The Boy A Life Away

Long night's rest

It was dark. Very dark. The last thing I remember was walking away and everything was just blurry after that. I'm starting to remember things I'd rather not remember too. Like how my parents only ever gave me money for birthdays and Christmas, never their time or an actual gift. I remember that we last saw each other when I was 10.

They told me they'll be gone for only a year or two. It has been nearly a decade and they have never been back. I see them on the news all the time, smiling as if they had already forgotten about me. I'd had no contact with them except for the monthly checks they send to my bank account.

"My head hurts." I grumbled as I got up from the bed with my hand gently holding my forehead

"Oh, you're finally awake." Said a voice I know all too well. I looked to my right and it was Arin who was sitting on a chair using my computer quickly closing the website he was browsing.

"What happened?" I asked confused, looking around, my head still spinning a little. Arin walked up to me and gave me a big slap in the face.

*SMACK*

"Ouch. Jesus, what was that for?" I asked, putting my hand on the cheek that just got slapped.

"For fucking worrying me, you selfish asshole!" He snapped at me pretty loudly. This was the first time I've ever heard Arin raise his voice. He proceeded to then sit beside me on the bed and put his head on my shoulder while hugging me.

"I don't know what I would've done without you..." he muttered before explaining to me how I tried to kill myself when drunk and that I would've actually done it if he didn't reach me in time.

"I- I'm sorry. I mean it's not like I would've actually done it. I... just don't know what came over me." I tried to explain but he was having none of it.

"You're the biggest dummy in the world." He said as he hugged me tighter, not letting go, worrying about what might happen if he did

"Promise me you'll never do anything like that again." He said, looking at me seriously, his eyes red from what I presumed to be tears

"I mean I would've never done something like that, it's just my drunk self doing something weird." I muttered as I couldn't look him in the eye after what he told me

"Promise me." He reiterated. Hugging me tighter and making me look him in his beautiful green eyes

"I- I promise." I said as he finally let go then his body seemed to finally relax after that.

"What made you drink that much anyway? Was it the constant questions of what your parents are doing or just the mention of them? You don't need to answer if you don't want to, of course." He asked carefully as he didn't want me to stress out too much after yesterday

"No, no it's fine. I guess you also deserve an explanation after what happened last night." I sighed as I always hated talking about... them...

I explained how they left me when I was 10. How they never had a presence in my life. How I felt like I was a burden and that they never loved me. It was the first time I poured my heart out to someone. And it felt surprisingly good...

"That's the gist of it." I let out a long sigh as I finished telling him everything

"Wow. I... I didn't know." He stammered as I could tell he felt guilty for asking

"It's fine. It's not like you could've known anyway. So how about your parents? Any better than mine." I asked

"Well, I only have the one. My mom left me when I was little for another guy or something. As for my dad, he doesn't really care about me too but at least he provides me food sometimes." He replied

"It seems like we both have shitty parents huh?" I said as I got up and stretched my arms

"Yea, it seems so." He agreed as he smiled at our bad yet different circumstances

"Oh shit, don't we have classes today?" I asked as I panicked as the thought just seeped in

"It's fine, we're in uni, not high school. It's okay to skip a day or maybe two. I feel like you need the rest too." He said as he lay down on the bed

"How about you then?" I asked

"Well, I need to take care of you dummy." He quickly replied as he fell asleep soon after.

"Arin?" I said as I got closer to him and saw that he was fast asleep

'Guess he must've been awake worrying about me the whole night. The poor thing.' I thought as I covered him in a blanket.

I then continued to do some chores, waiting for him to wake up.