33 Days To Live (Under Revision)

5

"Good morning Crescentburg and thank you for tuning into Radio Boy, I'm Ben and I'm here because I get paid. Before I start off today's show though I'd just like to have a moment of silence for my good friend Luke and his recovery since it's been two weeks now since his accident."

The first week was the hardest.

For three whole days I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, and I could barely breathe without feeling my guilt suffocating me. After I had come to terms with the accident and gotten over the shock, I began to feel the guilt set in.

It was me who pushed Luke to participate in that race, it was me who didn't care he was scared. If only I had let him drop out, if only I wasn't blinded by my selfishness then maybe he would still be sitting with me in homeroom timing how long it took me to run away from Victoria.

Now I was going to have to sit there alone and be reminded of what I had done each time I saw his desk. No one saw me as the bad guy though but instead the hero. The story of how the other guys and I pushed the car away from the pole became a pretty big news story in the town and we all got tons of positive reinforcement.

It was because of that I kept my guilt to myself.

"Thank you for that ladies and gentlemen, now how about some motivation to get out of bed?" I asked before putting on some heavy metal and resting my chin in my hand.

By the end of the first week, I began eating and getting out of bed again, but I felt drained. That never ending energy I use to have had been sucked out of me. My schedule use to spontaneous but now it was the same thing each day--wake up, do the radio show, and visit Luke.

Since he was in a coma he couldn't really have a conversation but the doctor did say he could hear me so I'd just sit there for two hours talking to him. I'd tell him about my day, how my parents were letting me have a couple of weeks off from school, about the radio show, and I'd apologize over and over for forcing him to race. I was going crazy without him.

Luke had been my best friend since we were five and we had rarely gone a day without talking or seeing each other. He was my brother, and now I felt painfully lonely.

Maybe going back to school would've helped but I knew that the accident would be all anyone talked about. It was the last thing I wanted to talk about it.

When the song finished I didn't bother moving on to another segment, I just played another song. I was to drained to say something funny so I chose silence over jokes. That's how my radio show had been lately, just me playing music and occasionally talking about something unimportant.

Today marked the second week since the accident.

At first it seemed like his dad took it pretty hard but within a day or two he had gone back to his cold self. Luke's father was never one for affection or emotions, whereas my dad was all about the hugs and kisses and cried once a week on average.

It was an Italian thing I guess.

As for Luke's mother, she had been out of the picture for a long time. She died right before we met. Actually, she was the reason we met. We both were in the same kindergarten class and Luke was sitting in the back of the classroom crying about his mom that day. All the other kids called him a crybaby and made fun of him but I gave him a hug.

After that we shared some blocks, which was like a blood oath in kindergarten, and that sealed the deal.

Finally the last song had finished and with a heavy sigh I picked my mic back up.

"And that wraps it up for today folks, hope your more pumped then I am," I said before turning off my signal then I just laid my head on the desk.

I should be heading to school now because I promised my parents I would go today but I felt like I couldn't get up. I think I would have fallen asleep if Luke's dad didn't break me out of my trance.

"Ben, can I talk to you in the office?" He asked, resting a firm hand on my shoulder and I jumped a little before looking up at him.

''Um...yeah...sure..." I mumbled before getting up and we both walked into the office.

"Ben, you know I'm not one to beat around the bush, so I think I'm just going to get right to the point," He said and I nodded as I sat down. His voice sounded grave, not peppy like usual and that made me suddenly nervous.

"And what might that point be?" I asked and he pulled out some papers before shoving them towards me.

"Radio Boy. I have some concerns I was trying to overlook but after listening to today's show I'm afraid I can't." Oh no. I didn't like the sound of that at all.

"Concerns? What do you mean?" I asked, more awake now as I sat up straight.

"For two years now, the show has been strong. A good show, but in the past three months the ratings, the viewers, just everything important has been drastically declining." He explained and I looked down at the charts. I didn't know much about graphs but I did know that a line dropping down from a high point was bad.

"Listen Ben, you're a good kid and I appreciate everything you've done for my son but I can't let you being his best friend get in the way of my judgement." He sighed deeply.

"Ben, if you can't find way to get listeners engaged again I'm going to have to cancel Radio Boy," He said and I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach.

"No, no, no you can't do that! This show is my life, my job, my status! I need it. Especially now." I pleaded as I shot up out of my seat.

"I know Ben, I know. What happened to Luke is hard on me to but you can't let that affect the way you do your jobs. Anyways, that has nothing to do with it. This has been a problem now and I'm starting to get heat about it. If a show starts failing on our station we need to take it down. Radio Boy just isn't what it used to be anymore. You're running out of ideas. It might be time to move on to something else. You're a talented kid, I'm sure I can find you something else." He reassured and I knotted my fingers in my hair as I took a deep breath.

This couldn't be happening.

This wasn't happening.

There was no way this was happening.

"You're...you're not even going to give me a chance to redeem it?" I gasped, feeling my chest close up.

"I would Ben but it'd be nearly impossible. You'd need to get it up in the ratings by a massive percentage that isn't possible in a month. I know this must be hard to hear, but I promise I'll find you something else to do." He assured and I shook my head fast.

"No! Give me a chance! Give me a chance please! I can find a way, I swear and if I don't then you can cancel my show but I'm not giving it up without a fight." I begged as I sat back down in the chair and he inhaled slowly.

"I don't know-"

"Please. If I lose this show, I lose everything it's given me," I said softly, almost whispering.

For a long moment then he was quiet, then he sighed heavily.

"You have until the end of this coming month. That's thirty-five days, so you better make it count."

_______________________________________________________________________

Heyyyy guys! I apologize for not updating this a little sooner, I ran out of time at the library and had to postpone the update :/ at least it is here now and I hope you all like! :)

AND OH MY GOSH I JUST SAW THE NEW NINJA TURTLES TRAILER FOR THE NEW MOVIE AND I THINK I DIED A LITTLE WHEN I FOUND OUT THE MUTOGEN CAN TURN THEM HUMAN, LIKE I'VE DREAMED ABOUT A PLOT TWIST LIKE THAT AHGGGHC DJDJCJDJDMXNDJDNDMFVK CNN DSLXLCK

-Mari.