This was all too much for this late at night, he wanted to crawl into his bed and just sleep now. He wondered briefly if Nathan was a dream.

"I don't know you! Get that through your head." Keegan growled, resting his elbows on his knees and hand combing his hair. He winced slightly, his voice was angry as it was late. He pulled himself back up, looking at Nathan. "Sorry." He mumbled and got up from the chair. "Alright, 'Nathan'," He said, air quoting the name with a non-believing smile. "If we used to play together all the time and you knew me for ... yeah. The Nathan I knew from long time ago also knew all my secrets. I told him the name of the cutest girl I knew. I'll believe you if you can tell me her name."

Keegan knew it was dirty to play tricks like this but he didn't care at that moment. He thought back to that day when they were sitting in the sandbox, Nathan was watching him build a castle. Keegan would build it and they both would knock it down like Godzillas. Keegan had finished patting the side of the sand castle when a little girl with red pig tails skipped along past them. Keegan watched her and looked to Nathan who was busy staring at the castle. "I like her." He had told him, saying it like he was talking about the weather. Nathan inquired more about her and Keegan talked about her, telling him all the things he knew about her. "Her name is Betsy and one day, we'll get married." Keegan said proudly, standing up and brushing the sand off his new pants. "I'll be the blue dragon and you can be the green dragon, the castle..."

Keegan never told anyone else about that. No one but Nathan.

The look in Nathan's eyes slid through a few changes in the space of a second. Confusion blared within it before doubt and uncertainty took it's place. His nose wrinkled a bit, and his lips pursed together tightly forming a long thin line as he inclined his head just inches to the side, staring at the male in front of him as if he were the one out of place, not Nathan.

The rules of personal space were lost as Nathan stepped closer, inspecting Keegan like a piece of art before his frown grew. "But you are Keegan," He insisted, trying to force it through his head that perhaps Keegan's mind just simply wasn't as keen as his at keeping memories. Something, slid into place in his mind and he stepped back, observing the room now. It was different, things had most definitely changed. Maybe he'd not felt the years, but the years had surely had their brace on everything even without him being aware of it.

When he heard the voice continue, he forced himself to concentrate, letting the question sink in, his teeth sinking into his tongue and clenching it tightly, letting the question roll about in his head for a moment. Now, that was easy. He sorted through the memories as though they were in a filing cabinet before he finally seized the correct one, and the worry slipped off his expression, replaced with a gleeful smile which looked simply out of place on a teenage boys face.

"Betsy," He said with ease, "She was red-headed, and you told me you'd marry her," He informed the boy, his eyes alight with amusement in them, "Did I pass your test?"

Keegan took a step back as Nathan decided that he wanted a better look. He saw the distant freckles across his face and the foggy face of Nathan from years past came back to his memory. His friend had a lot of freckles and so did Betsy, Keegan loved freckles. He looked down at his own pale arm which was void of any markings like that. He remembered wishing for them whenever he went to bed or on a star. It was either freckles or have his mom let him stay up three more hours. Which ever one came first.

Keegan listened to Nathan's answer and his eyes cracked slightly but he slowly nodded. The boy crossed his arms and looked over the kid one more time. He wondered on something but his mind was left blank and he dropped his arms and took a deep breath and sighed.

"Whatever, look, 'Nathan', I don't really care right now. I'm tired and I would like to go to bed. So ... do you mind?" He asked, going for his head.