Second Chance
Lawrence sat on the bench outside their house. He watched the leaves of a big tree to fall at the ground. He reminisced about the life he had whe he was still with his best friend.
He picked up the leaf, and said, "I'm like this leaf, all alone after falling from a branch of a tree."
He sighed added, "I think I've already forgotten how to laugh."
He stood up and walked in a strange motion like a drunkard. Miserable moments kept flashing in his mind.
"No!" Lawrence cried. A speeding car hit somebody. There in the middle of the road lied an unconscious person, covered with blood.
"Why do I always remember that?!" He fell on his knees and clutched his head.
"Please, don't die, hold on, please! It's all my fault!" He held the victim's hand.
Lawrence whimpered upon remembering those. All he wanted is to forget the past, but the past kept hunting his heart and conscience.
Suddenly, there was a very bright flash in his mind, and all started from the beginning...
"Hurry up! We'll be late or school!" Lawrence shouted. Their school was few steps away. Lawrence and William gasped for breath as they reached the gate.
"At last!" William uttered. Both of them sighed.
They went upstairs and headed to their respective classrooms, for they belong to different sections.
Everyday that was their routine.
Lawrence and William were best pals since Grade Two. And now that they're in their penultimate stage of their high school life, their childhood memories didn't fade at all but remained as a number of very happy memories. Each day, the two become closer to each other.
It was already lunchtime. Lawrence went to the school canteen to look for William and found the latter sitting at a corner.
"I've been waiting for nearly five minutes. Come on, I'm hungry that I could eat a human, joke!"
"Sorry Lawrence but...today...I'll eat with James and the others. I'm really sorry.Maybe some other time, sorry..." William apologized.
"Oh, no need to say sorry! It's okay. Besides, I don't want to be called a selfish friend," Lawrence said with a smile, but deep inside he felt that he was left by a friend.
"I'll make it up some other time. Well, see you later!" William walked away, leaving Lawrence with his head down.
The next day when Lawrence found out that his best friend didn't bother to stop by at their house to join him on the way to school.
He must have forgotten about the things that we shared since elementary. My mom used to say, "Your friends when you were a child are likely not your friends when you grow up."
Lawrence didn't notice that James and the gang were also on their way to school. He was walking ahead of the group.
"Look at that paranoid. He's talking to himself! What freak!" James roared with laughter.
"James, will you stop talking about him like that! He's not doing anything bad to you!" William defended Lawrence.
"Oh, how nice of you to defend a friend. I might cry...because of laughter!!! Protecting that freak? You have to choose, the group or that stupid?"
William stayed silent. James followed Lawrence without making a single noise. He quickly grabbed Lawrence's eyeglasses. They beat him up. William tried to stop them, but the others got a good grip on him.
Lawrence was kicked, punched and stomped on by the people he wasn't able to see.
The group ran away, pulling William who wanted to help his friend.
Fortunately, one of Lawrence's classmates, Dennis, saw what happened. He rushed Lawrence to the school clinic.
After his wounds and bruises were treated, Lawrence had a small conversation with Dennis. "I saw nothing. Do you know who are those people? I don't remember if I had enemies that are extremely angry to me!"
Dennis spoke, "I don't want to tell you this but for your own good, I'll do it. I saw William and his friends when they beat you up. I saw the whole incident. Lawrence, your friend betrayed you!"
Lawrence dropped the glass of water he was holding. The glass shattered itno pieces, like his trust in William fragmented by fate. He was so enraged. He can't believe that his only best friend would do that to him.
For an unknown reason, the guard wasn't there. He felt strange by the incident, like fate prepared something for him.
Lawrence reached the road, when he heard William shouting at him.
"Hey, Lawrence, where are you going?"
"And how dare you talk to me? After all the things that you did to me when I was on my way to school, you still have the courage to speak to me!" Lawrence shrilled, his heart beating so fast.
William was extremely puzzled. Who told Lawrence that he was there when the incident happened? And for sure Lawrence misunderstood the incident, for he wanted to help him!
"Wait, you've got it all wrong! I didn't do anything! Please, listen to me! Let me expalin everything to you!" William cried.
"No! I won't listen to you anymore! I won't forgive you, never!"
Lawrence crossed the road and reached the midst, when a speeding car was about to come his way.
"Lawrence, look out!" William ran and pushed him. Instead of Lawrence, William was the one who was hit by the car.
"William!" Lawrence saw him, lying on the road and unconscious. His head was severely bleeding.
"Please, don't die, hold on, please! It's all my fault!" He held William's hand. "Help! Help us! Anybody!" Lawrence cried for desperation.
People rushed to help. An ambulance came to the rescue. They performed necessary procedures and slowly lifted the half-dying William into the ambulance.
Lawrence anxiously followed. "William, I'm so sorry! I didn't listen to you! Please, don't leave me!" Lawrence cried.
All of a sudden, William's necklace, a lace with an ornament of letter W, fell and clanked. He leaned down to pick it. He clutched the bloodstained necklace as he continued to weep.
"Law...Lawrence..." a faint voice called him. It was William, regaining his consciousness.
"I'm sorry...I didn't have the chance...to...to protect you...that time...I was so weak not being able to...defend you..." William said in a very soft and weak voice, stammering.
"What? I thought you... oh, William! I'm very sorry! It's not your fault, it's my fault!" Lawrence told him.
"I would like to...thank you...for...for being a good friend...best friend...to me...I'll never fogret you...I'll always be on your side..." William faintly spoke.
"Everything would be alright! Don't give up! Don't talk like that!" Lawrence shouted.
"Thank you...for everything...I...I..." "William!!!"
The old man seated beside me at the bus finished his story.
"So, young man, you shall remember that all people deserve a second chance. Learn to forgive before it's too late."
"Don't let things happen like what happened in the story that I narrated. Lawrence didn't give his friend another chance...another trust...so their friendship ended...there," Tears rolled down his wrinkled face.
Why is he so affected? It's just a story! I thought.
I saw that our house was already near. I thanked the old man for his story, but he's still crying. I offered him my handkerchief.
As I stood up, the old man dropped something, and it clanked. I humbly picked it up and when I was about to return it to him, I was so astonished to see that it was a necklace with an ornament, letter W...
