Teen Romance Fantasy

Act 19 (Ch)

Sarah was never alone, when I saw her at school but I knew where I could find her after school. She was at that one classroom again, sleeping as always. Every now and then she began coughing but she stayed asleep. I wished that I could see her face just once. I wanted to know what expression she had on, while she was travelling through her beautiful dreams.

I sat down on the chair right next to her and watched her sleep, not knowing if it was alright for me to wake her up. What was she even doing in this classroom? What were all those pieces of paper for that were scattered all around her and why were her soft fingers covered in blood?

"I guess you can't hear me right now. It's fine. I'm not actually sure what I'm doing here either. All I know is that I'm an idiot. I mean, I can't even see your face but somehow I can't get you out of my mind. Pathetic, wouldn't you say so too?", I sighed, smiling at my own idiotic behaviour.

Just as though someone had heard my prayers, the mist around her face slowly began disappearing into nothingness. Left was only her face and my confusion.

She looked just the way I imagined her. Cute and yet bittersweet. Childish and mature at the same time. She was beautiful, especially when she opened her marble-like eyes and a tear began rolling down her cheek.

Suddenly, it was getting rather warm. So much so that I was starting to sweat. My face, red as a ripe tomato. My voice, husky. My head, heavy. I chickened out. I turned around and ran away. Sarah ran after me. I could hear her cold voice call out my name. At some point she actually caught up to me, which honestly wasn't that hard.

"Are you alright? What was all that about?" Sarah asked out of breath. Guess she was just as bad at sports as I was.

I didn't want to answer her. Now that I could see her, it seemed so much harder to talk to her. How ironic. I used to give the mist the fault for it. Now what? How could I possibly face her?

"I wanted to talk to you... In private! Just the two of us." I admitted, turning even more red than before. Why did I have to say something as embarrassing as that? She must have been creeped out by me.

"Geez, you could have just said so. What's the matter?" I noticed how Sarah's guard softened. She unfolded her slim arms in front of her chest. I took a deep breath and said what was on my mind. Even though I knew she didn't want to hear any of this, it needed to be said.

"First of all, I'm sorry that I couldn't help you."

"Christian-"

"Wait, I'm not finished! When I saw Bella doing those awful things to you, I was frightened. I couldn't move a single muscle and I begged that nothing would happen to you. I thought that you would fight back or that you'd do something at least that I was never capable of. Why do you act as if it doesn't bother you?!"

Silence. Sarah didn't say anything. She looked down as though she was ashamed. The words exchanged still hung heavy in the air. An expression of vulnerability showed itself on her face. Was that her answer?

I couldn't look at this for even one more second. This was absurd. I thought that she was different from me. She was just as stubborn as I was. Somehow she and I weren't that different after all. I sighed before I grabbed her wrist and pulled her along through the corridor. She didn't understand what was going. No matter how often she asked, I didn't say anything. Lucky me that there weren't any students at school anymore. I would have died of embarrassment otherwise.

We stopped in front of a staircase. It lead to the third floor. The staircase looked just like every other staircase in our school building and yet it was different. It wasn't like any other staircase at all. This staircase frightened me.

"Do you know what this is?" I tried to ask calmly. My hand was still trembling as I was holding her wrist. She must have noticed. Suddenly I wasn't holding her wrist anymore. I was holding her cold, with bruises and blisters covered hand.

"This is the staircase where Mishka pushed you down, isn't it?" Did she just say pushed down?

"You know that she pushed me down? You don't think it was an accident?"

"I was actually right behind you. I told the principal that Mishka pushed you down but he didn't believe me since Mishka and I didn't share the best history together."

"I see... The truth is, I still try to avoid this staircase. It might sound stupid but it actually frightens me. Even now I can barely keep my cool around it."

Despite what I said, I moved forward. No matter how much my hand was trembling, Sarah didn't let go of it. She followed me without a question, even when I made my way to the top of the staircase. Every last step felt wrong and I almost lost my consciousness. However, I kept on fighting. No matter what those voices were shouting, I took step by step. Only once we made it to the middle, I stopped. I couldn't do it anymore. The memories were coming back more genuinely than I had expected. I remembered everything.

"It's fine. You made it far enough. There's no need to push yourself." Sarah's voice was calming. I heard it despite all the noise inside my head. It was pleasant and warm. Perhaps it was her voice that gave me strength because suddenly I took another step.

"Stop it Christian! That's too much." And another step.

"Christian please!"

Something was holding me back. I couldn't move anymore. There was a heavy burden that I carried on my shoulders. When  I turned around, it was just Sarah. Why did she not take another step? What did she stay?

Sarah was crying. Well, she wasn't really crying just yet but I could already see a tear running down her face and falling to the ground. An eerie sound that wouldn't let me go. It was just too familiar.

"I'm sorry Christian but I can't. You can go on without me. I'll stay here for just a bit longer."

For a split second our hands let go of each other. Instantly I noticed this unreasonable desire inside of me to hold it again. It felt wrong to let go. It felt wrong to walk ahead while she was sitting on that step. It all felt so damn wrong. I sat down as well. I was two steps higher than her and yet we weren't apart. I held her hand just like I had before. I let her squeeze it, even if it meant that my bones would be broken. I let those tears touch it, even if they would become a part of me. I wasn't going to leave her. I was going to wait for her, so that we could both make it to the top.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Just take your time."