Arcanes Light

0 - Death

—

The coherent beeps of the heart monitor fill the blank, white room. The young girl laying on the hospital bed with blank eyes, having lost its spark long ago. Few [ Color ] strands cluttering her visage, hands subtly twitching as countless tubes are taped to small entries in her limbs.

Staring drearily at the brightly illuminated ceiling, she wish she could cry. But it feels like that well of tears deep inside of her has already dried up. Her heart aches, at the same time feeling so empty.

[ Color ] irises darting to the door when it suddenly creaks open slightly, the person behind it revealed to be a little boy — Kayden. Her bestfriend... only one, even.

Everyone abandoned her after the word of her having an infectious disease spread to them, like a plague everyone should avoid. But that was the complete opposite.

She doesn't have a disease, nor a virus in her system. It's just that her body is unable to handle the energy surging from within her, ultimately resulting in a ruptured 'core'.

"Kay’" Weakly murmuring the nickname she insisted on using for him, she gazes softly at the boy walking up besides her.
"... why're you here, again?" Her question felt like someone had just shot him in the heart.

After a quick awkward moment of silence, he finally responds. "Because I thought you'd be lonely." His answer made her eyes go subtly wide with parted lips, quickly morphing into a smile — a failed attempt of a smile.

"You don't need to." She sighs. The doctors' had diagnosed her, it was assumed she had leukemia, and that's how depression slapped her hard across the face. "You should focus on school, Kay’."

"[ Name ], don't you miss going to school, too?" A small frown paints his features, his black hair messy. Probably from running here again.

He thought about cutting his hair short again, but [ Name ] insisted he'd keep it at napes length atleast. "Why...?" – was what he asked.

Her answer? "Because it's pretty. You look better with mid-length hair." That memory embedded into her brain was starting to become hazy. But it was still as clear as day for him, how the way pink petals fell onto the vibrant short grass below them, the way her teethy smile was like a ray of light.

"... School." She blinked for a second at the thought, head rolling back to face the ceiling completely with dull eyes. "School, huh...?"

It hurt him how she looked so helpless, how she just laid there like a broken doll. He vowed to keep her company everyday, whether it be the weekends or not.

"Hey." A word from her broke off the long train of thoughts that circled in his brain, and he looked back up at her to listen. "Kay’, promise me something."

"What is it? I'm listening." He says firmly, eyes somewhat lit up optimistically. Till he took quick notice of how the monitor with her heartbeat displayed on it, began to slow down. His heart sinking anxiously.

"B—be..." A bloody cough interrupts her, his eyes going wide in shock with a staggered step over to the side, on whether he should call a nurse or stay. "Be strong, al... alright?"

"[ N—Name ], what... what do I do?" It's odd how he just stuttered, because he was never the type to even do so anyway. He was a blunt kid, not really caring about how he talked — adult or not.

A soft sigh runs past her chapped lips. "I've always wanted to go to a big field of flowers... Then I'd make a flower crown for you. Maybe we could've already done that, and we would be laughing instead right now."

A lump formed in his throat, silencing him completely. He wasn't sure what to say, at all. Not when how unfair it felt for her to suffer like this, and not know why she was like this.

"... I'll take you to a pretty flower field, one day — so, please, just hang on." He pleaded. But that plea only fell on deaf ears when she smiled one last time, not her usual genuine toothy one, but just a sad attempt at one. Her eyelids dropping down, as well as her heart.

Instinctively, he hurried to hold her in his arms. Cradling her like a delicately glass made human, his fists balling up the fabric on the back of her hospital gown.

The loud beeping sounds emanating from the monitor behind him ensued along with the deafening silence, the sounds of the door flying open with staff running in being blurred out by it.

Be... strong.

Even he didn't notice it, but he was crying. And when he noticed the dried tears in the mirror, his reflection like a hazy shattered image in his point of view.

He vowed. He vowed to never be swayed by emotions like this, ever again. He vowed to 'be strong' for her. He vowed he'd find out why she had to suffer like that, instead of him.

—