Calmly || Be More Chill

You Watch The Play

I was just thinking how easy it would be to kill off Bax. Anyway, enjoy the rest of the story :)

"Get up, the play is starting in fifteen minutes," I screeched, attacking Bax with a pillow. He only snuggled farther into his covers, shielding me out of his mind.

I stopped my actions, seeing as trying to wake him up from his nap this way wouldn't work. Noting the barricade in his mind, I tried a different method. My arms shoved Bax to the side, allowing some room for me as I settled in beside him. He grumbled something but otherwise stayed asleep. Closing my eyes, I focused hard, creating an image of myself in my mind then pushing into Bax's mind.

My first thoughts were 'it worked' as I was transported into a large field with flowers of many colors. But that hadn't made sense to me, seeing as Bax always claimed he hated flowers. And if my assumptions were incorrect, then where was Bax? And what's up with this dreamscape.

I decided to walk around a bit, my main goal trying to find my freckled friend before the play started. Luckily, I had spotted him sooner rather than later.

"Is your friend here, my love?" A woman with long sandy blond hair that resembled Bax's and a contagious smile had spoken.

Bax sat beside her in white clothing, picking at a dandelion and letting the woman tuck some purple flowers into his hair. He looked up with a confused smile, "What do you mean?"

"You know this means I must leave," she said sadly. The boy I had come to know as tough and a real jerk looked fearful as he cupped the woman's hands that were over his cheeks. "May we meet again. Later rather than sooner, I hope."

He frowned, "No, Ma. Don't leave me, I can't go back to Dad, he doesn't want me anymore. He-he blames me for your death and I just- I can't, Mama."

I stepped back, feeling like I was interrupting a special and very private moment, even if this was all just a dream.

The woman laughed a melodic sound that felt soothing, "I know you can do it, he still loves you, my love. Remember that."

As soon as the woman was gone, I felt unsafe. The sky turned a horrid shade of gray and clouds milled around quickly, creating loud and mind boggling thunder. There was wind billowing in the fields as I struggled to stand upright. Bax whipped around to see who the culprit was. Upon seeing it was me, he looked absolutely livid, that was when I was ejected out of the dream that had turned into a night mare so fast.

My eyes snapped open first.

Bax was next as he tried to recollect his breath, eyes frantically darting to every corner in the room."T-That was dangerous," he warned weakly. "Don't do that again."

I sat upright watching how troubled he looked, grasping and clawing at his throat and locks of fallen hair. Eyes screwed shut as he held back tears that had threatened to fall.

There was so much more behind that simple scene I had saw.

"The play," he muttered to himself at first. "The play, yes, we have to go."

My eyebrows furrowed as I placed a hand on his shoulder. Bax flinched at first but relaxed as he realized I was just comforting him, "You don't have to go, I can go by myself."

He shook his head, sniffling once and only once, "I don't want to die."

Okay, so that kind of confused me a lot, but what was I supposed to do? Everyone dies eventually, some sooner than others. It would be wrong of me to try and instill false hope, but putting him down wouldn't help either.

"Why are you thinking about dying?" I asked softly.

"Because my-my dad hates me, and he works for the counsel," Bax explained. I didn't know what 'the counsel' was, but kept listening. "My mom was killed because she was too attached to her carrier. And she knows, she knows that I like you way too much, that's why she visited me."

My eyes squinted as I began to piece everything together.

Abusive father? Check.

Dead mother? Check.

Horrible government? Check.

Passive jerk schtick? Check.

All components of stories I've read before, maybe even more than once. But at this moment, I felt different. I didn't know what to say, because it was Bax. He usually had all the answers, not me. Most nights he'd be busy consoling me, not the other way around.

"If you were to die, they'd have to kill me first," I said firmly.

He chuckled bitterly, "See, that's the point. That's what they do. That's what they always do."

My phone rang out in the silent room, the alarm startling mostly me instead of Bax, even if I was the one who set it.

It read 'You're Really Late Oops' with a laughing/crying emoji. I must've been in quite the mood when I made this.

Bax looked over my shoulder, reading the alarm title wearily, "So we're really late, oops?"

I nodded seriously, "There are about twenty minutes left of the play, I was supposed to be there, Bax. The Mountain Dew red, I had to give it to them- You did buy the Mountain Dew red, right?"

He shrugged, "Nope."

"Bax!" I yelled worriedly.

"You never really needed it, to be honest," he confessed. "That Michael kid had it ready from the beginning, I just told you that because you needed a reason to get up in the morning."

I punched his shoulder, "You dingus."

In the end, we decided to go anyway to see the ending. I was kind of mad because I missed most of the play, and I had no remorse for Bax because he had every detail of the way this story was supposed to turn out engraved in his head.

But we were at the good part as everyone looked disoriented and Michael was sat on the ground, watching everyone with tired eyes. Jake and Rich were going at it, giving the audience a reason to applaud, but the real eye opener is what happened next.

As Jeremy went to hug Michael, the boy flinched and began to shake and cry.

Please don't tell me this turns out bad.

It doesn't, Michael just hasn't cried at all since what happened to him, which isn't a really a good way to handle things.

So he needs a moment.

He does.

The audience grew hushed as they saw that maybe the 'show' wasn't over and maybe their favorite character had something to say as he cried and sobbed in Jeremy's arms.

Like a good friend, Jeremy waited. We all waited.

And we were treated with a warm and fulfilling smile from Michael that made most people in the burst into tears. Including Jake who tried to hide it while Rich laughed at him.

I looked over a Bax who watched the scene with a smirk on his face.

It's been a long time since I've seen that smirk.