Heya! OkamiNoKo here! Sorry it's been so long since my last update...BUT!
This story was the result of my Creative Writing final. This baby helped me graduate! Granted it is very depressing and I had a difficult time keeping a cool mind through it, it was well worth it.
I must warn you there is character death involved and anyone who knows me should know that character death is a big no-no in my stories. But, somehow I got over that for this one incident and made it work. Also, I would like to say that this is just a BETA version. I will extend this story and post the full version if I can get enough reviews on it. Thank you for your time and enjoy! X3
I've always hated storms. Even now, sitting in this park, I feel completely helpless. My name is Lovino Vargas. I'm 14 years old and I am currently without a home. I ran away from the orphanage. that I've lived in since I was an infant. But I wouldn't really call one of them my friend. Francis, he always picked on me for being afraid of thunder. Antonio, well, he wasn't so bad. He could be pretty clueless sometimes, but he always looked out for me. Then, there's Gilbert. Out of all three of them, Gilbert is my best friend. He's 16, the oldest of the four of us. He's always been there for me.
We are all here at the orphanage for an obvious reason. We're unwanted children... People refuse to adopt Francis because of his violent streak. He's been in and out of foster care for years. Antonio is from Spain and hardly speaks any English. In New York, that's not very acceptable. I was told my parents couldn't carefor me, and people won't adopt me because I close myself off to everyone. Everyone, except for Gilbert. His reasons for staying here are the most saddening of all. He's sick. And he's going to die. His medical bills have gotten so expensive that no one wants to take the risk and adopt a sick boy.
That's why I'm in this park. He was having one of his episodes and the nurses wouldn't let me stay in the room with him. He started coughing up a massive amount of blood. I could tell the pain was intense from his expression. I can remember it clearly even though it's been a couple hours.
~flashback~
"Do you want any water?" I asked him with a glass in my hand.
"No, thanks." Gilbert said as he shifted his hands around. He was pressing the buttons on his PSP with incredible speed. Gilbert LOVES video games. So this wasn't a new experience. I looked out the window, hoping to see the bright sun. The weatherman had been forecasting rain all week. That's exactly what we were getting. Rain, rain, and more rain. I could see the clouds turning a hideous gray. I shivered at the sound of the lightning rumbling.
"Lovi." came the sound of my pet name from Gilbert. "It's okay. It can't hurt you." As weird as it sounds, I found comfort in his crimson eyes. His pale skin accented by his silk white hair. A true albino, that's what I call him at least. I smiled and looked down to the book in my lap. I read to him quite often. It helped him "stay in touch with the world" as he claimed. He was never allowed to leave his room, so books were a sort of comfort to him.
"I know. It just bothers me." I said gloomily as I fumbled through the crisp pages.
"Well, I won't let anything hurt you. I'll protect ya!" He smiled the widest, most obnoxious smile of his and continued his game. Things seemed okay, and I was about to start reading when he coughed. So... it was starting already. I looked up to see he had dropped his PSP and blood was running down his chin.
I froze. He coughed violently twice more and the blood poured from his mouth. My eyes looked at him in disbelief and my voice cracked.
"Help..." It came out as a mere whisper. "HELP!" I finally managed to yell.
Seconds seemed like hours before multiple staff members shot into the room. They sat Gilbert up as much as they could so he could get some air. But, it didn't seem to help. His body was racked with pain and tremors. He shook hysterically. All I could hear was garbled words and his desperate attempts for air. His gasping raked in horrifying streaks against my ears.
"Lovino! You have to leave!" Shouted one of the nurses as she tried to rush me out the bedroom door.
"..." I blinked in confusio. "...N-NO!" came my fierce reply. "I'm not leaving him like this!"
"You shouldn't be in here." She fought back.
"I'M. NOT. LEAVING." All I could do was snap back at her with just as much fire as before. But, when I thought I had finally won, the unexpected happened. Gilbert shot his gaze towards me and glared in my direction. Blood drained in tremendous flows from his mouth as he said the three horrible words.
"Get out Lovi!" His words were like venom. They stung deep into my chest. Tears welled up in my eyes and I turned to run. As I did so, I caught a glimpse of his own expression turning to sorrow. He regretted what he'd said.
I ran out the door and kept on going. My tears fell freely as his words repeated in my head. How could he do that? How could he?
Before I knew it, I found myself in Central Park. The sky seemed to grow darker with every step I took. Then, light droplets of rain kissed my skin. Oh no, not now. Not when I'm alone. I bolted for a tree and hid myself under it.
The rain pelted the ground in a heavy downpour and my sobs grew louder.
"Please be okay..." I whispered to thin air. Lightning danced across the sky; the booming thunder followed. My hands clamped over my ears and I huddled in a crouch at the base of the oak tree that became my shield.
~flashback over~
I stayed like that for nearly two hours. The rain had since then calmed. Now I was left to my thoughts. 'I'm not going back...he wanted me gone...' A couple stray tears fell once again. 'But did he really regret it? He looked sad...he didn't mean it...he was in pain...'
I looked up to the sky. The clouds looked as menacing as ever. But, as I looked closely, I noticed small suns rays trying to poke through. I held on to the new hope that things would be okay. My eyes closed and I tried to imagine Gilbert sitting next to me. Before he got too sick we would play at this park almost every day.
He was nine and I was seven at the time, so our games ranged from hide-and-seek to soldier. With Gilbert, games like that were always entertaining. I looked at the hill about 20 yards from where I was sitting. I remember "army-crawling" up that hillas we pretended to sneak up on the enemy. We went back to the orphanage covered head to toe in mud. Boy, did we get in trouble. All we got was a warning not to do it again. But, the next day always promised more muddy clothing. Always.
I'm not sure how long I reminisced about our younger years. Probably close to another hour or so. Some memories made me cry and some made me laugh. Like the time Francis spilled his red kool-aid all over my new white jeans. I cried to Gilbert for fifteen whole minutes. I was so upset because I saved up twelve dollars of my own money to buy them. When you're ten, that's a big deal.
"You will be avenged!" Gilbert had reassured me with an over-dramatic declaration. That and a smile made me giggle, and all was well. The one thing I wasn't expecting was for Gilbert to steal blue hair dye from the store and put it in Francis' shampoo. Francis is blonde so you can only guess how that turned out. Gilbert really meant what he said.
All of these memories brought me joy. But, nothing could prepare me for the inevitable. The sky seemed to get impossibly dark and thunder blasted through the air. The intensity of it shook the ground. Fear pulsed through me all over again.
Oddly, my fear subsided and something else caused my trauma-inflicted shakes. I'm not sure how to describe the feeling that ran through me. It was like lava that inside my veins. I couldn't exactly call it fear or pain. Perhaps a combination of both. It was a fear so strong it hurt. The feeling boiled so deep inside me I thought I might melt.
Lightning crackled above me and another wave of thunder tumbled in sync with the flashes of light. It was at that moment I realized what this wretched feeling was. Why didn't I sense it before? The reason it hurt so bad left one answer coursing through my mind.
Gilbert Beilschmidt...my best friend...had finally been claimed by death.