Count On Me (UNDER REVISION, DO NOT READ)

Chapter Twenty Eight

Guilt ran through Ludwig instantly. He dragged Feli into this mess, got him sick, and got him killed. He was a terrible excuse for a human being. He wanted to stay with Feli, so he wouldn't be alone or scared.

Ludwig looked at Feli's corpse, feeling dizzy. He put a hand over his mouth, he couldn't bare to look at the now pale face of someone who used to have such a warm smile. He tried to stand up, or to run away, but every attempt he made ended up falling down to his knees, trying his best not to cry.

"Feli," Ludwig choked, "you wouldn't want this." He tried to say something, anything at all to get his friend to wake up. He could've checked for a pulse but, he knew deep down that Feli was gone.

Maybe this was just a sick, twisted dream. Ludwig could fall asleep now and wake up on a boat with Feli heading straight for America. Ludwig decided to stick with that idea, and fall asleep on the docks.

***

He swore he heard it, he heard a distant heartbeat. Ludwig was in a pitch black room and he could hear a heartbeat. It was almost .comforting, but more eerie than anything. He stood up, nauseous, looking for an exit. He found a latch at the lower half of one of the walls and pulled it, it opened easily to reveal a vast field of tulips. He squinted, the bright sun straining his eyes. Ludwig looked into the distance and swore he saw- no, it couldn't be...Feli? "Feli?" Ludwig asked himself. He stood up, and sprinted toward his friend.

"Feli! It's me!" Ludwig shouted. Feli turned his head around quickly, and looked terrified. Ludwig stopped, "what's wrong?" He said, confused. Feli's mouth moved but no words came out. "Feli?" Ludwig asked, "are you okay?" And almost immediately he was greeted by rain.

Ludwig opened his eyes to find himself lying on the dock again. Except this time, Feli's corpse was nowhere to be found. Ludwig panicked and peered over the edge of the dock into the sea. He could surprisingly see the bottom, and looking straight back up at him was Feli's body. His expression was almost too sad for Ludwig to look at, but his eyes were glued onto Feli's face. His body must have went over the edge during the night. Ludwig thought to himself. He had to agree it was a gruesome thought, but he had seen enough gruesome things to haunt him for a lifetime.

Ludwig needed to leave, soon, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Feli without some sort of goodbye. So he pulled out his journal and wrote a quick goodbye and sorry note, and rolled it up and dropped it in the water.

He then ran as fast as he could, and found a boat that would go back to Italy.

***

He snuck on a train again, this one headed north through Switzerland. Ludwig mostly looked out the car door, every one in a while seeing what he thought might be Feli. But he knew Feli was gone.

That is, until a few weeks later the train reached the Netherlands. Ludwig would often look out at the tulips and hopelessly search for his friend that was gone.

The night air and shortage of food was affecting Ludwig's health. Ludwig had ate the last of his food supply a few days before, and his ribs already jutted out of his torso.

***

It was night. Ludwig was looking out the car door again when he swore on his life that he saw Feli. He stood up, and jumped out of the car, falling on his side. Both duffle bags had landed on top of him, and he was too exhausted to move them.

Eventually, he weakly stood up, dragging both duffle bags along with him. He limped his way over to where he thought he saw Feli, and sat down. He laid down flat on his back, looking up into the night sky.

It was hard to do anything anymore. Even to breathe, without food or water or even motivation he couldn't really do much.

It was especially cold, too cold for a spring night. He smiled for the first time in weeks, as the stars began to distort themselves. Ludwig focused his breathing, but as he was looking up at the night sky, it stole the last breath he had to offer.