Part 7
//A solitary tear can unmask even the deepest and most hidden of emotions. The fear of impending demise can unhinge even the bravest of souls.//
"Come on Mayle, we have to get out of here!" My best friend lies before me battered and bleeding, a hand clenching a large gash on her side. her uniform is now stained crimson and black, a stark contrast from the neatly pressed outfit of yesterday morning. I grab her arm and attempt to pull her abused body off the ground. I refuse to the futility of my efforts. "Mayle, we have to go!"
"Not Milliardo, this is as far as I go. The past six years of my life have been wonderful. But I should have been with my family a long time ago. I tried cheating death, but in the end it always comes to claim you." Tears glisten in the corner of her eyes, but she fights hard not to let them fall. She coughs and my heart breaks that the grimace that plays across her beautiful face. "Remember what I taught you, please."
"Don't talk like that, Mayle. Everything is going to be fine, just wait and see." My own tears track clear streams down my dirt-covered face. I give up on trying to pull her to her feet and instead climb into her lap, throwing my arms around her shaking body.
"I'm scared, Milliardo. I don't know what waits for me, but I hope that I get sent up there," she states pointing at the heavens. "I want to be among the starts. It's where I belong, really. I was born within that midnight ocean. I miss it more than words can describe.
It doesn't hurt so much now." I spare a glance at the blood now seeping between her fingers from the wound. "But I'm so very tired." She pulls my arms from around her and lies back down. "I'm just going to rest a bit. It won't be too long now."
"No! You are not going to die!"
"Gomen," she replies while weakly reaching to push a lock of hair from my face. A smile brushes over her lips, "You're going to be handsome when you grow up. I just wish I could stay around to see it."
"But you will Mayle, you will."
"It's time that you face up to reality, Milliardo. Things will not always go according to plan. Once you are able to accept that, then life will be much easier to live."
"I won't accept that."
"You can't change it."
"I can try."
"If you feel that way, then I've failed you." A fit of coughing causes her to be cut short. She looks so frail at this moment. Her face, which was always filled with joy and laughter, is now troubled and pained. Her body feels so cold compared to my own.
You didn't fail me, Mayle. You were all I could have ever wanted. I want you to stay with me forever. There is so much you can teach me about space. Just don't die."
"You don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say that. But I'm afraid that I can't be there for you. If you ever need me, all you have to do is look inside your heart. I'll always be there if you want me to be." She closes her eyes looking much more at peace, "Gomen nasai."
I weep freely over the body of the person I loved and respected. She was everything to me. She shaped who I am. Six wonderful years with this truly enchanting human being, a person whose affect will linger on for many years to come. I feel cheated. She is not suppose to be gone forever.
A part of myself dies along with her. A piece so deeply buried inside that I was unaware of its presence, but once it is gone, I feel the hollow it leaves behind.~~
Mayle shouldn't have died that day. There was nothing I could do to stop it though. She was never buried; I covered her with ground debris and knelt by her side. I would be the only one who would cry for her, the only one who cared.
That day I made a vow.