Arcanes Light

일

𝐂𝐎𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄 resonate within the blank, white room. A young girl lays on the hospital bed with a vacant gaze, a spark missing. Strands ran astray her countenance, a finger subtly twitching as the sensation of tubes stuck onto her limbs was still there.

Staring drearily at the brightly illuminated ceiling, she yearned for the capability of crying. Alas, the well within seemed to have gone dry. Her heart ached. Ached, even when it'd felt as if her flesh had been scraped out as the days passed into months.

A soft creak echoes, her irises dart to the door. The person behind it revealed to be a little boy—Kay'.

Everyone abandoned her after the word of her having an infectious disease spread to them, like a plague everyone should avoid. But that was the complete opposite.

She doesn't have a disease, nor a virus in her system. The explanation how and why has yet to be found.

"Kay'," weakly murmuring the nickname she insisted on using for him, she glances up at the boy who approaches her with soft steps, as if to cushion and stay away from any noises that may disturb her. "... Why're you here, again?"

After a quick awkward moment of silence, he finally responds, "...I thought you'd be lonely." His answer made her eyes go subtly wide with parted lips, quickly morphing into a smile—a failed attempt of a smile.

"You don't need to," she sighed. The doctors' had diagnosed her, it was assumed she had leukemia, and that's how depression slapped her hard across the face. "You should focus on school, Kay'."

"[ Name ], don't you miss going to school, too?" A small frown pulls his lips, black hair messy. Probably from running again.

He thought about cutting his hair short again, but [ Name ] insisted he'd keep it at napes length atleast. "Why...?" was what he'd asked.

Her answer? "Because it's pretty. You look even prettier with it." That memory embedded into her brain was starting to become hazy. But it was still as clear as day for him, how the way pink petals fell onto the vibrant short grass below them, the way her teethy smile peeked like a ray of light.

"... School." She blinked for a second at the thought, head rolling back to face the ceiling. The blankness in her eyes, it pained the dark-haired boy even if he'd seen it so much times now. "School, huh...?"

It really did pain him, the look of helplessness, how she simply laid there as if she were a broken doll. He mentally vowed to keep her company everyday, whether it be the weekends or not, he'd ingrained that (one sided) promise into his brain.

"Hey." A word from her broke off the long train of thoughts that circled in his brain, and he looked back up at her to listen. "Kay', promise me something."

"What is it? I'm listening," he pressed with a firm edge, eyes somewhat lit up optimistically. Till his gaze flickered over to the device monitoring the beating of her heart, began to slow down.

"B—be..." A spout of carmine elicits for her to pause, his eyes going wide in shock with a staggered step over to the side, on whether he should call a nurse or stay. "Be strong, al... alright?"

"[ N—Name ], what... what do I do?" It's odd how he just stuttered, because he was never the type to even do so anyway. He was a blunt kid, not really caring about how he talked or who he talked to—adult or not.

A soft sigh runs past her chapped lips. "I've always wanted to go to a big field of flowers... Then I'd make a flower crown for you. Maybe we could've already done that, and we would be laughing instead right now."

A lump formed in his throat, silencing him completely. He wasn't sure what to say, at all. Not when how unfair it felt for her to suffer like this, and not know why she was like this. His heart had sank impossibly to his stomach.

"... I'll take you to a pretty flower field, one day—so, please, just hang on." Kay' smiled, a smile which only further showed how he was slowly being stirred. But that plea only fell on deaf ears when she smiled one last time, not her usual genuine toothy one, but just a sad attempt at one. Her eyelids fell.

And her heartbeat halted, the monitor emitting a long, loud, obnoxious beep.

Instinctively, he hurried to hold her in his arms. Cradling her as delicately one would hold a glass ornament, his fists balling up the hospital gown's fabric.

The noise blaring from the monitor behind him accompanied along the deafening silence that rang in his ears, the sounds of the door flew open with a loud bang, nurses sprinted in followed by a doctor.

Be... strong.

Even he didn't notice it, but he was crying. And when he'd noticed the dried tears in the mirror, his reflection looked woozy. Shattered, contorted, a fog hazing his figure.

He promised. He vowed to never be swayed by emotions like this, ever again. He vowed to live up to her words—to accomplish them. He vowed he'd find out why she had to suffer like that, instead of him.

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