Final Footsteps (Running Series Finale)

Chapter 36: False Start

Song for Chapter is Slow Me Down by Ross David

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It was the late morning of the night before and we'd all had a wonderful lie in and were refreshed and ready to tackle the new year ahead!

Or so I thought!

Angelo's POV

"Where's Arlo?" Keane asked as Mali came down the stairs to join us all.

   "He's not feeling very well. He didn't sleep much and said he was up most of the night, he asked if you could go and see him please Angelo,"

"I'll go see how he's doing. I'll be back in a minute," I left the stares and the worried glances and headed up to find Arlo. He was sat up in bed, hood of his hoody pulled up, staring at his phone. He hadn't heard me come in, "Arlo? Heard you're not feeling too well, what's going on?" He looked up at me and I could see tears rolling down his cheeks. "Arlo, brother talk to me. What's happened?" I sat on the bed beside him,

   "There...my...they..." he stammered, I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Take a breath." I squeezed his shoulder, "I'm here with you okay. Talk to me,"

   "He's dead,"

"Whose dead Arlo?"

   "Lorenzo...he..." he took a few breaths and wiped his tears, "Remember when I told you about the time I drove the armoured vehicle to save my squadron. I should have died, but they saved my life. Lorenzo was caught in the explosion too and we were both in comas...I...I...woke up. He didn't. He's...he's been in a coma for years, they never thought he'd wake up and I guess..." he trailed off, taking a breath, "His family finally let him go. I just got the call...telling me, they'd...turned off his life support machine..." more tears came flowing. I hugged him tight, "It should have been me. It was meant to be," He sobbed,

  "This isn't your fault. You did everything you could to save your squadron and everyone knows that. Deep down you know that,"

     "I thought...I thought he was going to wake up. Angelo...he was meant to wake up," He sobbed into my chest as I held him tight.

"It's okay, it's going to be okay. We'll get through this. I promise. I promise," I told him softly.

   "As long as you're going to be by my side," he said with a wobbly voice, looking up at me, I wiped away some tears and he tried a smile. "I thought I was stronger than this,"

"This makes you even stronger," he sat up and looked at me.

  "I can't pretend I'm okay when I'm not,"

"And I am not telling you too. If you haven't figured out already, this family are pretty good at picking up when something is wrong," he did manage a smile then.

  "I noticed," we both heard footsteps, "No. Not right now," he pleaded, as Keane, Tayte and Noah appeared. They saw Arlo and I saw their faces drop suddenly,

"What's happened? What's wrong?" Keane asked, he looked like he was about to burst into tears,

  "Will you get my Dad and Mali," He asked me," I'm sorry, I can't do this right now," he then said aimed at the 3 off them as he went off into the bathroom.

"Lolo. What's going on?" Noah asked me, his voice quiet and soft, this made me want to break,

  "He's just found out a really good friend of his has sadly passed away. He'll be okay eventually, but for now he just wants space, so please give it to him. When he's ready he will talk to you," I told them. "I promise he will talk to you,"