Scott hasn't been happy in a long time. School exhausted him more and more every day, he didn't have any friends and home didn't feel like home. His parents didn't feel like his parents and his siblings didn't feel like his siblings. School stressed him out but he didn't care enough to do something about it. I'm not going to survive this anyway. he keeps saying to himself.
On that day he was on the school yard during a free period. He's always loved free periods. He didn't have to be at home or at class, he could just relax and listen to his music. Still he was sad. He didn't know what he was doing with his life. Where is the purpose? Why him? Why did he have to go through this? Why not Sam or Chris? Or Sara? Why him and not them? He knew he was being selfish for wanting others to suffer but he honestly didn't care anymore. He used to. He tried to be nice to everyone but when no one returned his niceness for so many years he just gave up. He didn't care anymore. But he also didn't care about himself. He kind of gave up on everything.
Lost in his thoughts a guy suddenly appeared and tapped on his shoulder. Where did he come from? It was like he came out of nowhere.
"What's your name?" The guy said.
"Uh I'm Scott."
"Nice to meet you I'm Larry."
Larry huh
Larry was pretty. He had brown hair and some freckles on his face. He was about 5'8 and a little bit chubby. His smile was beautiful and almost made Scott pass out. The almost passing out probably had other reasons as well but Larry's looks still made him feel dizzy. Was he really crushing on some random guy that came up to him?
"You okay?"
"Oh yeah sure."
Larry and Scott started talking. They spoke for the whole 45 minutes and Scott even considered skipping the rest of the day to continue talking to him. Larry told him school was too important but gave him his number so they could chat later.
He didn't know why but Scott felt safe with the strange guy he just met. For a few minutes he felt happy again after so many years. How is he doing this to me?
He even opened up to him about some things. Not that he just told him how he felt but Larry asked him about some stuff almost like he knew. But he couldn't. How would he?
Back at home the first thing Scott did was charge his phone. It died in the middle of history class and Scott needed to know if Larry texted him.
He did.
'Hey Scott, it's Larry! How are you?:)'
'I'm good wbu?'
'Are you lying to me?'
'No.'
'You sure?'
'Yes. This is going to sound cheesy but meeting you today did something to me...'
They texted until 9pm. That's when Larry told Scott to go to sleep. And for once he actually did. He did it for Larry.
He was falling in love.
The next morning felt different. Scott woke up happy?. Getting up he brushed his teeth and even ate breakfast. His mom looked at him in confusion.
"Since when are you eating breakfast?"
Scott turned around.
"Since I'm hungry and I want something to eat."
"Have you even slept? Your eye bags are unmissable."
He was confused. He slept longer than he did in years.
"Yeah I did."
Scott and Larry have been 'friends' for 5 months at this point. They spoke to each other every day in school and texted all the time. Larry always comes over to Scott but for some reason Scott is never allowed at Larry's. Some thing with his mom apparently is the reason for that.
Scott didn't really care. Larry really changed his life. He slept normal, he felt happy, he took care of himself and most important had a boyfriend. One he really loved and that really loved him. Larry meant everything to him. He didn't know what he'd do without him.
It was a cold day. Scott didn't care. Larry was almost never cold, so he gave him his jacket. Life couldn't be better. They got some stares from other people, walking through the hallway, holding hands and laughing but Scott didn't care about that either. Homophobic people couldn't matter less to him in that moment. The last 5 months have been the happiest in his entire lifetime and he didn't plan on changing that. Nothing could destroy their happiness.
"I love you Larry."
"I love you too."
A year had passed. It was cold again. Cold and dark. It was a sad day and even Scott, who has been happy for so long now, felt a little bit unwell. Something seemed off.
Scott wasn't able to find Larry the whole day. School is almost over and he didn't see him or got a text back. What is wrong with him? Did he do something wrong?
Walking home he was still upset. Where is his boyfriend? Finding Larry where he did was something he would've never expected. He just sat there in Scott's kitchen.
"What are you doing here? Where were you the whole day?"
No reply
"Scott?", his mom said as she entered the room.
"Hey mom! I hope Larry being here is okay for you?"
"Scott we have to talk."
"What?"
"Sit down please"
And then she started talking. She told Scott he needed to stop. He needed to get help. Scott didn't understand. For what should he get help for? She tried to explain it to him. How Larry isn't real. Is she homophobic? Of course he is real!
"Of course he is real. Can't you see? He's sitting right next to me!"
What his mom said to him didn't matter to Scott. He thought it was ridiculous. That his mom was going crazy and she's the one who needs help. Why is she doubting Larry's existence?
Later the evening, when he was back in his room, he spoke to Larry about it.
"I'm so sorry, I don't know what's going on with her."
"Scott..."
"Yeah?"
"You know she's right."
"What?"
Scott started to feel anxious.
"You need to accept it. I love you."
And then he started to disappear. He slowly faded away. His body became less visible with every second, until only an eye was fadedly visible. And after another second it wasn't.
Minute per minute Scott's memories of Larry changed:
The day they first met. He was talking to himself.
Larry sleeping in Scott's bed for the first time. He cuddled a teddy bear. Larry wasn't there.
Confessing his love for Larry. He confessed his love to a blank wall.
Every memory he made with Larry wasn't real. He was all by himself. Everything made sense now. Why he always appeared out of nowhere. Why Scott has never been allowed to Larry's house. Why people were looking at them all the time. Even people commenting on his eye bags all the time made sense now. He remembered now. He almost never slept. He thought he did but it was all part of this made up reality he had in his head for the past year.
Scott didn't want to accept it. Someone did something to his head. This isn't real. It's all a fucked up prank from his mother. He didn't want to believe anything his mind was telling him.
This isn't real
But it was.
