"Sea Monster!" Luca shouted pointing to Alberto.
"Luca?" Alberto uttered, staring at his friend with hurt eyes. He couldn't believe this was happening.
"Get back!" Giulia shouted. She picked up a nearby stick, pointing it towards Alberto in a threatening manner. Alberto took a few steps back.
"Sea monster! There it is!" Shouted an approaching Ercole. Alberto looked at Luca with pain filled eyes once more before he began to make his way out into the ocean, swimming away. "Ragazzi! Now!" Yelled Ercole as he and his gang readied their harpoons and threw them in Alberto's direction.
"NO!" Luca shouted. He watched with wide eyes as he placed both hands over his mouth in shock. The harpoons had thankfully missed Alberto. Alberto turned to face Luca once more before swimming away with tears in his eyes.
Alberto swam back to his island. Once he reached the shore and changed back into his human form he began to sob heavily on his knees. His one friend who he cared for so much and just wanted to be by his side betrayed him. It stung. It stung so much and cut deeply.
Alberto stood to his feet, his tear stained face revealing streaks of his purple skin. He slowly made his way to his tower and up the ladder. He entered the tower and gazed around. Everything was just as he had left it before he and Luca left. He picked up the music box that Luca had once fixed, staring at it in a trance like state as he went deep in thought.
We were supposed to win the Vespa… see the world together… Just the two of us. But now all he wants is to go to school… with her. I almost got killed and he didn't say anything. He never cared about me. No one does.
"No one does!" Alberto screamed out in a voice of pain and fury. Tears quickly filled his eyes once more. He threw the music box onto the floor smashing it to pieces. He smashed and threw around all of his belongings in the tower, even tossing some out of the tower. He then ripped his Vespa poster from the wall.
Gritting his teeth, he sobbed in between heavy breaths. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the drawing he had made of him and Luca riding the Vespa. He stared at the drawing a few seconds before ripping it in half. He let go of both pieces, letting them slowly fall to the ground. He turned his attention to where the Vespa poster once hung. Staring at the marks that were scraped into the tower's walls.
"Everyone always leaves…" He uttered in a shaky voice. He walked to the opening of the tower and stared out at the ground. "I'll never leave this tower again. No one can leave me… if they can never come in the first place. Alberto pushed the ladder to the ground, watching it snap on impact. He stared down at the now broken ladder along with all of his broken belongings.
Alberto gathered up some pieces of wood from the stuff he had broken and carried them to the top of the tower. He set them on fire and walked back down to the entrance of the roof and sat down on the stairs. As he sat and began to sob again he heard a familiar voice call his name.
"Alberto?"
Alberto quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. He turned his head to see Luca walking around the room of the tower looking for him. He watched as Luca stared all around the room before walking to the middle and picking up two sheets of paper.
"What are you doing here?" Alberto asked, annoyed. A startled Luca turned to face his direction.
"I'm… I'm sorry." Luca said, walking up to him. "I… I never should've done that. I wish I could take it back."
"Yeah you're sorry, whatever. Now just go away!" Alberto replied coldly. He stood up and walked to the top of the tower where he had started the fire and sat down. He stares at the fire, holding back tears. Why did Luca come looking for him. It's not like he actually cared. After all, he almost got him killed. Alberto was sure that Luca only came to apologize to satisfy his own feelings of guilt. He was sure that Luca had already left until he heard light footsteps coming up the stairs behind him.
"Alberto? What are those marks on the wall?" Luca asked. Alberto remained silent. "Tell me what they mean."
Alberto gives a sigh before proceeding to tell Luca that the marks represent the days he's been alone.
"You were living here alone for that many days?" Luca asked, with concern.
"I just stopped counting after a while. He said I was old enough to be on my own. I just thought that… maybe he'd change his mind." He sniffled, feeling on the verge of tears once again. "Honestly though I get it. He's better off without me. You are too."
"That's not true." Luca defended.
"Yes it is." Alberto replied, his voice now cracking. "You're not like me. You're the good kid. And I'm just the kid that ruins everything."
Luca had heard enough. He couldn't stand seeing Alberto put himself down like this. "Silenzio Bruno. That's just the dumb voice in your head. You taught me that. And getting a Vespa? seeing the world-"
"Just let it go! ok?" Alberto interrupted, turning to Luca, the tears now visibly in his eyes. "Look, you and I should've never been friends in the first place."
Hearing those words, Luca felt something inside of him break. "Don't say that…" He said, walking closer. He reached a hand out to Alberto's shoulder. "Alberto-"
"Get outta here!" Alberto exploded, causing Luca to step back. "I'm not gonna tell you again."
Luca stared at Alberto's back silently for a moment. Without thinking much he ran towards Alberto and dropped to his knees, throwing his arms around him from behind. Alberto slightly flinched at the unexpected touch.
"I'm not leaving you." Luca told him as he continued to hug him tightly. "I'm gonna fix this. I promise."
Luca's embrace and words caused Alberto to shed more tears. Luca could feel those tears lightly pat his forearm, leaving small spots of green. Luca let go of Alberto and stood up.
"I'll go win the race. And then- and then the Vespa will be ours. And we'll ride away together, just like we planned."
"Luca, that's crazy." Alberto replied, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Well maybe I'm crazy. You're rubbing off on me." Luca joked, as he backed up to the edge of the tower. "Take me gravity!" He yelled as he jumped off the edge.
"Luca!" Alberto gasped. He quickly stood to his feet and ran to the edge. "What are you doing?"
"I'm ok!" Luca assured, while holding his back in pain. "I'll be back tomorrow! I'm gonna fix this!" He yelled, running off.
Alberto watched him from the edge of the tower as Luca picked up an old looking diving suit off the ground near a pile of stuff that he had previously tossed out. Luca took the diving suit into his arms and dived into the ocean, making his way back to Portorosso.
Alberto watched him until he was out of sight before making his way down the stairs back into the main room of the tower, walking to where the two halves of a torn sheet of paper lay. Picking them both up, he held the two halves together and gave a slight smile.
"Luca… you do care." He said, before pocketing the torn drawing.
He climbed down from the edge of the tower's main room, but ended up slipping half way down and landed flat on the ground. He picked himself up and ran to the shoreline before diving in the ocean, following Luca's path.