Short Story: Healing The Bruises We Left

Part 3 of "Knuckles For Suckers"

My days went faster than they ever had before. The nights felt dreary and cold as I never wanted to sleep for fear of another nightmare.
They never stopped, they always had me in their grip no matter what I did to ease them.

I couldn’t take another night of restlessness, of screaming, of torture.
I just wanted to sleep.

I was walking down the street, no destination as I tried to clear my mind.
Somehow I ended up down one of the back streets. It was beautiful, yet dangerous.

But even through the beauty, there was still a hole I felt, deep inside of my chest.
It ached and burnt, twisted and turned.
Sometimes I wanted to reach inside my chest and rip out my heart, the pain of losing it would be easier to bear than this.

I kept my head down as I walked, refusing to look up anymore.
The beauty of the world, with its blooming flowers, luscious trees, singing birds. It only made my heart ache more than it should.

Really, I should have been looking up, keeping an eye on my surroundings.
After all, this area was known for its violence, its random jumpings, killings.
But I just didn’t care.

I’ve faced enough street fights in my life, it didn’t faze me anymore.

As I continued, I suddenly felt the wind get knocked out of me. I stumbled to the side, balancing myself as I heard a voice.

“Hey! Watch where you’re goin-”
I looked up, the voice belonging to the person I bumped into cutting itself off.
I could feel the sting behind my eyes as I stared into a deep sea of green.

His eyes sparkled in the sunlight, years of held back tears looked ready to burst as he took a deep breath.

“Hi…”
I croaked out, unsure of what to say.
The tension was thick as the silence hung just as heavy.

“Hey.”
He still sounded the same, looked the same.
The only difference being the fading scar on the top of his nose.
And the glistening eyes that I never once saw slip a tear.

I wanted to leave, to run away and never have to see him again.
But after years of torture, I decided to be selfish.

“Do you… wanna talk?”
I pointed to a bench resting under a tree, the breeze felt like it was pushing up towards it.

“Yeah.”
His voice continued to be breathy as he half-heartedly replied, following me to the bench.

Neither of us knew what to say as we sat down together.
I wrung my hands in my lap before clearing my throat and saying the first thing that came to my mind.

“I’m sorry. I should have heard you out.”
He scoffed a chuckle.

“I threw the first punch. I’m the one who called you selfish after you did everything for me.” He spoke with a sigh as he tilted his head back, looking up at the sky through the leaves. “You got me to the hospital before I died, you fought off the guys trying to kill me… and I called you selfish because you wanted to visit your sister.”

He dropped his head and looked up at me through his hair.

“I felt like you were leaving me. I had become so reliable and attached to you, I just didn’t want you to leave.”
I could see the tears run down his cheeks as he tried to hide his face from me.

I just stared at him, struggling to gather my thoughts, let alone my words.

“You… uh.”
I stumbled over my words as he wiped his eyes, sucking back through his nose as he tried to steady his breathing.

I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. An action that quickly gained his attention.
His face turned towards me, his hair moving out from in front of his eyes as he stared at me in confusion.

“And I broke your fucking nose.”
He dropped his head again, a soft, sad smile on his face.
Just like the one taunting me in my dreams.

“We’ve both fucked up, we’re both sorry… We both know what it feels like to live without the other.”
“Yeah.” He breathed out again, this time with more heart in it. “And it was hell…”

I hummed in response as the wind whirled around us.

The smell of spring tingled my nose as the birds continued to sing melodies I would probably never hear the same again.

The jolt of his body saddened me when I reached my hand out, holding his eyes with mine.
“Friends?”
His smile widened, the sadness finally leaving his lips as he took my hand.
“Friends.”