Trout's Big End-Of-The-World Adventure

TW: Mentions of violence, abandonment, death, and mental illness.

Isn’t the sky pretty tonight? The stars are so shiny. They kinda remind me of my mama’s eyes, y’know? They are this like dark blue color, but have little white specks in ‘em. Just like the sky. And, her hair, it's dark brown, almost black. It kinda looks like those trees over there, the willows? All hangin’ down and movin’ in the wind. Yup, she is real purty. Has that car-mel skin. I see why pa married her. But, my pa isn’t too purty. He looks like an old leather bag, but not the nice kind. The, like, peelin’, scratchy kind that rubs off on yer skin. Gross. But I still love ‘im, like my ma loves him. Just maybe a little less.

Sorry, I’ve been talkin’ ‘bout me, what about you? I like yer hair. It’s soft like my mama’s, but blonde. And it looks like it has some dirt in it, and some twigs. Did you trip when everyone was runnin’? I almost did, but I have good re-fexes so I caught myself. I’m super cool, y’know? Ugh, I’m talkin’ ‘bout me again! Wanna tell me more about you? Oh, you the quiet type. Alright, I won’t press. Everyone has their own pref-ences. I just happen to like to talk all the time. My ma used to call me “Jab,” like jabber. Do you know what jabber means? It’s a word my gran'ma used to use when me an’ my cousins would yell and stuff like that. She would say, “Stop your jabberin’!” and we would have to be quiet otherwise we couldn’t go swimmin’. Can you swim?

Sorry, fergot yer quiet. Ma bad, y’know, I’m still purty shakin’ after all the stuff that happened. My legs are still sore from all the runnin’ but I don’t mind it. Just means I get to rest. And, since it’s nice, I’ll get all sorts a’ sleep because I won’t have to wake up till the mornin’. And, in the mornin’, I’m gonna go lookin’ for more people. Mostly because I wanna go on, like, an adventure, but also because I ain’t too good with a rifle and I’m gettin’ purty hungry. Hopefully, anyone I find will be purty good at survivin’ and stuff and I won’t have to, like, starve.

You don’t happen to know how to hunt, do ya? No? Okay. Still, do you wanna go with me? We could go on this big ‘ol adventure and, like, explore and stuff. Maybe we could fight some of those bad guys. You know what I call them? I call them Fetids. You know what fetid means? My ma told me a long time ago, and I still remember. It means, uh, ‘smellin’ extremely unpleasant’. So basically, it’s just, like, smellin’ bad and stuff. You know why I call them that? It’s ‘cause they smell bad! Duh! Yeah, they stink super bad. It’s a good thing I snatched some a’ my ma’s laundry clips. I put it on my nose, like this, and then I can’t smell them. Here, you want one?

Yeah, I’m purty smart. But I don’t think I’m much one for looks. ‘Specially now, since I haven’t showered in a while. I almost went into that stream over there, but then I saw one of the Fetid’s hidin’ in the bottom and I was not ready to be ate, ‘specially since I promised my mama that I was gonna find her and bring her some food. She’s still alive, I promise. She pinky promised me that we was gonna go an’ adventure together. You can’t break a pinky promise. And, ‘sides, I know where we are meetin’ next. We are meetin’ at this safe place in ‘Sun Diego’ that she told me ‘bout. She said that we were gonna meet there, and then wait for pa. Pa is supposed to meet us there in a couple weeks, after he finishes fightin’ the Fetids. My pa is super strong, even if he looks like a leather bag.

You still haven’t told me much about you. I know you don’t like to talk ‘bout yourself, but I wanna know. Where’s your ma? Or your pa? Do you have any siblins? I don’t. My ma said that I was one of a kind, and no one could compete with her baby. But, y’know, I always wanted a brother. Y’know, someone to talk to since I don’t talk to my pa much. But if I had a brother?I bet we would be together right now, ‘cept for the fact that I’d definitely be faster than him and, if it were a matter a’ life an’ death, I would probably run off and probably leave him to the Fetids. Just the way the world works, y’know?

Anyways, I’m super hungry. I wish I could get some food but I already ate all my granola bars and stuff this mornin’ because somethin’ took my sandwich. Who takes a little kid’s sandwich? Some crazy person, I guess. No morals. My pa woulda shakin’ his head and said, “Shame, shame.” That’s what he says when I take his cigarettes and hide them. He don’t like that ‘cause my ma says he’s ‘addicted,’ but I don’t know what that means. But, the main reason I take them is ‘cause I saw this co-mercial about how smokin’ and stuff can gives you cancer. I don’t know what that is either, but I think it’s bad because my friend, Paula, told me that her gran’pa died of something called ‘lung cancer’ and that everyone was super sad and stuff so I don't want my dad to die of cancer. Whatever it is.

Okay, well, I’m tired. I think I’m just gonna go to bed because I gotta big day tomorrow and I gotta be ready to see my mama. If you want, you can come live with me and my ma and pa, in case your parents are dead. Anyway, good night! Oh, and by the way, my name is Trout. What’s yours? Okay, sorry, nevermind. I think I’m gonna call you Paula, after my friend, because she had pretty blonde hair like you. Did you know that she got ate by the Fetids? I watched it happen before I jumped outta that window. Anyways, ‘night, doll.