Miko: Something else I found floating around in my documents. It was written for a community on lj, but I never got around to posting it. Maybe B wasn't obsessed with L? Maybe they were both obsessed with A. Not sure where this came from, but here it is.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Skeleton
The only light came from the moon, illuminating the scene in a ghastly yellow glow that glinted off the snow and reflected on the stones. There were no trees to cast a shadow, but the only two figures stood opposite each other as if they were looking in a mirror. Neither moved or even acknowledged the other in any way. Their eyes were plastered to a spot on the ground, as if the other didn't even exist.
In the soft light, they looked like skeletons, bones nearly visible under pale white skin dyed yellow in the moon-light. Each had unruly black hair and their outfits were identical. White, unruffled shirts hung untucked over too big blue pants that had never seen an iron. The angle of the light cast huge bags under all four black eyes, adding to the skeleton effect. Despite the similarities, there were differences that identified each as distinct. One had red – blood red – lips. The other wore no shoes despite the snow that fell in flurries around him. As if they were the same person, their eyes rose and met across the grave of their friend, but no smile marred either of their faces.
"We killed him." The one with red lips said. The other made no move to correct him, but simply turned his head to read the headstone, which was blank except for a single letter – "A." It was small, at the top of the gravestone, as if someone carved it in as an afterthought or an unfinished sentence. There were no dates to show how old the dead boy was, or epithet to give some impression that he had lived a life.
"He killed himself." The other decided after a moment. "We had no influence on him." Not like he had on us. The words were unsaid but both heard them as the completion of the statement.
One year earlier
"B, L. I would like you to meet A." The two boys looked up with a bored glance from the logic book they were reading. The new boy – A – had a mass of unruly black hair, and his clothes were far too baggy to fit his thin frame. He lifted a finger to his hair and twirled it around while one foot scratched his leg.
"Hello." He said, lifting his free hand in a half-hearted greeting. The two boys on the floor sat up and pushed the book away. The older one stood and looked the new boy over before lifting a hand in greeting.
"I'm L." His hair – black- was cut short and hung straight to the tops of his ears. His skin was tan from sitting in the sun and reading. His legs were pulled up under his body. A nodded briefly and shifted his eyes to the other boy, B.
"I'm B." He said, pulling his knees to his chest. His blond hair was long, and pulled back in a pony tail. His fingers were sticky and red and there was an open jar of strawberry jam sitting open next to him.
"Good to meet you." And he left the room, shuffling along awkwardly. B and L were captivated, watching his retreating figure until it was out of sight.
Six Months Later
B and L didn't notice the change in A, but A saw the subtle changes in them. L had let his hair grow out, and he no longer sat in the sun to read, but in the darkest corner of the library. B cut his hair and refused to brush it at all, it was also slightly darker shade, almost brown, and he developed the habit of running his hand through his hair when he was uncomfortable.
A also saw that he was slipping in the rankings. He started as a solid second, which annoyed B to no end, but somehow the other boy managed to avoid taking his anger out on A. By the fourth test, A barely held on to his third place, and was quickly being over taken by a girl of no consequence.
He withdrew further into himself, spending only enough time with L and B to stave off their unasked questions. He spent all his free time studying, but his grades continued to slip. He stopped eating and his thin frame quickly became emaciated. Huge bags developed under his eyes from lack of sleep, but he just couldn't lay his head down knowing that at any moment he would be out of the top three. He would give anything to stay there, even his sanity.
Present Day
The two boys stood, skeletons in the moonlight, while the real skeleton lay under the freshly dug grave that was covered by a thin layer of snow. They refused to look at each other, because they had seen A change, even as they became more obsessed with him, but had not done anything to help him.
L noticed the bags forming under A's eyes and how they threatened to close during class. He had seen the test scores drop, though A had never beaten his own score, L still liked to know the scores of his competition. B noticed A's sudden weight loss, and how he was never seen in the cafeteria anymore. Sometimes, B wanted to find A and share his sandwich, but he never did.
We killed him hung in the air, and both knew it was true, even though L had denied it. They stood there a moment longer in uncomfortable silence, unable to look at each other anymore. Finally, they turned and walked out of the graveyard in opposite directions. Friends they had been, but now the skeleton in the ground would be an insurmountable chasm between them.