Random Stories (from wattpad prompts)

Love & Tragedy part 2

It was 7.10 pm already.

Yunlan still had time but to him it seemed like he was already late. He hated being late, especially when he had an appointment he was eager to keep.

He enjoyed those Friday nights with Wei. It was like being a teenager again, watching the game with his best friend. Wei wasn't as passionate about football as he was, but he would listen to his comments with interest, bear with his complains and foul mood whenever his team lost a match, and of course shared his enthusiasm when they won.

Every Friday night would begin with them catching up on each other's life, it continued with them watching the game, and in those blessed days of victory it would always end with Yunlan jumping up on the couch, hugging his friend in celebration, and recalling episodes of their school days together.

Yes, he loved those Friday nights. He often wished he could see him more often.

Yunlan got into the car and sat on the green cover before starting the engine. It wasn't a coincidence that the car body was the same green as the seat covers, he was a true fan and always chose the colour of his favourite team.

He looked at the clock again. He would barely make it in time. If only his mother hadn't kept him so long on the phone he would have left ten minutes ago. The game didn't start before 8.00 but he wanted to chat with Wei before focusing his attention on the television.

There was so little traffic at that hour, at least he had a good chance to get there by 7.30. He couldn't speed up because there was so much rain he had to be careful on the road.

He didn't even understand what was happening. One second he was driving across the bridge like hundreds of times before, and the next he was falling down.

Images of the other vehicles in front of him became confused while he struggled to understand why they seemed to be flying.

His car hit something and stopped, but the next instant it moved again and kept falling down. It felt like it lasted a long time, but it was only a matter of seconds. His car crashed down and he saw nothing else.

~~~~~

Wei arrived at the scene but he was not allowed to ger closer. He wouldn't go back, though. Not until he saw Yunlan one last time.

He walked in circles, like a beast in a cage, slowly but deliberately moving towards where Yunlan's car should be, and then he saw it.

It was so badly damaged, the pain in Wei's chest was indescribable. He knew already what he would find, but somehow a part of him had still hoped he had been wrong, that maybe what he had seen was not Yunlan's car after all. Now there was no more doubt, no more hope.

He wanted to cry, to scream, but no sound came out. There was nothing he could do, nothing at all.

His eyes focused only on the broken car, and he saw a figure inside, lump against the opened airbag. "Yunlan," he murmured as if trying to understand. Was he still in the car? Why had nobody taken care of him yet?

"Yunlan!" he said again, but this time it was but the first of many screams that broke his voice and hurt his throat but he didn't stop, he couldn't, how could they leave him like that, it hurt so much it became the only thing he was aware of.

Wei's voice rose higher than all the noise around him, his eyes so full of tears he couldn't see anything clearly but that didn't matter, nothing else mattered anymore, he hadn't even realised that his legs were now moving in a desperate attempt to reach him, running as fast as he could, before someone stopped him. He fought back still screaming, and the man turned to look in the direction of Wei's tear-filled gaze.

Still firmly holding him back, the man shouted something at the other rescuers but Wei didn't understand what it was, totally oblivious to the real world, his mind filled only with Yunlan's smile and deep voice.

People made their way to Yunlan's car, struggling to reach it through all the debris and over the larger pieces of the collapsed bridge, while others took hold of Wei, forcefully carrying him back towards an ambulance where he was eventually injected with something that made him lose all consciousness.

The last words before he succumbed to the effects of the anaesthetic, some louder and some fainting in the distance, were: "...in shock ...need to calm down ...heartbeat ...no breathing ...careful ..." then he heard no more.

~~~~~

"...terrible storm that caused the old bridge to collapse. Twenty-three people lost their lives, but it could have been a much worse tragedy."

Wei listened to the news feeling the shadow of the pain he had felt that day, when suddenly he saw himself on t.v.

Love recognizes no barriers was written on the screen in bold letters, while showing a young man breaking through and running forward, chased by a figure who had a hard time trying to stop him.

"I wish they'd stop showing that, it still hurts."

"...kept yelling the name Yunlan, directing the rescuers attention to an upside-down vehicle. It wasn't easy to reach it amongst all the rubble, but someone did, one of the many heroes of that tragic day, who didn't give up."

"I should thank him."

"Yeah, I should too," Wei said, a tear in his eye. "I thought I'd lost you."

"His heart was still beating, so the man was immediately brought to the hospital..."  but they weren't listening anymore.

"I still can't believe you survived a fall of more than a hundred feet down. It's a miracle."

"I can't believe you never told me a word before," Yunlan said, gesturing towards the screen showing once again a heartbroken Wei crying his heart out for the love he believed was forever gone.

Wei cleared his throat and turned the television off. "Speaking of which, there's something else I should tell you. I never did because I didn't know how you would react."

Yunlan waited silently and Wei thought back at all the games they had watched together, all those times when Yunlan would hug him to celebrate the victory of his favourite team.

"I don't like football. I never did," Wei confessed, and Yunlan's eyes widened.
A loud, joyful laugh made Wei's heart beat faster.

"You will still watch the games with me though, right?"

"Of course I will," Wei replied, swearing to himself that he won't waste another chance to see that smile, ever again. He had been granted another tomorrow, and he would cherish it.

With a sparkle in those dark eyes of his, Yunlan came closer and finally kissed him, and suddenly all was well.