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Howie was surprised to see his father had left. He wondered where he had gone, but didn't worry too much about it. Howie walked next to Alex, walking through their narrow, secret path back into the real world. He watched the trees become thinner spotted and eventually disappear to be replaced by concrete. Howie sighed softly and put his sleeve over the bottom half of his face. "The post office is down the street to our right."

Alex wasn't too happy to be back in town, either. He could smell the difference in the air as they became closer to the town. In the forest, the air was crisp, clean, and fresh but while in the town the air was stale, thicker, and had a mix of different scents in it, none which was pleasant. "I never really noticed how different the air is from the forest and small town." He mumbled. He nodded at Howie and headed to the post office.

Howie narrowed his eyes, nodding slightly. "I've always noticed. And i hate it." His voice was muffled by his sweater, but his body language spoke for him. They walked down the streets as the cars sped by, leaving their stench behind them. Howie tried to breathe as little as possible.

"I grew up in small towns so the scent was normal to me before. But now..." He cringed his nose in disgust. He really hated all this horrible smell. Gin-Gin is so lucky that I care about her or I would leave right now. He thought with a small sigh. Once they were inside the post office, he was happy to be at least away from all the horrible smells of the small town. "If this is just what a small town smells like, I don't want to smell a city."

Howie shook his head. "cities are awful. I had to spend my younger years in one, and that was a tramatic experience." He stood by the door as Alex talked to the man behind the counter. His mind wandered and he was lost in his own thoughts. Maybe he should take Alex to class sometime. Or simply give him lessons at home.

Alex gave the man the letter asked how long it would be that the letter would reach Gin-Gin. "It should take from two to four weeks." Alex nodded, thanked the man and went back to Howie. "Let's go." He smiled at him. He was glad to be able to get out of the thick and unclean air.

Howie nodded and left right after him, close behind. He wanted to get out of the open space, he didn't like feeling this vulnerable. They made their way quickly back down the narrow path and into the forest again. Howie lowered his sleeve and took a deep breath. "That's better."

Alex nodded, taking in a deep breath as well. "Very. Nothing is better than fresh, clean forest air." He smiled a goofy grin, happy to be out of the town. He did not know what he had missed for so many years.

Howie decided something in his mind. He really liked Alex's smile. Relaxing, he nodded and closed his eyes. "This clean air has kept me healthy for a long time. I don't think I would have lasted this long without it." He opened his eyes and looked down to Alex.

Alex was actually glad to hear that. "It's amazing what clean air can do. So many people get sick and die because they are in hospitals full of chemical smells and death all around them." That thought made him frowned. He shook his head free of that though, returning his smile where it belonged.

Howie nodded. "True." He shuddered at the thought as horrible flashbacks flared his vision. If there was anything in the world to fear, it was hospitals. Howie downright hated them. He spent so much of his young life stuck in a hospital bed that he tried everyday not to ever have to do it again. There was a reason he was so strict on not getting sick.

Alex saw Howie shuddered and gently put one hand on his shoulder, even if Howie was taller than him, having a reassuring smile on his face and kindness in his green eyes. He had a feeling that Howie hated them because he was in them a lot. Alex never stepped foot in one expect for when his parents house burned down and he was horribly burned. "I'm sure you won't have to see another one for a long time."

Howie nearly jumped out of his skin when Alex touched his shoulder, half expecting some kind of slap. He knew better, but he was used to his fathers form of hello. Then again, Why would he react like that to as touch at all? It was only Alex who made him overreact like this. He looked into those honest emerald eyes and actually..believed him. For some reason, he felt like Alex was telling the truth, as if he knew what he was saying. "Let's hope not."

Alex removed his hand from the reaction he got from Howie out of a simple touch. He wasn't expecting that kind of reaction, but he really wouldn't think Howie wouldn't be used to being touched. Alex nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure with being around all this clean and fresh air, it is hard to get sick." He wished there was a way that he could be able to make Howie fully health, but magic just didn't work that way.

"Yes. I'm thankful to be living here; I've only happened to Get sick twice every two years or so. Much less than I used to get sick. It makes life a little easier, but I always have to be aware of my heart. I can't handle surprises very well." He shook his head. "The tiniest bit of shock could bee too much for me."

Alex nodded. "I see. I can't imagine how that must be. I've been healthy all my life, I pretty much never get sick." He honestly couldn't remember the last time he got sick. He knew now that he had to be careful not to surprise Howie, he didn't want it to end killing him.

"Aah.." Howie covered his face with his hands for a moment. "I wonder what it must be like, to be healthy. To ride roller coasters and go swimming." There was a tinge of envy in his voice, but it was directed towards Alex. More to the world in general. "There isn't much I can do, like this." The made it too the path by the large oak tree, and Howie turned the opposite direction and went down another bath, to the right and deeper into the forest. "Let's go see the lake. Want to?"

"I really have never been on a roller coaster either, foster parents don't really get a lot of money." He mumbled. "Sometimes, being healthy physically isn't the best. There are people out there that are healthy physically but mentally, their world is falling apart as their mind sees less and less of the real world around them." He actually had a friend whose father was a schizophrenia and it passed on to him, making him go crazy. He nodded, following beside Howie. "By some of the ice had melted."

Howie thought about that. Maybe he was that way too. Some of both, actually. His mother had been worse off than him, damaged physically and mentally, even when she was pregnant. It wouldn't surprise Howie if he lost his mind as well. "Probably. There will always be some ice on the edges or floating in the middle though. The lake just seems to favor it." In the back of his mind, Howie planned ahead for the summer carnival. They should go, sine neither had been to one before. He would be careful. It was simply this need to keep Alex happy that drove him towards it. He couldn't stop from smiling at the thought.

Alex knew that he was perfectly sane, both his parents had no history of going insane, but he knew his father had another side to him that he didn't show to his family, just to the demons he was about to kill, that was the only thing that worried Alex. "Well, it always cold around here so it wouldn't surprise me."