*Where did the time go?
Those moments of peaceful respite to cuddle to the remaining will of thoughts far gone. Were they scared away by the incoming wash or is the anxiety that seeped into them causing no further breaks in the day?
Ah, it doesn't matter anymore. Resting would only prolong what must be done. Morals, beliefs, and the nature of one's faith, could they be so easily tossed aside for the selfishness of one child's heart? Could he look on and feel immense satisfaction as the world burns around him for the sole sake of a life, possibly two?
Yes, Kage could do the latter. *
He knew that if the chance arrived, he would snatch it claiming the world for his selfishly wavering heart. Out of the kindness of his soul an insurmountable number shall suffer before he could grace the pale tell of death beside Lisa. Then, the question arose for Daniel.
In search, he resided at the waterfront, gazing out to the touch of its chilled surface. Stars just as bright as they were on those nights the two experienced in prior months.
Amidst their plans to convey their desire they simultaneously felt drawn to these grounds. Kage did not know the reason for Daniel, but he could catch the glimmer of God watching over him. The sky sparkled with an unknown eeriness, comforting but vast in its expression. If one were to venture forth, would they be greeted by never-ending darkness or a sign which led to more along the way? A reigning provocation that stirred in the bowels of the boy's desires.
The cicadas loudly cried out, warning their brethren of the intruder all the while mating in their covens. Kindling a new love, animalistic at best but beautiful in its own right.
'Are these the things that the others could see? Why did it take me so long to realize just how interesting this plain world is?'
Kage gently passed his left hand over the blades of grass, absorbing the moisture to their tips. Their exhausted coldness beckoned as the falsity lay supreme in their make. Of course, due to their inorganic material scraping the palm of his hand, uncovered, the grass soon disappeared in small blinding lights forever reminding him of his situation. He was an outlier to the equation, something which didn't belong in this world.
'What's the point in this numbness?'
"Oh, buddy boy!" A pair of steel-toed boots pointed at Kage's eyes in the soft dirt. "You know very well what your point is."
'Fwump!' So, he sat to Kage's side, legs crossed while the shit-eating grin stretched further than he could ever remember. William's right hand laid on top of his left as they were tightly cuffed, the index finger bouncing to an inescapable tune. A tune which was hummed by the vibrations of the boy's throat.
On first listen Kage paid it no attention but when William had sung the words to the tune one laudable evening in their bunk, did Kage finally ask what it was.
"I neva gave ya the ansa, did I? Neva was enough time, was there, друг?" From there William recited the lyrics again, the same words to that soft pitch with its harmonizing quality as if an old accordion should be played alongside the piece. "Пусть бегут неуклюже.
Пешеходы по лужам, А вода — по асфальту рекой.
И не ясно прохожим В этот день непогожий, Почему я веселый такой."
It was of a near ancient language at this point. The destruction of the entire Eurasia area caused even simple phrases in the many languages of the cultures that once were vibrantly alive, now obscure to the common man.
'Afterall, what's the point in marketing to a dead people.'
Yet, Kage knew the language to be Russian but was shy of understanding the words. William always wiggled to the song, how he puffed out his chest and produced exaggerated expressions at the end of each syllable; tell-tale signs to Kage that it was passed down within his friend's family.
Suddenly, William collapsed on Kage's chest forcing their eyes to finally meet. "You're too kind mah square. Even with what ya did to me in the end. You just can't let go." His hands crept up Kage's chest below his shirt sliding between the grooves of his muscles squeezing upon some scars. "What were all these for if not to let go? You let it go, the mask is gone, so why worry so much? Just go crazy, it's what you've always done… it's what you've always wanted."
"N-n-NO! I-I-I didn't" Kage shook from head to toe desperately attempting to avoid William's gaze.
The hands fondled his collarbone, squishing the bit of fat that could be found. "You say? But we know. We all know inside you, and you can't escape that. The fitful desperation to get away is dragging you deeper into the clutches of something worse.
That's what caused you, right?
To do off with me, right?
Leave me tah rot, right?"
"You're wro-" Kage's voice cut out as William's hands grasped around his throat, choking him of what he got.
"Even when you stared me down, legs snapped like twigs, you didn't lie. Then, why now?" An exasperated sigh creaked from the curled lips of his friend. Almost in boredom William forced a greater pressure in his attempt to crush Kage's throat. "I liked the honest Kage, the one who would do as I say. Bet you liked it as well, being controlled and all, because that's the kind of person you are. You can't understand so you lash out when others are giving you, their help."
Globs of drool ran down the sides of Kage's mouth as his body spasmed in the softness of the muddy grass leaving streaks from his flailing form around him. "Since you can't understand, why not be on the other side of that coin, huh? Why not try to understand how it really feels for once of your own volition? Do it, and then you can see why I used you. Why even now, you still are my most precious…
friend."
Mouth agape and teeth bared to the testing wind; the boy was unable to escape the persisting nightmare. William wrapped himself around Kage's skin, stretching himself so that he could cover himself diagonally as if his body were a towel. "This is what you desire, is it not? The warm touch of another? A touch you will never have, unless you FUCK it from the depths of that bitch!"
"Shut it!" Kage seethed. "You're a FUCKING MONSTER! YOU DESERVE WHAT YOU GOT!"
Unperturbed, William continued, only growing more brazen. "A bitch you threw away, feisty attitude ya got there."
"STOP!" Kage desperately tore at his ears to cease the onslaught.
"Tssk, tssk. Kagey boy, even without ears you can hear me." William's mouth disappeared from his face leaving a blank point where only skin overlapped. Despite the removal of his mouth, the words did continue, but were now embedded in Kage's mind with nowhere to flee from them. "Not a soul surrounds you now. That warmth is gone and may be dead soon, so how are you going to take it back?"
Kage's bottom lip trembled as the realization dawned on him of the sully that must be committed. "I-I-I-I, please, I don't know if I can."
"Oh~ but you can, friend. You just want to keep that warmth, there's no need for arguing if that's true. Any boy would wish to save their sister, no matter the cost. Then, what about a friend?" William's eyes shone in a dim attitude underlined by shallow crooks of black. It was a skeleton of the past.
"It wouldn't be the same. I would be submitting to my selfishness."
Tapping a finger to Kage's forehead, the skeleton asserted, "Precisely! So, what will you do to save the life of your very dearest of friends?"
In that question, Kage found no work around while his mind fell on the same conclusion. Whether it was his understanding to forgive bias or a baser instinct, Kage refused to see any other way. He had submitted to selfishness his whole life, the selfish desire to grow strong, the desire to protect his sister out of his ploy to deceive himself of his wrongs. The list carried further than he could count but only in the times with Daniel did Kage perceive a better difference between his selfish wants and that of what was needed.
'No, this is not me being selfish. I will be saving a life, one that is good, that is kind, and that is brighter than the sewage on these streets. It is by natural conclusion whose life is more valuable.
Yes. That's the truth.'
The friend's lips hovered as close they could come to the edge of Kage's ear without actually touching. They emphasized a whispered message, "What's left in this world?"
"Those around me."
"Then what must you do?"
"Save what is left."
"And, why?"
"Because that's all that is left to do before I can go… Then, maybe I can finally touch the warmth of mom's grasp. Play with her hair just as Lisa did with her own. What's in my life must be to save those greater than I, for I was never the center of this stage… I was merely to support those who could take the spotlight."
Jubilant clapping resounded with the correct answer finally discovered. "THAT'S CORRECT, KAGE! SO VERY TRUE!" William sat upright; arms raised to the sky exclaiming with glee to the increasingly still clouds. "All that is here is I and the others who will provide advice. Just listen to us and everything will go well. There's not a creature standing that will-
'CRUNCH!' Kage snapped his head to the sound only to be left astounded by the appearance of a figure dressed still in his school uniform, hair askew demonstrating a dim tone as if all the air in his lungs were sapped.
His skin paled and expression rocked by some astute observation. The glasses perched on the boy's nose drooped forward, slipping with a 'plop' into the murky mush.