Gus x Bonnie : Spiritless

Solitude

Rico POV (Past)
Gus had just gotten Bonnie's number, and everyone was busy celebrating the occurrence at 8-Bit's arcade. But the events of the earlier day was still too new for me to patch up, and I stayed as down as ever.

"I think I'm gonna take off," I told everyone, "It's late."

"Bye then!" Everyone else responded, not even looking up from their games. Only Gus offered me half a smile, waving to me before turning to Surge.

So I stepped out into the street again, once again in solitude. All alone. And suddenly lightning cracked and thunder boomed, and I was just a small robot among the tempest. Under the rain, always in solitude.

Depression was just like a sea below, and I was plummeting down to fall in. Except...maybe it was the other way around. Maybe I wasn't falling in. Maybe it was rising to catch me. And I just wasn't running fast enough. The others had escaped, as fast as they can. But that left me stuck all alone, floating at the top of the sea, ready to plunge down anytime.

I couldn't be this unstable. I would not let the pouring rain drown me, just like the sea of my tears. Maybe it was time to move on.

But just when I thought I had found the rope to my freedom, it came into view. That horrible thing that had dropped me into the sea in the first place. I had walked so far through the rain, I hadn't realised that the source of my pain, anger and hate was right in front of me. The bench. And Piper's bakery.

Don't give in, Rico! I commanded myself. But I couldn't resist taking a look, and...it broke my heart, all over again.

Piper and Byron couldn't be more happy, pleasant smiles on their face as they dealt with the customers.

But I wasn't. So I ran away yet again, sobbing for my sadness. My grief. My lost love.

"Hey," a familiar voice whispered, "I knew we would find you here."