Blame:

By: Taralynn Wakelin

He clicked save on the computer before he leaned back stretching his sore muscles from sitting at the computer for the last three hours. He rubbed his hands over his face as he yawned, another video finished and ready to go tomorrow. He turned off his computer and left the room, as he neared the living room he heard laughter. In the living room, he found his best friend sitting on the couch laughing at some show he was watching. He went to the couch, moved his friend's feet and sat down in his usual spot.

"Is the video done?" His friend asked never taking his brown eyes off the TV.

"Yep, just finished!" He answered.

"Awesome! We'll be able to put it up tomorrow on schedule!" His friend said smiling still watching the show.

"Man I'm beat!" He said yawing.

"I know what will make you feel better!" His friend said finally looking at him.

"What?"

"Food! Food always makes me feel better!" He said standing. "I'll go see what we have for dinner!" He walked into the kitchen.

"Sounds good!" He answered rubbing his tired blue eyes trying to wake himself up.

"Dude looks like we're ordering out!" His friend said smiling returning to the living room holding takeout menus. "What do you feel like?"

"Let's have…Chinese?" He answered looking through the menus.

"I'll order it now!" His friend said leaving the room.

"It's your turn to pick it up Anthony!" He yelled so his friend could hear him.

"Uh…no Ian, it's your turn dude! I picked it up the last time remember?"

"Seriously dude? I just spent the last three hours starring at a computer screen, I can barely keep my eyes open and you want me to go get dinner?"

"It is your turn!" Anthony added smiling.

"Fine!" Ian said dragging out the word, he stood up and headed for the kitchen.

"My half is on the counter! You want me to come?"

"Nah, you stay here I'll only be 20 minutes!" Ian said yawning.

"Cool, there's a show coming on I want to watch anyway!"

"You enjoy that!" Ian said as he left the house. He got into his car and pulled out of the driveway, turning music on to help keep him awake.

Ian was almost to the restaurant when he remembered he had no cash on him, which meant he would have to stop at an ATM machine. Cursing to himself, he drove to the nearest machine and parked; he got out sighing and stood in line behind two other people. Finally it was his turn; he quickly put his card in and withdrew some money. As he did he never noticed the dirty, young man come up behind him, he turned around and bumped into the guy Ian quickly apologized.

"Shit! Sorry man!" Ian said smiling.

"Can you spare a couple of dollar's man? I'm real hungry!" The man asked.

"Sure…here's $10.00!" Ian said holding out the money, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Give me all of it!" The man ordered.

"What? No way, you little punk! Get out of here before I call the cops!" Ian said angrily as he went to push past, the man spoke stopping him.

"I ain't asking asshole!" The guy said pulling out a gun aiming it at Ian.

"Okay, okay here take my wallet!" Ian said holding it out to him.

"Your watch and cell too!" The guy demanded waving the gun.

"Here take them!"

"I can't go back to jail!" The guy suddenly yelled after taking the things from Ian.

"I won't tell the cops okay? I'll…" Ian was cut off by the sound of the guy's gun.

The first bullet hit him in the shoulder, knocking him back against the wall. He barely registered what happened before two more bullets hit him; one in the chest, the other in his stomach. He slid down the wall until he was sitting on the ground, the guy panicked and dropped Ian's thing's before he took off running. Ian sat on the ground unable to call for help or move, his vision began to get fuzzy, the pain was intense, he was having trouble breathing he felt like he was drowning. Suddenly he heard running feet and people yelling something, but he couldn't make out what they were saying or answer. He felt someone touch him, he tried to focus on them, but he couldn't he was so tired and cold. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep, but the person wouldn't let him, they kept talking to him calling his name. He felt pressure on his body causing the pain to get worse, he wanted them to stop, but couldn't get his body to cooperate. He began to cough, he couldn't breathe suddenly everything slowly faded into darkness he closed his eyes unable to fight it any longer.

With Anthony:

His show ended, he looked at his watch starting to get a little worried it had been almost an hour, Ian should have been back awhile ago. Not wanting to freak out over nothing he took his cell out and tried calling Ian, he didn't get an answer and hung up starting to get more worried. He sat on the couch debating if he should wait or go look for him, not sure what to do he tried his cell again still getting no answer. He tried to take his mind off of Ian by watching more TV, but it didn't work and he decided to go look for him. He had just finished putting on his shoes when someone knocked on the door, he answered it to find their friends; Mari, David (Lasercorn), Matt (Sohinki), and Joshua (Jovenshire). He smiled at them confused to see them, he spoke.

"Hey guy's, what's up?"

"You forgot didn't you?" Mari asked.

"Forgot?" Anthony asked.

"You guy's invited us over for pizza and games!" Joven answered.

"That was tonight?" He asked letting them in.

"Yep! We didn't see Ian's car did he go get the pizza?" Lasercorn asked.

"Okay…we forgot!" Anthony admitted.

"Ha! You all owe me $10.00 bucks each!" Sohinki said smiling.

"Damn you Sohinki!" Lasercorn said as he handed him the money.

"What's going on?" Anthony asked smiling.

"We made a bet whether or not you guys would forget about tonight, I won! Thank you Anthony for having a bad memory!" Sohinki said laughing.

"So where is Ian?" Joven asked.

"He went to pick up dinner for him and I, but he's been gone an hour! He should have been back by now!"

"Have you tried his cell?" Mari asked.

"Yeah, twice no answer both time's!"

"Maybe he went to Smosh HQ?" Sohinki suggested.

"Maybe, I'll try his phone there now!" Anthony said calling, feeling stupid for not thinking of trying there. "There's no answer!"

"Should we go look for him?" Mari asked.

"Yeah, we'll…" The phone ringing cut Anthony off, he quickly answered it thinking it was Ian. "Dude where the hell are you?"

"Is this Mr. Padilla?" Asked an unfamiliar female voice.

"Yeah, who is this?"

"Sir, I'm calling from Mercy General Hospital. Do you know a Mr. Ian Hecox?"

"Yeah, he's my best friend!" Anthony answered nervously.

"Sir, Mr. Hecox was involved in an accident and brought here. We need you to come here as soon as you can."

"Accident? What…what kind? Is he…alive?" Anthony asked.

"I'm sorry sir, I can't give you any information he's still in with the doctor."

"Alright I'm on my way now!" Anthony said hanging up.

"Anthony? What's wrong?" Joven asked.

"That…that was the hospital! Ian's there, he's been in some kind of accident!" Anthony answered panic all over his face.

"Let's go! Anthony you're with me!" Sohinki said as they quickly left.

At The Hospital:

The drive seemed to take hours to Anthony, he kept thinking he was going to lose Ian; his best friend…his brother and it ripped him apart! They arrived at the hospital and rushed inside to the front desk, Anthony tried to keep calm long enough to learn about Ian.

"Excuse me?" He said to the nurse at the desk.

"Yes?" She replied visibly annoyed he had interrupted her work.

"I got a call saying my best friend was here, he was in an accident!"

"I'm sorry we can only give out information to relatives. Are you a relative sir?" She asked continuing to type without looking at him.

"Yeah, he's my brother!" Anthony answered without hesitation.

"You just said you were his best friend, now you're his brother? Which one is it sir?"

"Both!"

"Both?" She questioned starring at him, before she looked at the others.

"Yeah, he's my brother and best friend! Now please tell me where he is?" Anthony demanded.

"What's the name?"

"Ian Hecox."

"He's still with the doctor; you'll have to wait until the doctor comes to talk to you. Have a seat in the waiting room and…"

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me if he's okay!" Anthony said upset.

"Anthony come on man, let's go sit down we don't want to get kicked out." Lasercorn said gently putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah come on." Joven added.

An Hour Later:

It had been an hour since they arrived and they still had no idea how Ian was. Anthony couldn't sit still, he paced the room nervously stopping whenever the doors opened thinking it was the doctor, but it never was. Anthony stood looking out the window when the doors opened again and a young doctor came in, he spoke.

"Are you here for Mr. Hecox?" He asked looking around at them.

"Yeah, that's us!" Anthony answered as the five of them stood in front of him.

"Which one of you is his brother?"

"I' am!" Anthony answered.

"Sit please." The doctor said as they all sat.

"How…how is he?" Anthony asked.

"Your brother came here in critical condition; he had been shot three times."

"Wait…shot? I don't understand!" Anthony said upset.

"From what I've been told he was robbed at gunpoint while at an ATM, the robber shot him three times before he took off."

"Is…is he going to be okay?" Sohinki asked.

"He lost a lot of blood, and flatlined in the ambulance. We tried to stabilize him so we could get him into surgery, but he flatlined again before we could get him to the OR. We did everything we could, but it wasn't enough and he passed away. I'm so sorry for your loss." The doctor said gently.

"No, no, no! You're wrong! He can't be dead!" Anthony said his tears falling as he stood. "You're wrong!"

"I wish I was, I'm sorry!" The doctor said.

" No! I don't believe you!" Anthony yelled as he ran out and started looking in rooms for Ian, refusing to believe he was dead!

After five minutes of looking he still hadn't found him until he turned a corner and in the first room he saw a nurse covering up a body on the floor was a familiar shirt. He rushed in and she looked at him, he yelled at her to get away from him as he went to the bed.

"STOP! Get away from him!" Anthony demanded as he pulled back the blanket with a shaky hand, a sob escaped his mouth seeing Ian laying there. "Ian! Open your eyes, don't be dead please!" He begged taking one of Ian's hand's in both of his, he bent closer and crying brought their hand's to his forehead. "I'm so sorry Ian!"

"Anthony…we should go." Lasercorn said gently touching his shoulder.

"I don't want to leave without him!" Anthony said starring at Ian.

"I know, but there's nothing more we can do here. Let's go home." Mari added.

"Okay." Anthony said quietly letting go of Ian's hand, he then allowed Mari to lead him from the room.

A Week Later:

The days following Ian's death were hard on all of them; especially Anthony. He fell into a depression, he felt like half of him was missing and he blamed himself. He locked himself in his house refusing to see or talk to anyone, the others were worried about him they had already lost Ian and they were afraid they'd lose Anthony too. The others took care of all the funeral arrangements and left him a message telling him the day and time. The day of the funeral Anthony was up before the sun and sat starring out the window a cup of coffee growing cold in his hands. He looked at the clock and realized it was almost 9:30 and Mari would be picking him up soon. He went to the bathroom, had a shower before going to his room, and got dressed. He had just finished when the doorbell rang, he answered it Mari smiled sadly at him before without a word she hugged him.

"Let me get my jacket and keys, I'll meet you at the car." He said as he went back inside and took a deep breath to steady his nerves before he grabbed his things and left locking the door behind him.

At The Church:

The ride to the church was silent, when they arrived they parked and got out. It took all of his willpower to force himself to stay, when he wanted to leave, run as far away from there as fast as he could! Suddenly he saw Lasercorn, Sohinki, and Joven walking towards them, he just had to make it through the funeral and then he could be alone.

"Hey guys, everyone's inside. We're almost ready to start." Sohinki said.

"Let's get this over with." Anthony said sighing.

The service began, Anthony didn't pay attention his eyes never left the casket that held his best friend. He closed his eyes as a single tear escaped silently, as he thought of never being able to see the man he considered a brother again! He listened to people speak about Ian, and Anthony hated it, they didn't know the real Ian and it made him angry they acted like they did! He couldn't sit and listen to anymore, so when the priest began to talk again he stood up and quietly made his way to the doors and left. Once outside he sat down on the curb and sighed shakily, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?" Lasercorn asked as he sat beside him.

"I just needed some fresh air." Anthony answered.

"You want to talk?"

"Not really…I'm going home, I can't do this is sorry!" Anthony said as he stood.

"Want me to take you home?"

"I think I'll walk. Can you tell everyone where I went?"

"Sure man! We'll stop by after the reception okay?"

"Okay." Anthony said as Lasercorn stood and they hugged.

"See you later." Lasercorn said turning to go back inside.

"Yeah." Anthony answered as he began to walk away.

TBC…