The Second Hurdle

The door was opened slowly by Ace’s hand, not wanting to start the conversation that was about to unfold but knowing that it was necessary.

Once he opened the door, the frame of the boy that was seen through the stained glass was now fully visible, revealing his brown eye, hair, and skin set. His face, which was also part of that set, had a small smile on it to keep the mood lightened, but serious at the same time.

“Yo.”

“…”

“Yo.”

A small exchange, both not knowing what else to say.

“…”

The first to speak after their greetings was Isa, who continued to stand outside.

“Can I come in?”

Ace forgot the basics of what to do when someone comes to your front door, his mind was a mixture of nervous and focused, none of the emotions taking priority over the other as they melded together in his mind.

“Oh... yeah, come in.”

He stepped to the side, letting his friend into the house.

Once Isa entered through the door frame, he removed his shoes and waited for Ace to move towards the inside of his house before moving his own body.

Isa’s been to this house many times, but... this was not a normal situation. Ace’s feelings were his top priority right now and he didn’t want to mess anything up.

“Let’s go to my kitchen, the couch is too comfortable for what I’m about to say... Haha...”

“Oh, yeah, sure.”

Isa had no idea what type of stuff Ace had gone through, but it was too obvious that Ace was nervous and worried because of it.

Isa couldn’t do anything about Ace’s emotions right now except for listen to the story he was about to tell so... that’s exactly what he did.

He kept his mouth shut as they walked towards the kitchen, keeping his attention fully on Ace, wanting to listen to anything that may come out of his mouth as they walked.

“Take a seat, you want anything to eat?”

“No, I’m fine.”

He couldn’t make Ace do anything unnecessary right now. Forget about food, he wanted 100 percent of his mind on Ace and his story.

Isa took a seat at the kitchen table and waited for Ace to take his.

Ace also took a seat and took a great, deep breath before speaking.

“Okay then... let’s start.”

Isa sat up in his seat and looked directly at Ace, his focus unwavering.

“Before I start, I’ll say something I also said to my parents.”

“…”

This was one of the hardest things for Ace to say. It was a short phrase but one that left an impact on him because he couldn’t even ask it to himself, his story was just that crazy. He didn’t hesitate when he said this phrase to his parents because he just instinctively thought that they would believe his story, but... that wasn’t the case. Now that Isa was in front of him and he’s gone through the experience with his parents, he just couldn’t get the words out as easily.

“This is hard for me to say but...”

“…”

“Please...”

“Please...”

“Please...”

“Believe the story I’m about to tell you.”

Ace looked directly into Isa’s eyes when saying the last part, wanting to get the message across as strong as possible. His eyes weren’t a very serious expression, they were a more desperate look. He couldn’t keep a calm, serious expression after what happened with his parents.

He kept his gaze on Isa’s eyes.

“This will be one of the craziest things you’ll ever hear but...”

“Please... believe my story.”

Isa thought that he didn’t need to hear that.

He was Ace’s best friend, why wouldn’t he believe him?

Did Ace really have that little trust in him?

Those were his initial thoughts, but... he remembered that he had to put Ace’s feelings first right now.

He didn’t know what Ace went through for him to ask a question like that.

Not only to him, but also to his parents.

To ask your parents to believe your story is crazy, why wouldn’t they believe you? They’re your parents, they’ve been with you for 16 years of your life, asking them to believe your story is throwing away your trust with them.

But Ace said it... so... his story must be that crazy.

Isa nodded his head at Ace, saying that he would believe him.

“Okay... now... the actual story.”

“I’ll start from the beginning, the day I disappeared...”

Ace took another deep breath before speaking.

“It was 2 days ago... a completely normal day.”

“I woke up, ate breakfast, went to school, we ate popsicles, we went home, played video games, made our bet, I played basketball with my dad, and watched movies with my mom.”

“The definition of a normal day.”

“…”

“Until I went to sleep...”

Ace tensed up as the story reached the point of insanity.

“Up until midnight, everything was the same as normal, nothing out of the ordinary.”

“But... when I turned off my lamp and went to sleep...”

He hesitated and gulped, not knowing how Isa would react when he said the next part of his story.

“…”

“…”

“When I went to sleep...”

“…”

“I was surrounded by nothing... absolutely nothing... complete white.”

“…”

“Think of it as.,. a dream. While I was in this dream... there was no one near me or next to me but I heard someone apologize.”

“This apology only lasted about half a second and then I was gone from the dream.”

“All the white around me was gone and I was...”

“I was...”

“…”

“I was in a forest.”

Ace let it out. The craziest part of the story was out in the open. How Isa would react is not something Ace could predict. The only thing he could do to confirm is to look at Isa’s face but, that was also something difficult right now.

He couldn’t look at Isa right now after saying something so crazy.

He couldn’t but... that was his best option.

He slowly peered up at Isa’s face.

A quarter way they there...

Halfway there...

75 percent there...

He stopped at 75 percent, not wanting to take a direct look.

He didn’t want to take the direct look, but... he had to... he already chose this option.

He looked completely at Isa’s face, his vision in the shape of a tunnel. Once his eyes were set on his friend’s face, it was the only thing he could see, his eyes were blocking everything else out from his view.

The table he was sitting at, blacked out.

The sink a few meters away, blacked out.

The clock on the wall, blacked out.

The fridge in the corner of the kitchen, blacked out.

Isa’s face... visible.

His friend’s mouth hadn’t moved yet but... his eyes were widened.

Was this a good thing?

Ace didn’t know, he didn’t even try to guess.

He just waited for the response.

1 second...

2..

3..

And his friend’s mouth opened.

—

——

“Keep going.”

——

—

“HUH?!”

Ace’s eyes widened and his mouth opened in shock.

“YOU REALLY BELIEVE ME?! ARE YOU SURE?! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT BY IN A FOREST, RIGHT?! I WAS IN A FOREST, IN ANOTHER WORLD! I WASN’T ON EARTH!”

He jolted up out of his seat and had a huge, open smile on his face, not expecting his friend to believe a single word coming out of his mouth.

His voice was very loud but, he quieted down and waited for Isa’s response, not wanting to miss a single word that came out of his mouth.

“Of course... I said I would believe you... so, I did.”

Isa had a confident, “why would I not believe you?” kind of tone.

Before Ace could respond or continue with his story...

“But before you keep going... I just want to know... did your parents believe you?”

“No, they didn’t... that’s why I was so shocked when you believed me. But! I got them to believe me!”

Isa also stood up from his seat, surprised at what Ace said.

“You got them to believe you? How?”

“Umm... you know that cousin we were playing with... she’s actually a girl from the other world I went to!”

“—! Are you being serious?!”

“—? Why would I lie now?”

“Wait... wait... you don’t have...”

“.. a mental problem?”

“…”

“Huh?”

Ace didn’t know how to react to that. Isa’s voice didn’t sound like he was joking... it sounded as serious as possible, even shocked in fact.

“What’re you talking about?”

Isa didn’t respond to Ace, he only stood there, looked away and had a regretful expression on his face.

That was Isa’s response. That regretful look he gave was his response. Ace didn’t know why he gave that look, but... something was definitely off, and it felt...

Infuriating.

“ISA!”

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MEAN BY THAT?!!”

“…”

“Nothing... forget I sai--”

*PUNCH*

Isa fell to the ground, getting hit by Ace and falling to the floor, knocking over the chair behind him.

“EXPLAIN ISA! WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT!”

Isa sat up on the floor, one hand supporting his body on the floor.

Isa was hesitant to confess what the meaning behind his words were but...

There was no getting out of this one...

“…”

“I didn’t believe you.”

Ace backed up a few steps, feeling betrayed after his mood was so bright.

“What?! But you just said you did!”

“I only said that because if I said I didn’t, you’d be even more hurt! If I said I didn’t believe you... you’d look even more depressed than you already do! How could I do that to you?!”

Ace understood where Isa was coming from but... his feeling of betrayal took control over the rest of his emotions.

“I asked you to believe me! I would understand if you didn’t because of how crazy my story was... But! Don’t say you believe me if you don’t! Lying to me won’t help the situation at all! Even if I did have some mental problem! What would lying there do! The truth is all I needed to hear so I could clear up the parts you didn’t believe!”

“I just couldn’t tell you the truth! You looked so nervous when you were telling your story! If I said I didn’t believe you, you would’ve cracked down on the spot! That’s probably how it went with your parents, isn’t it!”

Ace was furious. All he’s been doing is telling the truth all day and no one would believe him. They’d even lie to him about believing him because if they didn’t, they would hurt his “feelings”.

He didn’t care about his feelings right now, what would feel best is them actually believing and accepting his story. Ace knew that was unreasonable, but he got it to happen with his parents and he was willing to go through the same thing with Isa but... instead, he got lied to in consideration of his “feelings”.

“That is how it went with my parents, but I got them to believe me! They didn’t lie about understanding me, they got angry at me for thinking I was lying to them! That’s better than you lying to me and not going anywhere after that! At least I could clear up everything with them, since I knew where they were coming from! If I didn’t figure out that you were lying, the rest of the day just would’ve been a day full of lies and then I’d be gone at the end of it! Is that how you wanted it to go?!”

He looked directly into Isa’s eyes, who was still on the floor.

How would his friend respond now?

Would he give an untrustworthy apology to Ace after all this?

Would he continue to get angry at Ace?

Would he try to sit down and have a proper talk?

Would he walk out the house without saying anything?

Would he make a scen--

“Wait... Ace... what did you just say?”

Isa stared back into his eyes, his eyes with an extremely fearful look.

“Ace... what did you mean by that?”

Ace didn’t know what he was talking about.

He didn’t remember all the words that came out of his mouth.

“What do you mean you’ll be gone at the end of it?!”

“—!”

He didn’t realize that he blurted that out, he couldn’t control his mouth in the heat of the moment. Everything was just spilling out of it, with no control over the limit.

Ace’s rage calmed down instantly, and he was now feeling regret for not being able to control his mouth.

He looked away from Isa.

“Nothing, forget I said anythi--”

*PUNCH*

Isa stood up from the ground to hit his friend back while he looked away.

He was just as furious as Ace was a few moments ago.

“After that whole rant about trust, you keep some huge information from me! Fucking hypocrite! Explain! What did you mean by that!”

Ace looked up from the ground, in Isa’s direction, but not directly at his face.

“I can’t say, not yet...”

“You want me to believe your crazy ass story but won’t even tell me the most important details!

“Start talking!”

“Hurry up!”

“Ace!”

“Open your mouth and start talk--”

“SHUT UP ALREADY!”

Ace stood up from the ground and pushed his friend to the floor, pinning his arms and sitting on top of him.

“You think I wanted to leave that from you?! I want to spill everything! But I can’t do that! If I do, then this one day I have back here will be ruined! Everyone around me will be crying their eyes out while I’m sitting there, watching!”

Ace dropped his head along with the volume of his voice.

His tone turned from a furious, enraged one to a sadder, given up one.

“You think I want to spend my last day that way...”

“I don’t.”

“I just want...”

“A regular day.”

Isa felt Ace’s grip loosening and tears dripping onto his shirt.

He couldn’t see his face, but it was obvious that his friend was hurting.

How long has he been hurting like this for?

If everything he said was true, then... this would be almost 2 days full of pain and suffering.

Isa still couldn’t completely understand his friend’s situation, but... it was too obvious that his friend had been hurt and is currently hurting.

Isa didn’t know what to do right now, did he have the right to try to comfort Ace after everything that’s happened?

—

Ace completely removed his hands from Isa’s arms and got off of him.

He stood up and started to leave the kitchen.

Before stepping out of the kitchen...

“I’m sorry for dumping that on you... you can do whatever you want with that info...”

—

——

“Wait!”

Isa stood up from the ground that he was previously pinned on and walked towards Ace.

It only took a few steps, but... it may have been some of the most important steps he would ever take.

*step*...

*step*...

*step*...

Ace’s taller figure was now right in front of him, facing the opposite direction of Isa.

He may have been taller, but the way his body was currently shaped... it was definitely not as tall as it normally is.

Isa grabbed Ace’s shoulders and twisted them so that they would face his own.

Once he twisted Ace, he looked directly into his eyes, which looked like they were on the verge of tears.

—

——

———

*HUG*

“—!”

Isa wrapped his arms around Ace, whose body was giving off the look of a little boy’s.

This would’ve normally been very uncomfortable, but... that didn’t matter right now.

Both him and his friend were in the wrong, but Isa blamed it all on himself.

This was the least he could do to make up for lying about believing him, for breaking the vow he made at the start of Ace’s story, and for just not being there for Ace, as a friend.

It was obvious that Ace had an extreme amount of trouble when explaining it to his parents and yet... he still came and tried to tell it to Isa.

He was struggling just to get the words out of his mouth, but he pushed through because he thought that Isa would eventually believe him.

And Isa betrayed all of that.

All the trust Ace had in him, all the courage he built up, and all the feelings that Ace had set aside.

Isa betrayed all of that by lying to Ace and now he was about to let Ace walk away without resolving anything?

No... he couldn’t let that happen.

He was his closest friend, if he didn’t believe him, then who else could Ace trust?

Isa needed to be there right now.

“I’m sorry... I should’ve been the one to believe you.”

“I think of myself as your closest friend but... I don’t believe you when you need it most...”

“I’m sorry.”

Ace didn’t fully take in that Isa had hugged him.

He thought that their friendship was over from there.

He thought Isa wanted nothing to do with him right now.

“Isa...”

It just started to hit him.

Isa was still his friend.

He heard that this was Ace’s last day, but... he still supported him.

“You can take your han--”

“It’s okay to let it out. You look like you’ve wanted to ever since I got here.”

“Isa... I’m fi--”

“Don’t worry about looking embarrassed... I won’t make fun of you for this one.”

“Isa--”

“Don’t worry about anything.”

And his eyes started to fill.

Watery eyes turned to 1 tear.

1 tear turned to 2 tears.

2 tears turned to a small puddle.

A small puddle turned into a skinny stream.

The skinny stream turned into a spread-out river.

The spread-out river turned into a lake.

And the lake turned into an ocean, surrounded by land. The land wrapping itself around the body of water... supporting it, cherishing it, complimenting it, comforting it, adoring it.

“AHHHHH!!”

“IT WAS HARD, EVERYTHING WAS HARD!”

The ocean’s water level started to rise, the land keeping it under control.

Ace’s voice wasn’t mad, it was more of a desperate cry while lifting a weight off his chest.

“I got sent to that world by myself!”

“Left in the middle of nowhere and that god treating it like a joke!”

“WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME?!”

“All I wanted was a normal life! Not to be the hero of some world I’ve never been to before!”

“I had to fight a monster!”

“A monster! A kid like me!”

“I almost died fighting that thing!”

“I just got lucky when I won!”

“And when I go ask for help after surviving... I get looked at like I’m trash, not deserving the help!”

“Why?!”

“Why do I get treated like that after being told I have to save that world?!”

“Are you trying to get me to save it or trying to get me to commit suicide?!”

“The only good thing that came out of going to that world was Aliza!”

“And even now, I’m stacking debt after debt, asking for her help whenever I see fit!”

“I’m just as bad as that god!”

“No! I’m even worse!”

Ace dropped his head into Isa’s shoulder, his arms lying limp. His tone dropped once again, this time transitioning into a more quiet, sorrowful one.

“I’m even worse...”

“…”

—

“…”

——

“Why did it have to be me?”

——

“…”

—

“…”