Reality Glasses

Chapter 2

My mind was blank, I was frozen, I couldn't move, I had been standing still my body in shock for some time, but now I could feel people running past me, it was as if the world had slowed down, everything around me was silent, all I could hear was the loud pounding of my heart, as it pulsed through my brain to my fingers, I was forced back into reality by the calm voice of a nearby pedestrian, "Hello" she whispered, "are you ok" I looked at her she was an middle aged woman, and her gentle eyes reminded me of my mum, full of concern, I could tell she had seen him jump, she placed her hand on my shoulder, I looked up and ask her if he was ok, She again replied in the same calm voice "I'm really sorry", without thinking I push past her and immediately ran to the end of the bridge and carefully paced myself down the hill that lead to the bank of the river that was under the bridge, when I got to bottom it was still like nothing had happened, I began to yell out his name, again and again, each time becoming more desperate, another pedestrian who had followed me down the hill, this time and older man, stood by my side and softly said "I'm sorry kid he's gone, all we can do now is call the police" he sighed, I looked up at him for a moment, he was a rugged looking man, rough around the edges, but I could tell he was trying hard to show he cared, I quickly turned my head back towards the river, as he looked at me and said "Hopefully they can find him", as the old man turned to pull out his phone, something touched my foot, I glanced down realising it was Mr Leeten's glasses, they had been washed up on the bank, I quickly grabbed them, I didn't want them to be washed away, they were covered in sand and soaking wet, I rinsed them of in the water below and quickly shoved them in the pocket of my jacket, I quickly glance over to see if the man had witnesses this discovery, but I sighed in relief as his back was still towards me still focused on his phone call  

The old man turned back to me, gesturing to follow him back top of the hill, to the bridge, I began to walk but hesitantly I stopped, looking back one more time, I was hoping I might see something, the old man realised and walked towards me placed his hand on my back as he said "come on, there really isn't anything we can do'' he gently pushed my back supporting me up the hill. I stumbled up and when getting to the top I saw Mr Grempt, some pedestrians and other teachers all grouped at the end of the bridge, some of the teachers crying, others shocked.

Mr Grempt saw me and a surprised but worried look washed over his face, he began to rush towards me, he frantically yelled at me saying "Louis what are you doing here?" I was lost, Confused, and still in a numb state so when replying to him I stumbled over my words saying "I saw him, I just..just wanted to say goodbye.... I couldn't stop him.... I really tried to stop him!" The reality of this whole situation hadn't hit me till that point, and as soon as those words left my mouth I was overwhelmed with grief, I began to cry, once my tears began Mr Grempt put his arm around my shoulders and began to walk me back to the school.

It hadn't felt like to that much time had passed, But all the busses had left, and the school was completely empty, Mr Grempt still had his arm around my shoulders, but my crying had almost stopped, we walked towards his office and when entering he placed me in the chair in front of his desk, "I am going to call your parents'' he quickly stated as he picked up the phone, after briefly explaining the situation to my mum, the call ended and he then began to pace his office, I just sat there, replaying what had just happened over and over in my head. I began to hear Mr Grempt mumbling things to himself, I focused on this and manage to hear bits and pieces, Suddenly all my focus was completely directed toward Mr Grempt's mumbling, hearing him say "I knew something was wrong, I should have said something, I should have stopped him from going", suddenly both mine and Mr Grempt focused changed as my mum burst into the room, she rushed towards me and wrapped her arms around me, as we hugged she whispered in my ear, "dad is on his way with Erin, where all here for you Louis'' I didn't want her to let go but as Mr Grempt began to talk she turned towards him, he began to tell her the extent of the situation or at least what he knew , then they both looked at me as my mum gently said "Louis, I know this is hard, but you need to let us know what happened before he......." she stopped, and cleared her throat, looking at me, I knew that I had to say something, but all I wanted was to go home, but I knew I wasn't leaving without telling them so I took a deep breath and quickly told them everything that had happened, just before the part of finding his glasses I stopped, and I quickly decided to leave that part out, I wanted to keep something of his to remember him and I was sure none of his family would want to keep his old, dirty wet glasses,