TWENTY-THREE YEARS LATER

Eric Polson didn't mind helping with his mother's rock garden. He'd been told it was a family thing, that his grandmother had made a rock garden, and that his mother had helped out with that one, and so she kept one of her own, and Eric himself may someday choose to continue the trend. His Uncle Aaron had a rock garden, too. Eric didn't know why the family had rocks on the brain, but he didn't care. Rock collecting was kind of fun, in an obtuse sort of way.

He was pulling out weeds that had gotten stuck in between the rocks during the summer and came upon a very interesting rock. It was solid black, looked a little like quartz. It had been buried deep under the others, and looked extremely out of place. 

He considered taking it to his mother and finding out where it had come from (she had a story for every frickin' rock in the garden), but the honking of the school bus out front He slipped the rock in his pocket and grabbed his book bag, then ran to catch the bus.

His buddy, Jeff Probst, was already saving his seat for him. Jeff always saved the seat for him, and Eric always sat there. There were times when he was afraid they might look too gay, especially since Jeff was the only person Eric ever hung out with, but he never put much thought into it. Instead, he just sat beside his friend, shot the shit with him, generally had a good time.

That day, however, Eric was putting more thought into it than he usually did. He'd never been all that popular with girls, despite being a reasonably attractive guy (his mother said he looked like his father). For some reason, he was considering the possibility that he might be gay. Or, at least, that maybe he would have been better off as a girl, instead of wanting to date one. He couldn't place the feeling, either, it was almost like there was a nagging voice at the back of his mind.

That was when he turned to his left and Jeff just leaned over and kissed him! Out of the blue! Eric didn't break off the kiss, for some reason, he just let it happen. Was he gay? Was that what this meant?

When Jeff broke off the kiss, he asked, "What's wrong, Erica?"

Erica didn't respond, she simply sat there and looked down at her finely manicured hands and thought, What the hell just happened to me?

And a voice in the back of her mind answered, You're just enjoying this time to be with your boyfriend, Erica.

And, almost as if Eric had been a distant memory of a life lived by someone else, Erica smiled and said, "Nothing's wrong."

Little did either of them know, Erica's Shadow was also smiling.