Masquerade (Michael Clifford)

Chapter 24

I was sat in the tunnel that led to the slide. Tears still rushing down my face, small whimpers falling from my mouth occasionally. I, still, clutched the dolphin to my chest as if my life depended on it. It has black blotches on it from the mascara mixed tears that fell onto it. I pulled the dolphin away from my chest and studied it. It had green eyes, weird for a dolphin, but they were beautiful and green.

Like Michael's eyes.

The thought caused a choked sob to emerge from me. I looked at the tag that was attached to its tail. I opened it and more tears came running down my face at what it said.

I love you as much as you love dolphins...and from the way that you always speak of them, that's a lot of love xx

Michael Gordon Clifford

I flipped the tag over to see if there was anything else written. There was a space under the words 'Hello my name is' and it said,

Marlett (bc that's our ship name ;))

If it was even possible I cried harder. And louder. The sound echoing, because I was in the tunnel. I pulled the dolphin to my face to muffle my sobs. A familiar scent filled my nose. It smelled like him. I let out another sob as someone called my name and looked into the tunnel.

"Scarlett?!" his voice said frantically. His voice only made me cry more. He crawled into the tunnel with me and pulled me onto his lap where I cried more because I missed his touch. "Fuck, please stop crying. Please." He said rubbing my arm.

"L-Luke, I-" I cut myself off with a cry. This pain is so agonizing. This pain is worse than any physical pain that I've received. Was this heart break? No it couldn't be. This hurt much more than heart break. But what is it? The ache in my chest, the tightness of my stomach, the pounding in my head, the picture of Michael's broken face in my mind where it will most likely stay until the day I die. It was all to much. Every inch of my body ached with some sort of pain. This was no heart break, this was realization. Realization that I lost Michael. Realization that he may never speak to me ever again. Realization that I may never see him again. Realization that I lost the most precious thing in my life. Realization that he is my life. Realization that I, in fact, cannot live without that boy. For he is the reason of my happiness, my smile, and my being. He's gone and now I have nothing to live for.

"Fuck, please stop crying. Y-You're going to pass out of you don't stop." Luke said. He was somehow rocking me back and forth in this small tunnel. "Please stop. I don't want you to pass out." He pleaded. Passing out seemed perfectly fine to me. I would be in a deep sleep where I wouldn't be able to feel this pain. So I cried. I cried until my head was pounding. I cried until my body became weakened. I cried until I passed out.

---

I opened my eyes to see darkness. My head hurt and my chest was aching. I sat up and seen I was not in Michael's room.

Michael

I remembered all of the crying, the brokenness in his eyes. I remember the pain. That all to familiar pain returned. I let out a whimper as the pounding in my head became unbearable. The door opened and Luke appeared.

"Hey, you doing alright Little Bit?" He asked crawling into the bed with me. He pulled me into his chest and rocked me. I whimpered at the touch. Everything still hurt. He shushed me and pulled something from beside the bed. He handed it to. The familiar scent and soft fur made me cuddle it. "I seen how you clutched it like it was your life. So maybe it'll make you feel a tad better." I nodded my head, but winced when the pounding increased. Luke pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to me. He handed me a glass of water too. "For your headache. I know you have one." I quickly took the small pill and rested my head against Luke's chest. "You wanna talk about it Bit?" I smiled oh so small at the new nickname. But it quickly vanished as I thought about what happened.