Till Death Do Us Part (L.S)

7

The sound of heavy wheezing woke me up, the realisation making me jolt up.

"Alfie!"

The little boy was curled up on the floor, wheezing breathlessly, his face pale. I quickly jumped off the sofa and searched for his inhaler.

The sound of the door opening made my heart sink into my chest, knowing this won't end well.

"Alfie, it's time to go— what the bloody fuck!?" Grayson yelled, his eyes bulging in worry.

"I'm trying to find his inhaler, Gray. It's not here!" I frantically shouted, searching through his backpack.

"Oh my God....you were sleeping, weren't you?" He figured out, possibly noticing my sleep-like state.

"Gray, now's not the time!"

He walked over to me, snatching the bag from my hands and opened the large part of the zipper I didn't search, taking out this machine I assumed was the nebuliser, and rushed over to his son, plugging the machine into the wall and hurriedly got everything together for it to work, and placed it on his face, turning it on.

"Gray, I'm so sorry—"

"Shut up!" He yelled at me, catching me off guard.

"Just shut the bloody hell up!" His nostrils flared, the anger clear in his eyes.

"I trusted you! I trusted you like I always do to take care of my son, and this is what happens?!"

"Grayson, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep—?"

"And that's what? An excuse? All you do is sleep now! Imagine if you didn't wake up? He would be dead! What has got into you, Louis?! You haven't been the same at all since the year started."

He was right. I haven't.

"I'm sorry, alright? You're right, I haven't been the same." I agree, opening my mouth to say something else, but he put a finger up to silence me.

"No, you don't understand. You're a completely different person, Louis! Jackson and I can't keep covering for you!"

My eyes raised in confusion, his words not making sense to me. "What do you mean?"

"Don't even worry about it. This just has to stop. You're making yourself look like a complete looney, and Alfie's scared of you because of it." Now I was even more confused.

He's scared of me? How could Alfie be scared of me?

"He's scared of me? Why?" I asked, confused, frowning.

"Louis, you just—.....there's just no other way for me to explain it to you. You have to figure it out yourself." Was all he told me.

"I just have one question, and I want you to be completely honest with me." His voice sounded stern, seriousness in his eyes this time.

"What is it?"

"Are you still sober or not?" I was taken aback by the question, not expecting him to have asked that.

"Grayson—"

"Have you been drinking and doing drugs again? Answer me!" Anger filled his eyes again, and I knew right there that I was stuck.

By the blinking of my eyes and looking down at the floor to avoid his gaze, I answered.

"Yes." I answered honestly this time.

And with that, he uttered the words I never wanted to hear.

"I don't want you near my son ever again," He strongly said, the look of disappointment plain on his face. "Not until you fix yourself. Actually fix yourself, Louis. Aitch was my friend too. He was there since the beginning, and you? You knew him for only 3 years! I knew him my whole fucking life since birth! I grieved him too! And what you're doing isn't grieving. It's creepy and just fucking weird!"

A sharp pang of guilt hit me, knowing that every word he said was right. What I'm doing is weird. It isn't the right way for me to grieve.

"And you never once asked me how I felt. How I was feeling, knowing he was gone forever. You made it only about your emotions and how you felt, and I had to act like it wasn't hurting me for the sake of your own sadness!" Tears pricked in the corner of his eyes, the guilt in me worsening.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked quietly, my voice fragile.

"You don't think I did? You went on and about how you lost the love of your life and how you two never had the chance to be together. You cut me off every time just to make it about yourself!"

I didn't know what to say after that. I was speechless. Every word he said hit me hard. I did only know him for 3 years. I did make it all about my feelings. I did should've asked him how he was feeling.

It was at that moment; I realised I was a terrible friend.