The school bell rang, triggering a chain reaction of other students to come barrelling outside to play. It was raining, but they didn't care. They still played around.
"Hey, Alfred! Don't you want to play?!"
The American didn't stir as the Russian called out his name. "Alfred?"
An adult came and picked him up, taking him into his arms. "Come on, Alfred. Let's go home. Come on."
The American sobbed into the Frenchman's shoulder loudly. "Now, now. No. Don't cry. Now, come on. Your brother's home alone, and I'm sure he misses you."
|§|
"He stopped breathing," the Austrian doctor said, approaching the Frenchman and the American boy. The Frenchman sobbed. "I'm sorry, Mr. Bonnefoy."
The Frenchman shook his head. "First my husband, then my son..." He picked up the American and held him close.
The American boy sobbed. "What are we going to do now?"
"Stay here," the Frenchman said.
Hello, a voice whispered into the American's ear.
Who are you?
Your mind.
|§|
The American boy kept a smile plastered on his face after being absent for a few days for the funerals. He couldn't bear living anymore. He was just hoping it was all a bad dream... that they weren't really dead. Maybe he would wake up soon. It would all be over.
Later that day, at lunch, the American broke down into tears and crying. He was pulled aside and his teachers talked to him. His father, however, was called and informed of the situation by the guidance counsellor. The American boy listened. "He's practically broken," she explained.
"No, I'm not," the American whispered to himself. "And you can't fix something that ain't broken."
The Frenchman came out, picking up the American boy and taking him out of the school building.
|§|
"Do you still miss them? Is that what happened?"
"No."
"Good. It's been two weeks; you should be over it by now."
I lied, father.
|§|
The American boy woke up. He walked downstairs, searching the rooms. All he saw was the Frenchman.
It wasn't a dream.
His brother and father were still dead.
He was never sleeping. He tried to think. Memories of his brother and his father came flooding back to him, first bringing a smile to his face before bringing tears.
That's all that's left.
They're gone.
Gone.