Metanoia.「skephalo」

03 | Consequences.

"It's twenty-five dollars and ninety five cents. Card or cash?"

With the flickering light right above the two boy's head it was hard to actually understand what was written on the banknotes, and for how much he hated it, Vincent had to pay that way, his card was totally drained.

"Cash." he mumbled, pulling every piece of paper outside of his wallet.

The boy behind the counter started to impatiently tap his fingers on the table, he was about twenty years old or so, and looked quite pissed and suspicious towards the french boy for no apparent reason.

"Finally." the Junior sighed as he put the exact amount of money requested on the counter. "Have a nice night."

The cold breeze of the night made Vincent shiver as he exited the store.

He felt mad for some reason.
Not because of that rude cashier who didn't even gave a greeting to him.
That feeling was caused by something else.

Or someone.

The french boy stood by is motorcycle, parked right outside the store, and quickly got on it.
After putting on his helmet and starting the bike, Vincent drove away from the gas station, with a bad feeling building up inside of him.

"I hope Zak is okay." he murmured to himself as he waited for the traffic light to turn green. "If the slightest bad thing happened to him, I won't forgive myself." The light changed to color, he sped up. "Ever."

That awful sensation loomed over him.
Something was off.

Vincent shouldn't have left, even if Zak knew about him going to get gas.

'I fucking promised to stay by his side the whole time, yet, here I am. Fuck, I hope he stayed with the others.' the Junior scolded himself, frowning and gritting his teeth together. 'I have to fucking move.'

After a few minutes of riding slightly above the speed limit, Vincent was finally back at Zelk's home.
He quickly parked his motorcycle and hopped off it. Removing his helmet as he jogged towards the front door, he freezed at the sight of a boy passed out on the grass, face down. His eyes widened once his glance landed on the light blue hoodie wore by the teen on the ground.

"Zak!" Vincent breathlessly gasped out, throwing his helmet away as he kneeled down beside his friend. "Fuck, Zak, please!"

Grabbing the short boy's shoulder, Vincent turned him on his side, frantically searching for his heartbeat. Two of the french boy's fingers gently pressed against his wrist, no pulse.

'Fuck.'

Moving his hands away from his arm, he tried on his neck, nothing.

'Zak, please.'

Panicking, Vincent leaned his ear against his friend's chest.
There it was what was searching and hoping for. A regular, rhythmic and loud heartbeat.

He leaned on the floor and just hugged the short boy, insulting himself mentally. He wasn't going to forgive himself for leaving him alone. For breaking a promise.
Zak was everything to him.

A pained groan grabbed Vincent attention, who immediately broke the hug and lifted his upper body from the ground with the help of his forearm. Zak's face contorted into a hurting expression as his eyes squeezed together, accompanied by a lament.

"Holy shit, Zak! Are you ok? How are you feeling? What happened?" Vincent questions flowed out of his mouth as he got unable to contain himself.

"Agh..." the short boy groaned, once again. "Vincent..?" he forced himself to open one eye, squeezing the other one shut. "Why... did you leave me? You promised..." Zak asked in a hoarse whisper, overwhelmed by every single inch of his body hurting.