Round and Round

Part 26

He shouldn't have done that.

Antonio knew that he definitely shouldn't have done that.

But, it was kind of pretty. All of the shards reflecting different pieces of the room and pieces of himself back toward him. The red just drawing your eye. Little drops and smears everywhere... It was pretty, in a way.

He was holding one of the pieces between his fingers, twisting it back and forth and watching as it reflected little shards of everything at him... His dark hair, the green bathroom stalls, the walls covered with crude remarks written in pen and marker.

"Antonio!" And he blinked once, slowly turning his head toward the sound. Listening for a moment. He'd recognised that voice...

The thought floated away, though. Along with every other thought in his mind outside of the vague contemplation of red against the reflective surface. He knew that he'd done something wrong, but he couldn't really remember what it was... He knew that he was currently kneeling on the floor in one of the boys' restrooms. Little pricks digging into his legs. But he wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten here.

The last thing he remembered was Franny. Saying that... 'I never want to see you again. I never want to speak to you again.'

Franny couldn't really mean that. Franny would never leave him like that...

"Antonio!" Same voice. The principal, maybe? Mr. Klarkson? Antonio wondered why he'd be looking for him... "Antonio, unlock the door!"

And that was when Antonio felt the first twinges of panic, as he looked around the room. At the pieces of mirror that surrounded him.

He shouldn't have broken it...

He should get out of here.

But he couldn't exit through the door. He could hear people outside and he knew that they would be very very angry when they saw what he'd done... Maybe the window?

He slowly rose, wincing as he did so. He hurt. His body felt hot and jolts of pain were starting to shoot up his legs and his arms were burning. And his jeans were soaked with something dark and sticky. Glass jutting out of a tear in the fabric... Big piece of glass. He should pull that out, right? He couldn't remember...

And he was suddenly startled from his thoughts by the click of the lock turning and then the louder sound of the door creaking open. And it opened to reveal a crowd of people standing outside. Teachers... a few students standing in the back, attempting to peer around bodies and over shoulders.

Staring at him with wide eyes and horrified expressions.

...He just stared back, unsure what to do. Should he apologise? Or try to pick up the glass or...or... He started to take a step forward. "L—lo..."

"Don't move." He immediately halted as one of the teachers stepped forward—one of the biology teachers, he remembered—holding his hand out. Slowly walking toward him, taking care to avoid the glass. "Don't move anymore. We're going to get the nurse..."

"Holy shit..." Antonio looked over the man's shoulder to where one of the other teachers was standing, her hand over her mouth. Looking slightly startled by the words that had come out of her own mouth.

Mr. Klarkson was standing in the front, looking over the room with an impassive expression. At least he didn't look angry; Antonio felt horrible. He shouldn't have made such a mess... Even if he was pretty sure that he hadn't meant to. It had just happened somehow. At least, he couldn't remember it happening otherwise...

"Just stay there. Don't move."

He felt sick. He felt sick and he hurt. And he wanted Francis to come back. He'd make everything better. He'd do whatever it took to make things better. He didn't understand why Francis would leave him when he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Breathe. Antonio, you need to breathe..."

A hand was holding onto his elbow, helping him stay upright. Another hand rubbing circles into his back. His chest felt tight. And he just wanted to sit down. His knees were threatening to give out.

"I have the wheelchair." Another voice, this one soft and gentle... And then the hands were leading him forward, slowly. Very slowly. Brushing at his clothing—he could hear the soft patter of glass pieces falling to the floor. And he was being settled down onto something soft.

"Take him to the nurse's office... You, call for an ambulance. I think he's starting to go into shock."

The voices sounded far away. He stared up into the faces staring at him, unable to differentiate between them. Teachers and students. The principal.

"Lo siento... Lo siento..." He was moving forward now, a hand still settled on his shoulder. His arms were resting on the arms of the chair, which he nervously gripped for a moment before he jerked his hands away with a yelp.

"It's all right, Toni. Just don't touch anything..."

"Whoa! Antonio smashed the mirror in the guys' bathroom!" he heard one of the students shout.

"Get back to class!" And that was Mr. Klarkson.

"Anyone who isn't in class in the next five seconds gets detention!"

He heard a few people groan at that, but they started to move away. Along with all of the teachers except for the biology teacher, principal, and whoever was pushing him... The nurse?

"Do you need anything else, Paul?"

"No. Everything will be okay. I'll call for custodial to come in and clean that up..."

And that was the last thing he was really aware of... Until he could feel himself being lifted up. The lights were brighter in here, he was vaguely aware of. Nurse's office. He'd been in here once or twice before. The nurses were nice...

"You're going to be all right, sweetie. We're calling for an ambulance."

Very nice. He felt bad for ruining the mirror now. He hadn't meant to... He'd just been upset and angry. And why would Franny leave him? He still didn't understand.

And Lovi... Where was Lovi? He wanted to see her. He wanted to say sorry. Francis had said that he should say sorry to her.

If he said sorry, then maybe everything could go back to normal. Like when they were kids. Franny and Arthur would stop doing bad things and everyone would go back to being best friends. Lovi would yell at him when he did stupid things and he'd get to see her turn red like a tomato... And Gill would come up with silly pranks that he and Franny would help her play on people like Roddy.

And he missed Lovi.

He really missed Lovi.

Antonio just wanted everything to go back to the way it used to be. When everyone was happy and things didn't hurt so badly and they were all together...

"You're going to be okay, Antonio." Hands were touching his legs, moving them slowly. Resting on top of something soft and squishy. "We're going to make a tourniquet now to slow down the bleeding, so it might feel a little uncomfortable..."

...Everything just needed to go back to the way it used to be.

A/N: I am a horrible person. Look at me, doing this to poor Antonio on his birthday!

...Now I feel terrible. I'm sorry, Antonio. I love you. And I promise that everything's going to get better. Promise promise!

Okay, let's talk about something happier. Since I managed to depress myself with this chapter, which is why it took so long to write this, since I've been down for like this entire week and didn't want to exacerbate that with a sad chapter...so I waited til I was feeling better... Which I do feel better, since last night I hung out with a friend I haven't really talked to like in a year. We ate Chinese food and watched Princess Jellyfish and Durarara! Twas fun... Plus this was after I managed to make 18 pizzas in half an hour at work. ;D So I feel very awesome and accomplished.

So, I decided last weekend that this year, I'm going to be attending my first con! And now I'm super excited for it. Tora-con, up in Rochester, NY. With a whole bunch of my friends. Not in cosplay, because I can't afford to cosplay. But I'm still going. Which is fun! :) And I'll probably just end up wearing my Hetalia shirt one day and then maybe my Resident Evil shirt the entire day xD Haha. Because I'm weird like that.