Luis' Past, Part 2

*Ring ring*

"Huh?"

*Ring ring*

"Wh-what?"

*Ring ring*

"So…it was all just a dream…?"

My eyes swiftly dart open, just to be met with my bedroom ceiling above me.

"Aw crap" I say with a sigh. "Nope, still me." I roll over and slam my fist down onto my pesky alarm, effectively turning it off.

Hey there. Nice to meet you…I guess. My name is Luis and I'm seven years old. Welcome to the start of my story. My boring, average, completely normal story. I'm not some super cool manga protagonist, or something. I'm just me. Nothing of interest is going to happen in this story. Nope, nothing at all.

Quickly, I get dressed and head outside towards the bus stop to start yet another dumb day of school. Unfortunately, when I step outside, I spot Randy, my number one bully and tormentor. You see, I get bullied a lot. Probably because I really don't know how to throw a ball or anything or play sports, so I haven't really gotten a chance to make friends. Also, I'm short.

I sigh to myself as I turn right back around to face my front door. "I guess I can just skip again today," I say to myself. But then I remember the last time that I skipped too many days in a row and I got in trouble. The school called my mom, causing her to have to rush out of work, so heer stupid boss got mad at her. We're already poor as is, so we can't risk my mom getting fired. I guess I'll just have to go to school today.

With a sigh, I turn around and head towards the bus stop.

"Hey, look!" I hear Randy shout, causing me to instinctively bring my hands up in defense and cower under them. But this time is different. Because today, instead of shouting at me, Randy is shouting at a cardboard box by the bus stop.

I walk over to the bus stop, peering over the shoulders of Randy and his goons, who are examining the cardboard box. Inside the box, is a little, motionless black kitten with blue eyes, who looks like it's used up eight of its nine lives.

Randy and his friends laugh as they heckle the poor, dying feline, grabbing a stick and poking the weakened cat over and over again. The kitten cries for help.

"Hah hah, looks like my dog got this worthless cat!" One of Randy's goons snicker.

"You idiot, this little thing isn't even a snack for a dog!" Randy cackles. "My mutt can gobble this thing down in a second.

This is wrong, so wrong. I may be young and that kitten may be half-dead, but I know that tormenting living things is wrong.

Trembling with fear, I approach Randy and his goon. "Hey, you guys," I say, my small voice barely legible. "You should stop hurting that cat, it's not dead. It can feel every bit of pain you're causing it."

Randy pauses, before turning around to face me. "Oh, Luis," Randy sneers, as a hideous grin spreads across his face. "Of course you of all people would defend this worthless car. Little sissy defends the little sissy cat! I guess your dad never taught you that a cat is a little girl's animal. Cat-eyed freak."

"Cat-eyed freak." That's always what they used to call me. Probably because of my slanted eyes…

Randy's goons laugh, tears begin welling up in my eyes.

"What's wrong, you're gonna cry, cat-eyed freak?" Randy mocks, before pushing me to the ground, my head smacking against the pavement and forming a bloody gash.

Randy kneels down on top of me and hoists me up by the shoulder before cooking his fist back, ready to finish the final blow. I flinch in fear.

But before Randy can hit me again, a voice calls out: "Cut that out!" A boy in an orange hoodie rushes by me, tackling Randy to the ground, and punching Randy's goons as well, knocking them to the floor as well. When I look back up, I see another boy from school standing over me, but I've never spoken with him before. Robby Pitchford, the fastest kid around. He's new to our school. Behind him, Randy and his goons are writhing on the ground in pain.

"Come on, we need to get this cat to the vet!" Robby exclaims as he helps me to my feet. I wipe the tears from my eyes and nod, before reaching down and scoping up the near-dead kitten, cradling it in my arms.

Robby then leads me to the vet, and when we're there, we take the kitten to get examined right away. The veterinarian tells Robby and I to wait outside, so we sit down on the chairs outside of the vet's office.

"Hey, are you okay?" Robby asks as he motions to the fresh scrapes on my knees, and the bloody gash in the back of my head.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answer, wiping the tears from my eyes again. "I'm just worried about the kitten, is all."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm sure it's fine!" Robby laughs. "I'm new in school, so I don't have any friends yet. Wanna be mine?"

 For a second, my head perks up as my eyes sparkle, but my dull expression returns seconds after. "No," I sneer.

"Why not?" Robby asks.

"Because then you'll get bullied too," I sulk.

"Mm-hmm," Robby replies, raising an eyebrow at me. "You like video games?"

"Yeah."

"Wanna watch me play?"

"Sure."

Randy reaches into his hoodie pocket and pulls out his DS. I peer over Randy's shoulder, watching him play. The two of us chat about video games and cartoons and superheroes as we wait for the veterinarian.

After a little bit more waiting the vet comes back out. "You're lucky that you came when you did, your little kitty is doing all better now! Tell me again, who did you say is the owner?"

"Oh, uh-" I stammar, but Robby cuts me off.

"He is!" Robby answers as he points to me.

"No I'm not!" I blurt out. " I don't have the money to take care of a cat…"

"Well it's only right that you do!" Robby objects. "You're the one who saved its life, after all! Besides, my mom is allergic to cats, so she'd kill me if I brought one home."

"Let's give your parents a call," the vet says. "Do you know their number?" I recite the number of my mom's job, and after a little bit of ringing, I heard her voice on the phone. The nurse explains the situation and after a while, my mom appears in the veterinarian office as well.

Seeing my condition, she frantically rushes over to me, and kneels down in front of me. "Luis, are you okay?! You're bleeding all over!" She cries

"I'm fine, mom!" I answer, getting embarrassed. "But what about the cat?"

"Yes, It's cute, you can keep it, now grab the cat and go, we need to get you to a doctor!" Mom cries, too worried to even ponder the situation.

"Really?" I ask, a large wide grin spreading across my face from ear to ear. 

"Yes, Luis, let's go!" My mom shouts as she drags me out of the vet's office.

"See you later, Luis!" Robby waves to me.

"Bye!" I wave back to my new friend.

And through that fluke was how I got my pet cat, Mr Kittles. As well as how I met my best friend and my first friend, Robby.

***

Two years later.

"Maaaaan it's hot," Robby wines.

It's the summer of 2010, and my best friend, Robby, and I spent the entirety of it out in the blistering heat. There isn't a cloud in the sky nor a droplet of water on the rough, cracked ground. It truly is a hot summer.

Robby and I are walking home after a refreshing swim in the community pool, a daily tradition of ours during the summer. This summer was pretty fun, as always. It wasn't much different than our other summers. We swam, played video games at my house, swam, played video games at Robby's house, sleepover, arcade, swam, amusement park, played video games, sleepover... you get the idea. Just your stereotypical teenage boy summer. No girls, no adults, just me and my best friend. That's how it's always been for the past few years. The summer went by quickly, too quickly. Just one more week, and it's back to school, unfortunately.

Continuing our trek in the blistering heat. I have a massive headache from the heat, and sweat is dripping into my eyes, nearly blinding me. Due to my weakened state I'm completely vulnerable. So much so that I don't see the car coming…

"Woah watch out!" Robby exclaims, grabbing me on the shoulder. I snap out of it just in time as a car whizzed right past my nose. My heart rate grows frantic, it was beating so hard that it hurt. I just faced death for the first time.

"Robby, you saved my life!" I cry.

"Over dramatic much?" Robby laughs. "You gotta be more careful, Luis," Robby says as he ironically wanders out into the street.

"Robby, watch out!" It was my turn to cry out. A car beeps by as Robby leaps out of its way. "Jeez," he says with another laugh. "What happened to those children at play signs?"

What happened next, it was a blur. I can't even say for sure what happened. Robby saw the first car coming, I saw the second, but the third, neither of us saw. All I saw was a large metal vehicle that I'm guessing was a car zooming by. And blood. Blood. Robby's blood. Blood. Blood! Blood everywhere!

In the summer of 2010, when I was just a mere ten years old, I saw my best friend get hit by a car. And die on the spot. His final words, that carefree laugh of his that caused him to eat shit on the pavement.

And what happened to the driver? Well the car, it didn't even fucking stop. Not even a hint of hesitation before it drove away. Right after murdering an innocent kid. And scarring a second one.

Did I scream? I'm not sure, but I probably did. Who doesn't after witnessing their best friend die? I don't think I was the one to call 911 either. I was too busy watching the right red blood sweeping out of Robby's lifeless body. This was the first time I've ever seen him sit still. The blood shone in the sunlight. It looked truly beautiful.

Eventually the ambulance came, and scooped up the body. Robby's body. They carelessly shoved his body into a body bag and threw him into the back of the truck. "Hey, what are you doing?'' I spoke, for what seemed like the first time in years. "That's my friend Robby, and he's not dead. Why did you put him into a bag? And why did you threw him into the back of the ambulance like a fucking animal?!"

I, too, was escorted into the ambulance, much more pleasantly than Robby was. "I know you're in a lot of shock right now, kid" said the officer. "But your friend is dead. We'll bring you to the hospital to get you checked out, and then we'll call your parents and we'll go from there." I said nothing. What the hell do you say in this situation? I guess nothing, I suppose they expect you to curl up into a fetal position, suck your thumb, and cry.

At the hospital it was confirmed that I got off scot free with no injuries while Robby remained classified as a dead man. Eventually my mom and Robby's parents came. All three of them were sobbing, my mom tried to comfort me but I didn't budge. I felt no emotions whatsoever.

Eventually we made it home, still saying nothing, I walked right past Mr Kittles, up to my room and into my bed. I slept for at least 48 hours. On the third day of Robby's death I woke up, got out of bed, looked into the mirror, and cried. And cried, and cried, and cried some more. "It should have been me," I said. "It should have been me. Why did it have to be Robby, he was always so happy, he didn't deserve this." I looked into the mirror and wiped away the tears streaming down my face. "Why did you have to leave me alone?" I asked. That was the first time I have ever cried. And the last. After that, life went back to the way it was before I met Robby, just like that. I started high school without a single shred of emotion left in my body. I lost a lot of weight by not eating for days. I just turned up the music and isolated myself from the world. And that's how I lost my best friend, Robby.

"It wasn't my fault…" I say to myself, in a sad, small whimper.

"It wasn't my fault…"

"It wasn't my fault…"