"An aluminum john boat?"

"It's a little different for everybody."

"Yeah, but, it's just a john boat. Like the one I got from Wal-Mart."

"Yep."

"So how does this work?"

"You get in. Don't fall out. We go across."

"So, what if I stay here?"

"Then you dwell in a place dear to you until you go insane. Those around you are driven into madness or despair, then they leave you behind. Best case scenario."

"What's the worst case?"

"Something finds you."

"You found me."

"I find everyone."

"What else is there?"

"Trust that there are worse things than death."

“You’re okay.”

“Not going to cry.”

“Strong people don’t cry.”

“That’s too unhealthy.”

“Dump it down the drain.”

“There’s too much fat.”

“Give it to a friend.”

“I’m hungry and dizzy.”

“Wimp. You didn’t want to be fat anymore.”

“I want chips.”

“You’re doing so well though! All you had was an apple.”

“Don’t cry.”

“Crying is for the weak.”

“Hey, I’m home! How was your day?”

“Great! How was yours?”

"Speak to me, Patty.

Remember that time? When we sledded down Patterson Hill? And you didn't crash at all? We joked that it was named after you, because you were so amazing.

"Remember when Tig pushed me too far, and I punched him right in the nose? And how it didn't hurt him at all? I remember that you punched him too, but hard, to keep him from laughing so hard.

I loved you for that.

I loved you when you ran away from prom so that we could be together that night. I remember we had had an awful fight the week before, and you went out with Todd. I remember you were barefoot and wild, that golden hair blowing all over the place. I loved you then.

I loved you when you handed me Allie, telling me she needed to have that name so she could fight.

I loved you when you brought home William, named for strength, bravery.

I loved you when you placed Danielle in my arms, how you wanted so badly for them to grow up good, and loved.

I loved you then.

I love you right now.

I love your whispery white hair and your still sparkling blue eyes, even if you aren't saying anything.

Even if it's your very last minute.

I love you now.

I love where we've been.

I love you."

Challenge: Write a piece using only dialog.

By: @HashtagFiction

"This is a bit of an odd question, but its been bothering me for awhile."

"...Okay. What?"

"Geavoni, do you like me?"

"Elaborate?"

"I mean like...do you want to kiss me? Be with me?"

"Well, no."

"...."

"I mean, I like spending time with you. I like the conversations that we have. I like being around you."

"...so...what did you mean by no?"

"I don't like being touched, Pierce."

"What does that have to do with being with me?"

"If we were together, I wouldn't want to kiss you, Pierce."

"I can't say my feelings aren't hurt."

"I'm not trying to hurt you; I am trying to tell you to move on. We wouldn't make a good couple."

"Geavoni, I love you. I want to be with you. I don't care what you say; nothing will change my mind."

"Pierce, you're in love with the idea of me. Ha, not me."

"How can you say that?"

"Okay, Pierce, do you love me enough never to have sex again?"

"..."

"Never to be held by me, or hugged, or kissed?"

"Why would you treat me so coldly?"

"I hate being touched. It may feel good to you, but to me, it feels like a thousand red ants exploring my body. It feels like pins and needles being bored into the surface of my skin. It feels like a blazing fire slowly consuming me."

"Even...even sex?"

"I've never had sex, Pierce. The idea, the very thought is disgusting to me. It sounds painful and intrusive. Pushing a part of myself into another human being does not appeal to me. It just sounds disturbing."

"Geavoni, you-"

"We're not a good match, Pierce."

"..."

"We're not a good match."

"Everyone else got their drinks ages ago... I wonder if the fight attendant forgot about me."

"I kinda doubt that. Your troll costume is pretty memorable."

"You'd better believe it. I'm gonna be the best Amilyn Europe's ever seen. Just gotta touch up my makeup. But seriously, what do you think would happen if I went back there and demanded they give me my Sprite?"

"They'd probably put you in a straightjacket."

"Phllbph. You're the mental one around here."

"Hey..."

"Sorry, that wasn't nice. Love you babe."

"Yeah."

"Ahem, I said I love you."

"Yeah, I know, I heard."

"Well, are you going to just sit there like an ape or what?"

"I love you! Sheesh!"

"You should get into the habit of responding to people Josh."

"Well excuse me, princess."

"You're not excused, princess."

"Don't you get airsick when you twist around in your seat like that?"

"No, besides, I'm trying to read that guy's tatoo."

"Well stop you weirdo."

"...end...snake...m... Nah, can't make it out."

"Ack, my Captain Kirk costume is suprisingly sweaty. How much longer till we get there ya think?"

"Couple hours and then another five hour flight. But you gotta still be wearing it when we go into MacDonald's."

"Haha, right, our fabulous prank idea."

"Think I'll be able to pull off the sassy girl bit?"

"Um...haha."

"What?"

"My eyebrows literally can't go any higher right now. They wish they could."

"Very funny. Me too, that would be hilarious. Oh, hey, hear comes the flight guy."

"Ecxuse me miss, but are you Amilyn the troll?"

"Yes!! Oh my gosh, I can't believe you recognized my costume!"

"Well, it's not a very good disguise. The captain knew it was you right away. I'm security- you're under arrest."

"Hold on, what?!"

"Yeah, sorry hun, I told him who you were."

"Josh! What in the world?"

"Captain, sir?"

"Go ahead and tie her up in the back. She's quite insane. Give her a Sprite."

"Yessir."

"And then he walked away with your mother and did exactly what I said. The Sprite had an amnesia potion in it, so when she woke up, she thought I saved her."

"What? Grandpa, that doesn't make any sense!! Why-"

"And that's how come she makes me a pie every Saturday. Take notes kid."

"I forgot how to be happy.

I can give advice to everyone surrounding me,

But I find in myself, crippling emotions.

I am detached from my own feelings, and never find fulfillment in my daily routines."

"I can help you be happy.

I have heard your advice, heard the way you help other.

And in you, I see potential.

You are strong and you are kind, and I find fulfillment in you."

"I messed up. I'm so sorry."

"The fuck do you mean? You don't just do that to somebody."

"Please. I love you."

"You should have thought about how much you loved me before you decided to throw me under the bus like that! You realize I could have gone to jail because of your bullshit."

"I didn't think --"

"You know damn well you thought about that shit! You did it before three years ago!"

"That was then, though! He meant nothing to me!"

"He must have meant enough for you to get in his head and coerce him into your little game and shit."

"Hey, whoa, what are you doing?"

"I can't believe I actually spent time fucking with you. What the fuck was I thinking?"

"Put my phone down, now! Please!"

"You tricked me. I thought you cared about me. I thought you were my ride-or-die! I thought you had my back!"

"No, stop! No!"

"Too late."

"Why would you throw my phone out the window! What the hell!"

"..."

"Answer me!"

"..."

"Where are you going? Come back here, please! I said I'm sorry!"

"..."

"Hey! What the fuck!? You didn't have to break my phone!"

"You didn't have to break my heart."

What’s the biggest number?

Twelve. Twelve is a big number.

Twelve isn't that big, my sister is twelve.

Twelve is old, huge. My mommy isn't even twelve.

My mommy won’t tell me how olds she is.

Twelve is a big number. I can’t count past twelve. That’s too much fingers.

Infinity is a big number.

What’s that?

Bigger than twelve.

What about infinitys plus two?

No. No. No. Infinitys the biggest.

What about twelve?

“Michael? Michael! Michael, what on earth happened?!”

“I… don’t know.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, boy, who did this to you?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s okay, son, really, whoever it was is not going to hurt you ever again.”

“I… don’t… know…”

“Michael, the other teachers and I won’t be able to help you unless you tell us what’s wrong.”

“He—he’ll find me! I know he will! He said not to tell… He said not to ever tell…”

“Who said?”

“D—Daddy.”

“Hey Michael, congrats to you and your mom for finally earning enough money to bail your dad out.”

“…Thanks.”

“How many loans did he need again, Aaron?”

“Don’t remember. How many loans did you need again, Michael? And still have to pay off?”

“A lot.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when your mom can’t get a job to save her life.”

“She does have a job.”

“I heard she doesn’t keep them for even a month. Is she really that bad?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to go to lunch now.”

“Aaron! You’re okay, sweetie, you’re fine!”

“Mom? What happened to me?”

“Honey, you were in an accident…”

“You were hit by a car and it damaged your legs pretty badly. Unfortunately, we’ve had to surgically remove them.”

“Hold up! You’re telling me my legs are just… gone?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s what was best.”

“Excuse me? How do YOU know what’s best?! They are MY legs after all!”

“Aaron, I know you’re upset, but you don’t need to be so rude!”

“Upset is an understatement.”

“So… what are you gonna do without legs?”

“How should I know, Dary?”

“Well, are you gonna need a wheelchair or prosthetics or something?”

“I’m NOT using a wheelchair, and if I had prosthetics, well, I’d—I’d be a cyborg!”

“…Heh. Right. Well, uh, I should get going… got a lot of homework.”

“You’ve never cared about homework before.”

“Yeah, well, uh… It seemed important today. See you.”

“Dary! What the heck, man, am I invisible or something?!”

“…Hey, Aaron! Uh, how are you?”

“Um, fine. So why have you been avoiding me?”

“Great, great! I, uh… I hope you… get better?”

“…You’re beating around the bush.”

“Sorry bro, I’ve just been… well… I made some new friends while you were in the hospital, and I was just hanging out with them, that’s all.”

“Did you actually see him? Like, before he got prosthetics?”

“Yeah man, it was so weird. They were just… gone.”

“I can’t believe he actually can still show his face around here. Look at him, he’s wearing jeans.”

“Right? He must know everyone just thinks he’s a big freak—Aaron! What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know, Dary, I have as much of a right to be here, at school, as anyone else, even if I’m a freak.”

“Can I sit here?”

“I guess. It’s not like anyone else will.”

“It’s Aaron, right? Aaron Deck?”

“…Yeah. Uh, have I met you?”

“Once or twice. You teased me about what happened to my dad one time.”

“Oh. Right. Uh, sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. We can have a fresh start. I’m Michael.”

“Hey Michael?”

“Hm?”

“We’re—we’re good friends, aren’t we?”

“I should think so.”

“Well… I just wanted to thank you.”

“What for?”

“What do you mean what for? You… you’ve been my friend. My only friend. You know. You know I was popular… Until I lost my legs.”

“Well, if I’m the only decent kid in this school, that doesn’t judge by appearance, then so be it.”

“Michael? What happened to your face?”

“…Nothing.”

“Come on, I know you better than that. Now seriously, what happened?”

“Seriously, Aaron, I’m fine.”

“I didn’t ask you if you were fine, I asked what happened to your face.”

“And I said nothing. Drop it.”

“No! Michael, what has been going on? You—you’ve changed.”

“I—I ran into a pole.”

“A pole? A pole gave you that huge mark?”

“Yes. I—I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Michael, come here. We need to talk.”

“What did I do?”

“It’s not what you did. It’s what someone else has been doing. To you.”

“…I told you Aaron, I ran into a pole, now leave it alone.”

“You did not run into a pole!”

“Well, if anyone would know whether I did or not, it would be me!”

“And if anyone would lie about being abused, it would be you!”

“Aaron, how could you?!”

“It was for your own good!”

“How do you know what’s good for me? For all you know, you could’ve just made things ten times worse!”

“I was trying to help you!”

“It didn’t help! You…”

“Michael, I’m sorry. Stop crying, please. I really just wanted to help protect you.”

“It won’t work. Nothing will work anymore…”

“Dear Michael: I miss you. I hope someday you can see that I really did do what I thought was best for you. I hope someday you’ll be my friend again. It feels really weird when you look away from me when we pass by each other in the hallway. I miss you. I guess I already said that. I hope you’re doing okay. I hope that you’re at least better than you were before. Even though you don’t look at me, I’m happy when I look at you and see that your bruises and scratches are clearing up. Because that’s all I wanted. It’s kind of funny, isn’t it? How I used to be such a bully? I was hurting people all the time, even if it wasn’t physical, and now you’ve helped me get better. I guess it was all the bad influences. And I never met my good influence until after a car ran into me. Maybe it hit my brain, too. Anyway, I used to hurt people all the time, and now look at me. I couldn’t stand seeing you hurt. I guess because I never had real friends before you. Well, I hope you’re at least safe and happy.

And I know we don’t really say this, so I apologize ahead of time for however awkward you might feel, but I love you.”

Aaron

“Michael?”

“Oh my gosh, Aaron? Aaron Deck? …Is that you?”

“Yeah.”

“Well… hey.”

“…Hey.”

“So… how’ve you been?”

“Okay. I graduated college, somehow.”

“Heh. That’s great. So did I.”

“Heh, yeah.”

“Aaron… I’m sorry. Thanks to you, I’ve been able to actually focus on my life and what I really want to do. I’ve got a degree in literature now. My dad… he wanted me to be some sort of scientist or engineer. When I told him I wasn’t interested, he got really mad.”

“Oh… wow.”

“That… that wasn’t the only thing, of course, that made him, um…”

“Yeah.”

“I—I got your letter.”

“Oh yeah… I remember that. Sappy.”

“A little. But it made me realize you were right. I guess the reason I kept avoiding you was because I was too ashamed to face you.”

“Mm.”

"So thank you... for giving me my future.”