Loving Life

Chapter One:

Blues and violets morphed into pink and orange as the sun steadily peaked over sporadic clouds in the horizon. Soon, there would be no clouds as the prognostication for the day claimed it would be warm and beautiful, allowing the sky to return to another, clearer shade of blue. As the sun continued its upward movement, the small town below came to life.

Morning routines were activated and not before long, children were readying themselves for school. Some walked or rode the bus, others rode with their parents or siblings. People had places to be and the beauty of it all wouldn't deter them. Everyone was anxious for the end of the school year, only two weeks away and freedom beaconed those apprehensive minds. Tensions were high amongst the older students as finals approached.

However, there were a few students following their routine without a care in the world. High school would be over in a few short days and their adventures at university would finally begin after a few more months. One of those students couldn't prevent himself from singing and giggling to himself as he drove to school. He could feel the warming sun across his face and loved viewing his light blond hair glisten golden in the morning light through the rearview mirror.

The day was perfect, the adolescent stated to himself, and it would continue to be so. Nothing could dampen his mood. Not even his best friends', Lukas' and Emil's, daily bickering would bring him down. He was ready to take on anything that was thrown at him that Tuesday morning.

The elation never even left him as he turned the corner, a block away from his school, and a car crashed into his driver's door.

Death was instantaneously. The young man didn't even feel the warmth slip from his body in the form of blood.

After a few short seconds however, he began to sense the something had gone wrong. He felt heavy as if he had rigorously pushed himself on the ice ring the night before and the white light of the sun he had witnessed a few seconds before turning the corner never left him. Eyes rapidly blinked to focus themselves on anything, but he couldn't. The first sense that came back to him were sirens.

It pierced the air around him.

The second sensation was smell. It was a mixture of gas, smoke, and something metal, iron? Ideas of what he was experiencing ran through his mind, but he didn't believe it until he was able to actually see his vehicle completely demolished. Metal was twisted, one couldn't tell where one car started and the other ended. In between the wreckage lay two bodies, one lifeless and another barely hanging on.

When the ambulance finally arrived a few seconds after the police and fire department, the teen urged the emergency responders not to bother with his corpse. There was a life that needed to be saved!

It didn't appear as if they could hear him, but fortunately a police officer directed everyone's attention towards the badly injured driver. They would save his life, he could feel it in his... being, and for that he was grateful. Able to relax, the blond ran a hand through his spotless fringe and sat down on his mangled car.

Only then was he able to take in what had just happened before a floodgate of tears were released. He didn't cry for himself, the life that would never come to be; he cried for his parents. They lost their only child. He cried for his best friends Lukas and Emil, for now they had only themselves and no understanding ear to hear them complain or let them revel in their affections. He even cried for everyone whom had to witness the traumatic accident. Even if they didn't know him, he knew their lives were somehow altered.

The boy waited for peace to come, but nothing came. No angel or demon or supreme being appeared before him to take him away. His only company that remained were the police that directed traffic and other emergency responders attempting to remove his disfigured body.

Disgusted with the thought of seeing himself, he walked toward the only place he could go: school. He had to at least see Emil and Lukas before he disappeared, or whatever happened to him. So he walked through the doors, made his way towards their usual spot in the library and waited for them. After a few minutes of anxiously waiting, he couldn't stay their any longer and continued his search for them.

News of the accident spread quickly, but not as fast as news of his death. No one could believe that a student was dead.

"Hell, I can't even believe it either," he chuckled darkly. "I mean, I guess I at least died on a beautiful day."

"Well, tha's a way ov seeing it," a deep voice startled the small spirit.

Spinning around, violet eyes stared up at ocean blue eyes. "Ohmygod! You scared me! You-! YOU! You can see me? Hear me? You... you're...Berwald right? How?"

What had originally seemed like beautiful clear blue eyes, were red rimmed and cloudy. His large hand reached out and caressed his soft blond hair as tears began to fill his eyes once more. "Oh Tino. I'm so sorry."

A flicker, a tickle of something grew inside of Tino. He wasn't able to physically feel anything a few moments ago. Not the metal he had sat on, not the doors he pushed through, but he could perfectly feel his classmate's thumb brush against his temple in a comforting way. Who he was trying to comfort more was a mystery to the smaller teen, however he wasn't about to stop him. It felt nice to feel some sort of contact rather than the heavy emptiness he had felt earlier.

"Why? Why are you sorry?" Tino's inquiring eyes tried to find answers amongst clouded ones. "Did you know this was going to happen?! Was it not supposed to be me who should have died? Were you supposed to stop it?"

"I wish I could have," the large teen slipped into his native tongue. "I would have done anything if I had known, but I..." He couldn't continue with tears streaming down his checks.

There stood Berwald, one of the scariest people Tino had ever met, however the boy before him was anything but scary. Before the Swede's knees would buckle underneath him, Tino guided him towards the chairs outside of the front office and took his hand to gently pat it in comfort.

"There, there, uh... Berwald." The name felt odd in his mouth, Tino had never interacted with him outside of class. "It's okay, it has already happened. Please don't beat yourself over it. I'm fine, really, I am."

Removing his glasses to wipe away his tears, a sad smirk managed to slightly brighten his face. "Look a' us. You've died an' yet you're th' one comforting me. It should be th' other way around."

Tino shrugged, still stroking the others's hand as he leaned back to stare at the ceiling. "Life is weird. Or maybe there lack of," Tino grinned at his little joke, it surprised him how fairly quickly he was to accepting his death. "But what do you mean, it should be the other way around? Why can I speak with you?"

"Is because I'm a medium," Berwald wiped at his eyes once more.

New Story! Oh mi goodness I shouldn't, but look! It's a SuFin! Or at least it will be. DenNor might come up later, not sure...

Thank you for reading!