Enmity (Empathy - Tome 2)

SEVEN

Trigger warning; suicide.

When it happened again, Tyler was walking to class. Which one, he couldn't remember. It was all a blur now. Weeks had passed since the last incident, and although the trauma of seeing a young man's dead body covered in blood had taken a toll on all of them, it was also brushed away quickly enough that by the second week after his death, no one talked about it anymore. Tyler knew that it didn't mean other people didn't care. He knew that it was just a survival reflex, a way to keep themselves away from the dark thoughts that had taken Blake. But in his case, Tyler just couldn't stop thinking about it, even if he wanted to.

It had made things better for Tyler, at least for a while though. Josh had paid more attention to him, he had been more serious about his studies and had shown up to every class, even the early morning ones. The boys from the dorm had established a weekly movie night in an attempt to bond with their peers, and had spent some very good nights watching all the Marvel and DC movies, or playing music in the common room... but it had only lasted for a bit, and after week three, most of them had found other plans or parties to go to. Even Josh.

Tyler couldn't be mad at his best friend. Josh had always been more social than him (except for those two years when he had struggled with a bad case of Gift), still it always saddened him to see him have fun with others when he was stuck in his room like a loner. Tyler had tried to blend in, he had even agreed to go to a party once, but after an hour, the noise had become too loud and it was hard for him to breathe, so he had pretexted a migraine and left Josh where he belonged.

After that night, he had stopped trying. He was no good at making friends, and it seemed he wasn't a good friend either. No one liked to be in his presence, otherwise Josh wouldn't spend every night out again. He was too selfish anyway, otherwise Blake would still be alive. And he was a disappointment in every field, his father's attitude towards him proved it. His mom hadn't called either. None of them cared. So why should he?

Even God seemed to have lost all hope and confidence in him. His Gift had almost completely disappeared now. The only times it actually worked were when he focused completely on it, and even then, it was weak, slow, and blurry, like smoke seeping through an old chimney, and Tyler felt so exhausted afterward he had to take a nap. And if even God knew he was useless with a power he had previously trusted him with... was any hope left?

Tyler counted his steps, his brain dwelling on all these facts, running them over incessantly, repeating them like a chorus, a mantra, when he looked up – he didn't want to miss that step again, the one he had tripped over just the other day, earning mocking laughs from some of the senior students. He almost half-expected some of them to still be here, ready to point a finger and laugh at him. Instead, a large group of people was waiting by the doors of the lecture hall, some of them pushing their way in to try and figure out why they couldn't enter.

Tyler looked around, a weird feeling settling in his stomach. The doors were always open. Sometimes, he even made it inside half an hour before class just so he could pick the best seat (not in the middle of an aisle, not too far down so he could get out fast if need be). There should have been a very serious reason for these doors to be closed.

"Get out the way!" a voice boomed suddenly, and the doors opened slightly, just enough to let a couple people pass, including Tyler's music professor, Mr. Bolson. "Please, move! Class is canceled for the rest of the day!"

A wave of cheering ran through the crowd and some of them began to scatter away, but Tyler's eyes were fixed on the two other people that had just made it out of the hall. A girl was sobbing, hiding her face in her hands, while her friend, arms around her shoulders, was trying to console her. If he wasn't so socially awkward, Tyler would have just walked up to them and asked, and he knew it would have been better that way, fairer, more respectful, but he couldn't bring himself to just be normal. Instead, he focused on the girl.

It wouldn't work at first. Tyler stood still, hands balled into fists, and probably looked awkward and creepy, but he was a hundred percent concentrated in the girl... yet nothing would come. If only she could look at him. It always worked better that way. But she still had her face in her hands as she walked away. Luckily, as the sobs continued to work through her body, her chest shaking with every deep breath, she was forced by her friend to sit down on the first bench, a couple feet away. Tyler glanced at the doors, on which a poster had now been placated, announcing that all lectures of the day had been canceled. Some students were still pressed against the side windows, trying to look into the room with unrepressed curiosity, and Tyler felt a little disgusted, not only by their behavior but by his own too, as he took a few steps to get closer to the crying girl.

There, Tyler tried again, wishing she would just look up for a second, so he could try and take whatever he needed from her. Then, just as he was losing the last bit of hope, as if she had heard his desperation, she rubbed her cheeks, pulled her hair back and looked ahead, straight into him.

A wave crashed into him, ice-cold, and he gasped. And he felt. And he saw. The body hung by a rope. The face turning to a soft blue. The lips, all cracked and dry. The feet, limp. The stool laying on its side. A scream.

"Tyler? Are you okay?"

The boy flinched, trying to bring his sight back to reality. Trying to leave the lecture hall, soiled by death. But it seemed he was stuck in there, his brain almost completely unaware of his surroundings. Josh's voice sounded so far away, like an echo. Tyler couldn't feel his limbs anymore, and he stumbled, only caught by a strong hand on his back.

"Hey, Ty, what's wrong? Tyler!"

Another pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and shook him lightly, just enough to knock some sense into him, and finally, Tyler saw his best friend's worried look. "You okay, bro?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm-" he stuttered, his knees shaking.

"D'you wanna sit down or something? You're really pale... Did something happen?"

"N-no, I mean, yeah, it's just... I just..." he stumbled forward, and the girls on the bench moved over so as to offer him some space. Tyler could only feel waves of sadness radiating from them. He plopped down, trying to catch his breath as if he'd just ran a marathon, and only looked up at Josh when his fingers stopped being numb and the blood had come back up to flush his face a tint of pink. Then he noticed her.

She had a little smile on her face, very dark hair, and red lips. Her blue eyes shined under the sun, bringing a glow to her face, illuminating her whole features. She was hypnotizingly beautiful.

"Ty, this is Mara," Josh chimed in, noticing Tyler's stare. The girl waved at him, a soft "Hi" coming off her lips, then looked away, as if nervous to meet him in such a state. He must have looked real weird, that's for sure.

Josh kneeled down in order to be on Tyler's level. "What happened?"

Tyler sighed. He glanced to his side. The girls had left, now walking away slowly, hand in hand. Good. Now he glanced up, and Mara was looking at a group of boys laughing near the doors. She was standing next to Josh, a hand on her hip. He hesitated. He didn't want her to hear... but he was drained of all energy, and there was no way he could discuss it with Josh silently.

"There's..." he started whispering, although Mara was so close he swore she could hear everything. "Another suicide." He nodded towards the lecture hall. "In there."

Josh stared at him blankly, unable to decide how to react, unable to find the words that would ease Tyler's anxiety. He could not wrap his mind around the fact. Another suicide... The second in a couple weeks. It seemed unlikely, yet Tyler would certainly not lie about it.

"So that's why we saw that ambulance," Mara jumped in suddenly, making Tyler flinch. So she did hear them. "We were walking here from the basketball courts," she was talking to Tyler now, "and when we reached the back entrance of the hall, there was an ambulance. I'm guessing they didn't want the whole campus to see..."

Tyler nodded comprehensively, but he didn't have the time to answer. A round of laughter exploded from the group of boys by the doors, and when Tyler looked that way, he saw Ethan high five another boy joyfully, without a care in the world. Their eyes met briefly then, and Tyler felt like a punch in the gut. He couldn't quite figure out why, but something was wrong.

Something felt wrong.

Ethan felt wrong.