Flash forward to the present.
"I'm crazy," Xander admitted aloud. He tried to murder his best friend out of jealousy. He spent his life killing people and stealing from them just to prove himself. Prove himself to who? His bullies? They were gone, moved on with their lives, different people.
So what more was there to do?
Xander looked down at Brandon. His heart rate slowed to nearly a straight line on the heart monitor, indicating that the end of his life was near. Brandon hadn't died all those years ago, hadn't perished when Xander pressed a gun into his temple because he wasn't meant to die.
Xander thought about all the people wailing over Brandon in the lobby. The patients he saved. His best friends. His wife. His son. His neighbors. His daughter waiting for him to return and have a tea party with her. Brandon dying would shatter their lives. Killing Brandon would kill an entire network of people, weaken them emotionally. People needed Brandon.
But people didn't need Xander.
Except Brandon, Brandon who had always needed him, who had waited for years for Xander to become the true friend he knew he could be.
And with that, Xander grabbed a sharp tool and stabbed himself, carving out his heart and replacing Brandon's with his own.
Because Brandon deserved to live. He was his best friend.
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The Real Bully
Ficción GeneralAs a child, Xander sees his bullies as people who gained strength from feeding off his weaknesses. As an adult, Xander aspires to turn the tables on his past bullies, steal power from them. But his idea of stealing power is very different from his b...
