Chapter 1: Fever
Berwald walked up the steps of the church, tears rolling down his red cheeks. The last member of his immediate family, gone. First his mother, and now his father.
"Don't worry my little angel, you'll see them soon."
Berwald is now 16, a Junior in high school. If you saw him at first glance, you would probably see the bags under his sharp blue eyes, or how his eyes sometimes had a reddish tint, but not from what you think. He didn't have that many friends, after the death of his family, he secluded himself from the world. Remember the saying, "the eyes are the windows to the souls." People took it seriously, when you looked in his eyes, it was almost as if you could feel sadness, solitude, slowly being driven to madness. He didn't mind it. He didn't need people. He needed to survive.
Does this boy know how to love? You may ask. Yes, he has a few friends, but trust me when I say a few. And a boy, who he grew feelings for. The ever so popular Mathias Køhler. But whenever he would think about it, reality pulled him back. He couldn't explain why he had these feelings, they were just there, or maybe it was the mysterious aura around him. It's like everyone "knew" Mathias, but few people really knew Mathias. Everyone just saw the everlasting smile, a smile that was hiding something, like a deep dark secret. Berwald was merely a moth; Mathias and his secret the flame. Every history class, English, and after school music room talks, were heaven to him. But he had a feeling Mathias wouldn't return those feelings. But everything was going to change, after that fateful day. That damned day.
Everything was fine that morning. Berwald walked to his locker to put his textbook, that's where he saw him. The boy he had been falling for since Sophomore year, last year. They used to be close last year, but somehow Mathias slowly started getting more popular and popular, til he forgot about Berwald and their history. Even though he had such strong feelings for him, Berwald also envied him. Mathias was everything he was not.
"Earth to Berwald!" A hand waved in front of his face and a voice called out. It was his friend Tino, the two of them had become close friends since 4th grade.
"Oh hey Tino. Didn't see you there." Berwald apologized, but Tino just laughed about the situation.
"Yeah you were staring again, gosh just ask him out already!" Tino joked, Berwald had to sush him so they wouldn't draw unnecessary attention.
"Sorry, but you've been holding onto this for almost a year to the date. At least get it off your chest?" When he heard that, Berwald just laughed. He could never do that. The two started talking some more, but the whole time Berwald had had a feeling someone was watching him. He looked to his right too see Mathias looking at him, even though he had caught Mathias staring, he didn't look away.
"Tino? You saw that right?" He asked.
"Saw what?"
"Never mind, it was probably my imagination." But Berwald knew damn well it wasn't. The bell rang and It was time for the first period of the day, History. Mathias wouldn't be avoidable since they sit right next to each other.
"Why was he staring at me? Did I do something wrong? Does he know?"