Fight By My Side

Alex died the next morning.

I woke up to Jack shaking my arms and trying to wake me up. I leapt up as soon as I heard him bawl my name, yelling that Alex was dying. My senses were on high alert. Other rubbed their eyes sleepily, wondering what was happening. I sprinted and leapt over sleeping forms as we rushed to Alex’s side.

He moaned and shivered with the agony. Jack rushed to his side, cradling his body close to his chest. Alex gripped his forearm, pleading for it to stop. Alex’s own creation had worked just a little too well.

“Jack.” Alex whispered as his eyes lost focus. Vic came up behind me, standing next to Alan. Jack let out a broken whisper.

“Jack, don’t leave me.” Alex whined out in a whisper. Jack bent down to touch his forehead to Alex’s.

“I never will.” He whispered.

“I love you, Jack Barakat.” Alex stopped shivering, stop moaning in pain.

“I love you to, Alex Gaskarth.” Jack kissed his forehead.

And with a last breath, Alex was gone.

His eyes lids fluttered closed as the halo of brown hair lost its glow. It took the forest, the entire world, a moment to take in this loss. The birds lost their voice, the trees held their breath. Alex went cold and Jack went still.

I knelt next to Jack, leaning against his shoulder for support. Although we both were sobbing once again over the death of our friend, Jack was creating the Sea of Sadness. His fingers trembled as he stroked a last piece of hair out of Alex’s eyes. Setting down his body, Jack Barakat turned to me and put his head on my shoulder.

It was one of the worst feelings I had ever experienced.

Three hours later, we buried our friend on the edge of the woods on a hill that stood tall and proud over the rest of the fields. Alex would’ve loved it. I had collected a bundle of wildflowers and placed them over the freshly dug grave. Stones lined the sides of the rectangle that had been buried.

When the rest of the friends had departed, it was Jack and I standing on the hill. He stared down, still unable to take in the loss of his best friend, his partner, the other half of the Sempiternal Continuum.

“Wynter, I need some alone time with Alex.” Jack mumbled to me. I nodded, gave him one more quick hug, and moved back to the forest. I turned around to see the broken man kneel beside his friends grave, wondering why this had happened to him.

Jack was the man who lost the world.

I didn’t have the words to describe this pain.

Notes