User:Mangledmeddlingmetal/Story Section

I'll occasionally write a short story... I'm not that proud of 'em, but have a read if you want. Warning: April deals with some possibly triggering themes. Fireworks= Anna sat at her window, gazing out at the street she'd always lived on, clutching a pearl in her hand. She closed her eyes and let herself drift into a calm sleep.

"Come on!" Harold called, running ahead of her. "We're going to be late!"

"Late for what? Harold, please, you haven't told me anything," Anna called back, exasperation and exhaustion lacing her voice.

"I have told you one thing: I'll tell you when we get there," Harold replied with a wink.

"But where are we going? We're going to miss the beginning of the fireworks if you keep us running around like this," Anna said, stopping to catch her breath.

"We won't," Harold promised, stopping and walking back to where Anna was panting for breath. "Trust me."

"Fiiiine," Anna replied. "But we only have five minutes. I don't see how we could possibly get back to the square in time."

"We won't have to," Harold said. "Besides, we're almost where we need to be."

Anna straightened herself up. "Then can we walk the rest of the way? Running uphill is so hard."

"Yeah, sure."

With that, the two started walking. Up the hill, and out to the edge of the cliff. There sat a picnic basket on a blanket with a couple of unlit candles.

"Harold?" Anna asked, confused.

"Sit?" Harold offered, sitting down on the blanket.

Anna followed, and also seated herself. "A picnic? On a cliff? When we have three minutes to get to the square?"

Harold ignored the final two questions, and instead just answered the first. "Yes. A picnic."

"But Ha-" she was cut off by the first firecracker of the night going off. She jumped in surprise and ended up attaching herself to Harold's arm.

Harold grinned as a few more went off, in perfectly clear view. In fact, this was a better view than from the town square, and there were far fewer people. It was all around a perfect spot to watch the show from.

"Oh... I... I see why, now," Anna said, still clinging to Harold's arm. It was a little chilly that night.

"Yeah. And... I've kinda wanted to ask you something. Privately. For a while now," Harold admitted.

"Hmm?" Anna prompted, looking up at Harold's pale face, thinking it was only so white in comparison to the darkness of the night.

The bursts of colors emanating from the darkness splashed against his face. He bit his lip before continuing, "You and I... We've been friends for years now, and..."

"And...?" Anna asked.

"Well..." Harold stalled. He picked up one of the candles, got out his lighter, and lit it. "I was thinking, maybe..." He put his lighter away, and used the one candle to light the other one. "We could..."

Anna took the candles and put them back where they were before Harold had lit them. "We could what?"

"Go out," Harold said, averting his eyes from Anna's and instead staring at the trees. His face was now flushed with red, even though the current fireworks were in various shades of blue.

"O-Oh..." Anna said in surprise, letting go of his arm.

"I mean... If no, then I'll under-" Anna covered his mouth with her hand.

"I'd love to," she said, and kissed him on the cheek. She took a step, smiling ever so slightly. Another step, and her smile started to fade. Another, and her mouth was in a slight frown. On the next step she stopped. The smile was completely gone. Not even a trace of it remained. Her eyes were filled with sadness. Her face paled with the dawning thoughts of loneliness. Her hands shook. Her gaze faltered.
 * -|April=

She looked up into the eyes of the one she loved, and felt her breath being stolen from her lungs. Her mouth was dry and tasted stale. The pounding in her chest faded away. There was nothing in the world but an absence. An empty void calling out to be filled. A call that would never be answered.

Everything melted away. The trees, the flowers, the sidewalk below, the cars rushing past, the birds in the sky, even the sky itself. It all disappeared. It didn’t matter. Only one thing mattered, and he stuck out clear against the empty world.

She opened her mouth to speak, and no voice escaped her lips. She could not do or say anything. All she was was a statue, staring into his eyes for an eternity. She wanted to reach out. She wanted to trace his jawline one last time, kiss his slightly parted lips one last time, run her fingers through his hair one last time, but she could not.

Instead she stood there, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to feel. There was only longing as his eyes stared back into hers. There was only pain when he broke that for a moment as he blinked. There was only death when he didn’t open his eyes, and turned away.

Alex shook his head to clear his mind. He put his toothbrush back in the cup by the sink, and turned off the water. He heaved a large sigh, and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

A few steps later, he was in his room. Two more after that, and he was at the foot of his bed. He flopped face-first into the bedding as he always did. He stayed there, silently screaming in his mind. He still had to live a normal life. The world wouldn’t stop, no matter how much he wanted it to.

After a moment, he pushed himself up, and sat with his feet dangling off of the side of the bed. With a slight groan, he jumped off, and walked over to the basket full of clean laundry a few feet away. He was always too lazy to put them away, so he ended up wearing the same clothes every week, despite having many more options waiting in his closet. He grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt, and mindlessly put them on.

He started walking downstairs, and smelled the breakfast his mother was cooking. Bacon and eggs, his favorite. But he had no desire to eat. Nevertheless, he walked into the kitchen because it was the only way to the door.

“Oh honey, good morning,” his mother said.

“Hi,” Alex managed to force out. The single word sounded almost normal.

His mother didn’t pick up on the voice crack, and continued about her regular routine of prying into her son’s business. “Have you talked to April recently?”

“Yeah, we talked just this morning,” the boy responded, choking back tears.

“Really? Wow, you two certainly can fit a conversation in any time. How is she?”

“She’s… Fine,” Alex lied.

“Good, good.” The woman scraped some eggs onto a plate and tried to hand it off to her son. “Here.”

“Thanks, Mom, but I have to run,” Alex said, walking towards the door. “If I don’t leave now, I’ll be late. And if I’m late, April will kill me.”

“Well alright, have fun,” his mother said sweetly.

“Yeah, I will,” Alex lied again, running out the door.

Halfway down the block, he slowed down to a walk, then a slow wander. His face turned expressionless, and he whispered to himself, “If I don’t leave now, April will kill me… Like she killed herself.” Once upon the end.
 * -|Best Story Ever=