Chapter 27:

Tale Zero: Screaming Scorpion (13)

SupraNatural


My mind failed to register any of the events following Emma’s murder—no, it had been an accident.

I kept reminding myself of that.

I hadn’t murdered her, I hadn’t killed her…

I felt like if I stopped repeating it in my head, my mind would crumble again. It had only been a few days since Claudia’s accident. I didn’t want to fall even further down than I had then—after all, if I did, I wouldn’t be able to take care of both Claudia and Emma…

When I finally became aware of my surroundings, I was in my bedroom, lying on my bed and staring at the ceiling. Nothing unusual at this point.

It was as if nothing had changed—since Emma's accident, since Claudia's, since before the start of this whole chain of events. A unique type of hell—completely different from the one they tell you about as a kid or if you’re religious—but certainly no less painful.

I’m really just rambling to myself.

It’s pointless, I know it’s pointless, but—

It’s not like I have no choice, I could choose not to do it and repeat the spiral of depression I went through after the accident with Claudia. But I can’t allow myself to go through that again. That’s not what either of them would have wanted, that’s completely wrong and cowardly of me to do after all that’s happened and that I’m supposed to have learnt.

Agh, damn it.

This will get me nowhere.

I need to clear my head.

Games won’t do it this time.

No amount of loud music and frustration-inducing rhythm games would help calm me down.

A walk, I would go for a walk while listening to that same loud music and trying not to cause myself permanent hearing damage… Yeah, that sounded like a viable option.

Where to go—it was a pointless question. I’d just end up where my legs decided to carry me.

Therefore, since I was thinking that, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone—well, it might be thought of as clichéd and predictable, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was the only natural outcome.

I found myself sitting on that one bench, in that one park. Like I had so many times before.

Being there served its purpose quite quickly, though. It wasn’t long before my mind had almost completely drifted away from my current troubles and into the memories of older times.

Better times… As such they had remained in my memory.

“…”

My short-lived time of reminiscence was cut when I heard someone walking behind me. Given that the place had been in complete silence before and that I was submerged deep into my thoughts, such a small disturbance managed to startle me.

Whoever it was seemed to notice that, and before I had fully turned back to look at the innocent passerby who had probably been startled by my startlement quite a startling amount, I had already identified them by their voice.

It was unmistakable.

“Hey, James. Surprised to see you here alone during school hours.”

It was Oliver.

“I should be saying the same, always took you as a dedicated student and all that.”

“Today’s a holiday.”

“… So you think it’s funny to mess with me, huh.”

“I mean, it worked. Now I know you haven’t been going to school at all for the past few days.”

“Now that you say it, how long has it been? It feels like an eternity and a half.”

“Wow, you’re down bad, man. Everything OK?”

“As usual. Nothing new to report.”

“Liar.”

“…”

“I heard about what happened to Claudia, went to visit her at the hospital yesterday.”

“I…”

“Look, James, don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault. I know you enough to imagine how you’ve taken it, in broad strokes, so please don’t. It'll be fine, man.”

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I fucked up really hard, I… I should’ve been more careful.”

“…”

He sighed. But after a few seconds of silence, he was once again the first to speak as he sat besides me.”

“I said it’s fine, bro, don’t let it bring you down too much.”

“… Thank you.”

“It's nothing.”

“What about you? How've you been lately? We only sort of met the other day, did we didn't get to talk much.”

“Me? Eh, I'm getting by. Nothing worth mentioning much.”

“If you say so…”

I hadn't forgotten. Those ominous wounds in his arm… Still, I didn't let my worries show as I continued talking.

“And how come you've moved back here? I know you told me you would through text messages, but I never asked why you'd do it now, after just one year. Kind of expected you to stay away longer.”

“Oh, nah, we were only gonna be away as long as my father was working away, but he's been sent here again, so here we are.”

“I see… Guess that makes sense.”

“Mhm.”

“…”

The conversation dried up.

He didn't seem to have anything to talk about, and I couldn't bring myself to ask about his wounds.

No, that's a lie.

I had a pretty good idea of what that was about, and I could have asked him to have my suspicions confirmed or denied—no, realistically, there wasn't any chance they'd be denied.

I knew Oliver well, and from a long time ago. So there was a very high chance my intuition was correct—and if it was, I didn't want to know. I already had more than enough trouble on my own, and as bad as it feels to say this, Oliver is going to have to solve his own issues this time.

Last time, I also failed to help him. But there was nothing I could do back then…

……

………

“Hey, Oliver.”

“Yes?”

“Wanna come to my place and play some games?”

“You mean right now?”

“Yeah, sure. Or whenever, don't really care.”

“… Okay, deal. You got anything new I haven't tried yet?”

“Dude, it's been a year, I'd be ashamed of myself if I had gotten nothing new whatsoever.”

“Tsk, tsk, it's not about quantity, my friend. It's about quality, or rather, about how much fun I'll have beating your ass at it.”

He said that, obviously trying to annoy me, but I could only smile at his cheerful tone. One I hadn't heard for well over a year now—actually , it had probably been a lot longer than that.

We walked straight home—mine, of course—while I listed all the games I'd bought during the past year. Not to toot my own horn, but Oliver of all people being impressed by the list already has to mean quite a bit.

“Okay, I get it, James, Iron Cog Revolt is an amazing game, but did you really need to buy two whole copies of it?”

“I would be beyond salvation f I hadn't, man. Bought the second exclusively to stream gameplay to my friends.”

“And did you do that yet?”

“… Nope. But it's still coming.”

“Okay, what else you got?”

“The best console of all time, my friend.”

“Coming from you that could mean anything.”

“The Mee Two.”

“Oh my god. You love failed consoles way too much.”

“Shut up and COPE!!! It absolutely IS the best console of all time—after the GamerSquare, that is.”

“You already are beyond salvation.”

“Well SCREW YOU SMARTASS!!! Good luck beating me at ANY game today, I've really had a lot of time to practice lately.”

“We'll see about that, bro. That's what you say every time.”

And so we walked back to my house, ready to beat each other at videogames and with our problems and worries set aside even if for just an instant.