Candy- Chapter 12
Flora X Riven Modern Day AU
A/N; Strong trigger warning for depiction of death! Not graphic!
"Millie!"
Krystal would never forget the look in the boy's eyes that day.
"Helia, calm down!"
"Helia!"
But it was no use.
Bip. Bip. Bip.
But suddenly, no sound anymore.
Only a blank look from the boy, who started tearing up, hitting his head.
"Helia, stop!", Krystal had cried out, before running out to fetch a nurse.
"We are very sorry.", she said, after feeling the corpse's pulse.
"Do something! Do something!", by now the boy's hair was wet and messy, and his face screamed agony.
"No. She can't… she can't have… she can't…"
"Sh, I'm here.", Krystal had said, stroking his back as he kneeled on the ground.
"Krystal… she can't… she just can't…"
The girl felt tears from her own eyes, which she tried holding in. The crystals dropped on the ground, joining the pool of tears. Tears of pain. Tears of grief. Tears of a lost one. Tears of a lost tomorrow.
The two kids had stayed there for awhile, both crying.
"It's getting late, Helia. Should we go?", Krystal had murmured. By then, it was an hour til midnight.
"No… she can't…", he looked over, eyes wide with disbelief.
The worst wasn't seeing people you love getting hurt. It was seeing them break down, and feel useless.
"I'm going to call my mom and tell her I'm staying."
"You don't have to, Krys.", he mumbled softly, his voice trailing.
"Helia. I know what it's like to feel alone. Alone, and powerless. I don't want you to go through this by yourself."
The boy smiled softly, pushing away a strand of his hair.
Yes, Krystal definitely had her fair share of feeling powerless. Sometimes she even felt grateful for being raised the way she was. She was one of the only girls in her grade that wasn't horrified at the sight of blood, and the goriest movies felt like cartoons to her.
"Hello, mother.", she started, after walking out of the room into a long corridor. At that moment, it felt endless.
"Hello, Krystal. Is anything wrong?"
The girl looked up to the sky, only seeing the blinding hospital lights. Yes, things were wrong. She wanted to cry, too. But she couldn't. She didn't care about people's opinions, but she felt something in her that filtered her emotions. To her, they were only burdens. Burdens that make you weak. As much as Flora ran away from her heart unintentionally, Krystal did it for her own 'benefit'. She wasn't scared of others leaving her. She only dreaded the day she would have to leave them due to her past.
"No, nothing is wrong. May I spend the night at Cindy's?"
A small pause.
"Krystal, I'm busy. Do whatever you want. I'm hanging up."
The call ended, as the girl rolled her eyes. Only after a while did she realize tears were pouring down her hollow cheeks.
As she went back into Room C170, Krystal's eyes were red from crying. Normally, she would have hid until the tears dried and the sadness faded, but Helia was different.
With him, she felt free. She was comfortable being herself. That's why it hurt her even more to hide her true blood from him.
"You're back.", the boy said, as she sat over next to him.
"Yeah.", she replied.
A small pause echoed, in which the only sound of the world was their breathing.
"You're not leaving, right?", he continued.
"Nope.", Krystal smiled.
Suddenly, the boy turned over, pulling her close until their faces were mere inches apart.
"It's her fault. It's all her fault. I'll make her pay."
His breathing had quickened, and Krystal felt his warm breath on the tip of her nose.
"Who?", she mumbled, still lost in the boy's midnight gaze.
"Musa."
The girl looked away.
"What are you gonna do?", she continued.
"Ruin her. Like she ruined me.", the boy whispered.
He then turned over, as both their minds went back to memory lane.
The day had started normally. Like always. Too normally, even. That day, Helia had extracurricular courses, and Krystal was busy with her chess club, so they got Musa, Riven's family's housemaid, to guard the little girl.
"Millie, I'm going already, or I'm going to be late. But don't worry, your sitter is coming in a few minutes, okay?"
He put on some cartoons, and after making sure his sister was fine, grabbed his bag and walked out of the door.
He had thought all would be fine. But fate decided otherwise.
"Hello, mom?", Musa had said, walking into Helia's neighborhood.
"Musa. I have something to tell you."
"Go on. I'm going to be late-"
"Musa, your father's gone.", the woman cut, her voice trailing.
The smile on the girl's face faded.
"What do you mean he's gone? You mean, like the divorce?"
She could hear her mother sigh from miles away.
"He didn't pay enough attention on the road, and well…"
By now Musa slowed down her pace. She didn't know what to feel. She had gotten used to her parents living separately, but death was a concept she never thought about much.
"Musa. Musa? Musa!", her mother called, faced to the girl's sudden silence.
The black-haired teenager wanted desperately to spend some time alone. Not to forget, but to digest. Her father, her favorite person in the world, was gone. Forever. She felt so empty she couldn't even get herself to cry.
"Mom. I have a job right now. I'll call you again later, okay?", she finally let out. She knew her family needed the money from the babysitting. Desperately.
"Musa. Take it easy, okay?"
"Yeah."
She hung up, walking towards building 8.
Only to see a corpse fall down to her feet from above.
Her eyes grew wide, as she felt someone shove her from behind.
"Millie! Millie!", she had heard Helia scream, then whisper, then scream again. He had forgotten his headphones, and was walking back to the building to fetch them when he saw what he wished he would never see.
His sister. His baby sister, falling headfirst from their balcony. From the fourteenth floor. She made a gracious fall, before crashing violently into the ground. She fell. She fell apart. Helia fell apart from that, too.
He always felt something was different since his mother had passed. He had lost his haven, his cocoon where he could just forget, and be a child again. He had lost his innocence. But now, he just lost his reason to live. And he knew he would have to keep living. With his father. Even more alone, this time. The rare sun in his life was replaced by rain, and there was no rainbow to follow it.
"She's going to pay…", he mumbled, as he felt an arm wrap over his shoulders. The boy reluctantly looked over to see his best friend, Krystal.
By now the ambulance had arrived. Waiting for it felt like forever to Helia. Thankfully, his friend was there to calm him down.
Krystal was, really, the only other person that represented light in the dark pit that his life could be. She was always there for him, and slowly became a refuge for Helia to lose himself in.
He sometimes wished she would tell him about her own problems, too, but she never did. The boy realized he knew little about her, even thought they were friends since the second grade. She always had that element of mystery. Maybe it was part of her charm. Sometimes, Helia wondered why such a normally emotionless girl understood him the best. Recently, though, she had shown a softer side of herself.
His other friend, Riven, also had trouble with showing his emotions. They were quite close despite the fact that the boy was a grade younger. Helia guessed it was because of their similar past.
Riven's mother had left him and his family years prior, and he never forgave her for it. His father never really cared much either, only giving gambling and alcohol a time of his day. Sometimes, Helia wished his father wouldn't care so much, too. His affection came out in high hopes, and his high hopes ended in disappointment.
"Father, please, just give me the chance, I really like art and-"
"Helia, art isn't a career. How many times do I have to tell you that?", the man had cut.
"But dad, it's really important to me!"
"Helia, I'm doing this for your own good. Now shut up, and go back to your math. Oh, talking about Math, how did your exam go? "
The boy's mouth went dry. He wanted to disappear at that very moment.
"Father, I'm sorry…"
"A-?"
"B."
And it all came crashing down again.
"Helia, I'm doing this for your own good."
"In life, you either win or you don't, I don't want to see you walk into something you'll regret."
"Art is just stupid! If you continue, I'll cut your classes!"
"That's it, say goodbye to Miss Lancier, I'm not taking you there anymore."
"Forget about it. That's not a dream."
"Why do you always have to be such a disappointment?"
"Why does my life always end in disappointment?", Helia thought.