Mixed Emotions: The Story Of Us | TMF

chapter two - Nowhere

note: i didn't know i was being a mikan ripoff before i wrote this, i don't follow danganrompa 

Their desperate, confused pleas fade into the background. Zander can't physically hear them, but he knows they're still calling out to him. He wouldn't dare look back, wishing with all his heart that they wouldn't care enough to follow him. 

The aroma of the savoury kettle corn fights against the disgusting, bitter venom forming in his mouth. Why was the tub still in his hands? He could have tossed it on the floor, right at their feet. He could have screamed at them with the force that only visceral betrayal and blinding rage can provide. 

Except he was running. The stomping of his footsteps nearly gets drowned out by the overwhelming pounding in his head, in his chest. As if he was being chased by a towering creature of a thousand fears, the adrenaline making all his thoughts race around in his mind. 

Fear. Was that all it was? Was he just scared of all this change being thrown at him like a baseball, giving him so little time to react, catch, and toss it back? 

But Zander wasn't stupid. He knew that this was more than a little fright. He knew that this wasn't just a game of baseball. 

He knew he liked Luke the same way Hailey did. Why did it have to turn out this way? His two closest friends, unintentionally shoving a wedge in their friendship with Zander with all this... this useless feeling of love. 

He reaches the bridge that overlooks the beach below, the beach close to home. How much had he run? 

He couldn't have the heart to care. Zander takes a rest against the bridge railing, allowing his hair to whip around his face, strands of purple gleaming from the overhead stars. 

All he could only think about was how much it hurt. Why must this incident leave him running away from his friends like a coward, while they couldn't care less? 

It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. 

He doesn't realize when he starts to speak his mind, but he starts to hear himself muttering, "No fair, no fair." 

Zander glances around the bridge for any people. Not a single person was here. 

He wanted to cry. He wanted to go back. Go back and apologize for his outlash. Or go back and scream at them. He'd scream, then scream some more. 

"No... fair." 

His voice raises with each time he mutters the same phrase. 

"No fair," 

"No fair!" 

"IT'S NOT FAIR!" 

He looks down at the ground below the bridge in shame, still taking deep breaths to recover from his run. Tears start to sting his eyes, and he makes no effort to stop them as they stream down his face. 

Was it really not that fair? Maybe it was just some sick joke, and he was overreacting as always. Maybe it was all real, and he was just overreacting as always. 

"Are you alright?" A faint voice penetrates the silent argument Zander was having with himself, and the aforementioned boy jumps in response. Several kernels of kettle corn fall out of their tub, falling to the sand below. 

"Oh, sorry for scaring you! I just heard you screaming." 

Zander quickly wipes his eyes and face to hide the fact that he was crying over such a stupid matter as this.