I`m your friend dummy part 2

It’s all dark, what happened?

Last thing I remember was going out with Marine and Frey, and then Frey and I got into a fight because she said she wouldn’t come by the club, or hang out with us anymore…

Then, then, then, um —huh that’s right, that dark shadowy thing swallowed us up Frey, Marine and I...I think someone else was there.

Never minding that…Where am I?

Am I asleep right now?

Oh I see my eyes are shut…

Whoa I think. What is this? This is just… Wow…My head is on something, something pretty comfortable, but what— it feels like a fluffy fluffy soft cloud...What could it be?

Could this heaven?

I thought that, knowing full well what it was at this point.

I could lie here forever. I should lie here forever. I`m going to lie here forever. Thoughts like that kept crossing my mind

Then she spoke in her usual pissed off tone.

“Hey wake up.” Frey rudely requested.

I opened my eyes to find an exasperated Frey above me.

“This point of view and this soft fluffy comfort can only mean one thing…A lap pillow!”

“……….”

I get the feeling Frey’s thoroughly appalled by my remark, her silence says it all. A lap pillow is like a rare event in a novel— no it`s like a super deluxe ultra-rare event, I should get to enjoy this more!!

The readers should get to enjoy this a little more!! I`m being considerate of the audience, my personal feelings play no part in it. That’s right it’s not for my sake.

“Will you get off me now?” She persisted.

Marine! Long black hair, crimson red eyes and a usually spaced out dopey expression on her face, the image of such a girl pops up in my mind…

“Um...Hey Frey where`s Marine is she okay?”

“Huh—she got separated from us, she’s probably okay.” Frey said, while tilting her head, causing her silver hair to tilt to one side.

“Um…Where are we?”

“A shadow of a shadow, an empty husk of an empty husk, a place far worse than hell itself, our worst nightmare, that’s where.”

It almost sounds like she`s familiar with this place, like it’s a place she knows all too well.

“At least that’s what it feels like.” She said eerily.

“Oh I see, I see.” I said nodding my head.

“So could you move?”

Move!? Does she want me to get of now!? Like right now I haven’t enjoyed this enough!! My mind panics, to avoid being kicked out of my new Shangri-La I begin to rapid fire as many questions as possible at Frey.

“By the way Frey, what’s your last name?”

“Azrael.”

“Mines Parker.”

“I know that.” She said, with a sigh.

“Blood group?”

“B positive.” She replied.

“I`m an A negative.”

“Cats or dogs?”

“Cats.” 

“Dogs for me.” I said.

“Is there any point to your questions?” She sighed.

Second round of rapid fire question and answers begins now.

“How many blonde haired characters do you think are in this novel?”

“Um…What?... Two I think…You and that S.I.D woman.”

“Ha-ha-ha foolish Frey, theirs actually three!”

“Huh really?”

“Yes really! I just realized too many character designs overlap with mine, I`ll become less memorable and the readers will forget me.” 

I said, looking despondent upon realizing my tragic fate.

“I think it’s fine, so long as character personalities don’t overlap.” Frey claimed with a nervous expression. “And you’re memorable enough.”

“Easy for you to say, your hair colors unique, fashionable and not to mention you were in the very first chapter…Your names easier to remember too!! And it gets said a lot more than mine!”

“Stop—stop—stop. You’re saying way too much Elea.”

“Fine let’s talk about something else then.”

 I folded my hands and pouted my cheeks.

“Yeah—actually shouldn’t you be getting of my la—”

“Beef or fish!?”

“Huh-Fish.” she replied.

“I`m all about Beef!” I declared.

The image of freshly roasted premium high grade beef popped up in my mind.

“Ahhhh…….Beeeefff”

The thought itself was enough to make me drool.

Delicious yummy beef……

“Could you not drool all over me, that’s kind of gross you know?” She sighed poking me on the cheek.

“Why so many random questions Elea?”

“Hey Frey what`s your favorite thing to do?”

“Study— I guess.”

“That`s kinda sad.”

I grinned.

“What’s with the grin…Okay what`s yours?”

“Easy, reading novels!”

“You mean erotic novels…” She retorted, sounding a little disgusted.

“Gasp.”

“Are thou implying they be other kinds of literature, really now?!” I said in a bad British accent.

“Saying gasp doesn’t have the same impact as actually gasping, you know...And that’s not a British accent.”

“Gasp!”

She sighed.

“What do you think Marine`s favorite thing to do is?”

“Hmmm…I`m not sure, but if I had to guess it`s probably ‘that’.”

Yeah if it’s Marine, it’s got to be ‘that’.

“It’s totally got to be 'sleeping'!” We chorused.

“She could probably sleep anywhere.” Frey joked.

“Ahaha—ha—ahaha—ha—ha!”

As we laughed Frey asked.

“Ha—ha—So why the strange questions?”

“Ha—aha—It was to all to take your mind off the fact that I`ve been lying in your laps.”

My tongue slipped, I said something, something I shouldn’t have, but in that moment I hadn’t yet realized.

“Really…? I guess it worked, I forgot.”

She smiled.

“Aha—ha—ha—aha—ha—ha—ha!”

We both laughed.

I smiled up at Frey from the bottom of her laps, she smiled back.

I felt two gentle hands come under my head.

Her hands.

Frey`s hands.

Soft and gentle hands.

Frey`s silver eyes stared deep into my own hazel eyes. I felt my heart race.

It all happened so fast.

“HURRY UP AND GET OFF ME YOU IDIOT!!!” With professional wrestling level technique, she flipped me off of her laps.

KYAAAHHH!!

“Aghh…”

I landed face first.

“We need to focus on getting out of here instead of playing silly games Elea.”

“Fine then”—I got off the floor—“let’s settle this with a game of rock paper scissors now!”

“Wha—did you hear anything I said?”

ROCK!

PAPER!

SCISSORS!!

SHOOT!!

“…….”

I threw ROCK!

And she threw PAPER!

“Tch!” I clicked my tongue.

“Guess I lost and you won...Which means, you can rest on my laps now.”

“No… I`ll pass.” Frey sighed.

“I insist.”

 I said, in a low crouching stance like a character from a Chinese action film.

“You’re being way pushier than usual Elea.”

“Come on please, just this once.”

“Why do you— why do you want me to rest on your laps so bad anyway!?”

“Please…Frey”

“…Fine…Just this once okay.” She said timidly.

I get down on the floor…Frey gets down close to me. We`re sitting side by side on the floor, just the two of us, no people as far as the eye can see. It feels like the whole worlds melted away, like time itself has melted away and not even a second could pass between us, in this moment.

Frey`s sweating bullets, her ears and cheeks turn a soft reddish color and she slowly, gently puts her head against my laps.

I feel her silver hair trickle against my skin through my tracksuit.

One last question… I have one last question to ask Frey Azrael, the most important question, the one that matters most.

Third and final round of rapid fire questions...

“Hey why`d you say you couldn’t come by the club room anymore…Or hang out with Marine or me?”

She turned her head up to face me.

“I was worried you`d ask something like that, worried that if you knew the truth you`d think less of me…”

She smiled up at me.

“The answers simple it’s because I`m a horrible human being. I don’t deserve the luxury of having friends like you or Marine.”

She said those words so easily.

The words send an unpleasant jolt through me. How can she seriously say something like that about herself? My whole body goes as cold as ice, while the core of my brain flares so hot it might as well be on fire.

Its rage…I`m upset.

I smiled down at the girl on my laps. “That’s not tru—”

—It is!! You don’t know anything Elea!”

The words come out as a scream. Frey`s teary eyes are right in front of me.

It looks like she’s about to cry.

“Y-y-y-you don’t know anything…” She took a moment to breath and said. “Do you remember…What happened to my sister!?”

How could I forget, the gruesome suicide of her older sister the whole school heard about it. 

The reason I ended up talking to Frey was because I heard the news, and it worried me back then, because it must have been very hard on Frey…

Why bring that up?

“I-I-I’m the one that—

Her lips trembled as they said those last words. My brain was just barely able process the words she spoke, I couldn’t even think straight.

—that killed her…”

I can tell she’s not lying…I just know she isn’t, so why?

I just had to know why...

They just has to be a reason right?

We haven’t known each other long, but I know… I know Frey isn’t the type to do something like that right?

“W-why did you do it?”

Subconsciously my mouth moved and I posed the question.

“I didn’t have a reason…”She mumbled. “There was no motive, reason or cause, I`m just a horrible person.”

I hadn’t expected that answer from her, I hadn’t expected anything she’s said so far, and I’m at a loss for words. What do I say? What am I supposed to say? Thoughts like that flooded my mind and I couldn’t say anything.

“Uh…I don’t… ” The words couldn’t come out I couldn’t say anything, usually I could say anything to her but right now…

Frey smiled up at me her silver eyes still fighting back tears.

“The person I cared about the most in the world died, because of me, I couldn’t so much as cry for her, that’s how I am…That’s the type of person I am...What on earth is wrong with me!?”

The tears that she had been holding back began to fall like drops of rain.

“I-I-I can`t— I can`t do this anymore should—should someone like me even be allowed to live—

A voice trembling with fear…She continues to speak frantically, while tears drop from the creases of her cheeks.

The tears sink in to my tracksuit and eventually my skin.

—?! Of course not, I know that and yet here I am living! I couldn’t even bring myself to take my own life…I carried on living despite being so terrible, joined that stupid club of yours and even started thinking it was okay for me to…Okay for me to forget.”

“Do you really think I deserve to live?!” She cried out.

“Frey—

I know what to say to her

Hearing that last question my mind is clear, I know now more than ever what the right thing to say is… I know what to say to the girl crying right in front of me.

It’s the only thing she needs to hear right now from me.

—I don’t know.” I smiled down at her.

Her eyes widen slowly staring up at me.

“It’s not my place to decide whether you deserve to live or not…The only one who has that right is you.”

Frey just kept sobbing.

“The only thing I can do for you is this right now…If you need a shoulder to lean on, or a lap to cry on, I`ll offer mine, if you’re feeling lonely and need someone to be there, I`ll keep you company, so—

I can tell she still feels unbearably sad but at the same time she looks somewhat relived.

Watching Frey wipe her tears away I said earnestly.

—just focus on being my friend the one who occasionally hits me in the face when I say something stupid, I smiled.

“W-why would you go that far for me…I-I don’t—I just don’t get it.”

Frey Azrael is one of the smartest students at our school I`d argue she`s probably smartest.

She`s smarter than most of the juniors and seniors. A genius mage they call her and yet she hasn’t figured out why. 

She`s a dummy I think to myself.

“Because…I`m your friend dummy.”