Take a Breath, Say Goodbye

At 15, Jack Barakat was a scrawny, ugly, spotty, messy haired nobody. Walking around high school alone, he ignored the “accidental” collisions the jocks caused with him in the hallways. One day though, one day someone stopped them.
“Hey, you bumped him, apologise”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Apologise, prick” The mysterious newcomer had raised the jock above Jack’s head and pushed him against the locker by his throat
“I-I’m sorry” The boy spluttered, and Jack’s saviour let him fall to the floor with a resounding thud. Jack was ecstatic. He grabbed the boys forearm to turn him around.
“Hey, wow, thanks man, nobody really bothers to help anyone else around here, you new?”
“Yeah man, it’s no trouble, I hate pricks like that who think they can get away with everything, and yeah, first day, I’m Zack, you don’t know where Media Studies is do you?”
“I’m Jack, and you’re my fucking hero, we have Media Studies in the next block, c’mon, I’ll show you” Jack grabbed the boys forearm again and raced towards the doors, into the sunlight, and over the shimmering grass to the Media block. Today was a good day.

Jack couldn’t even fathom the contrast of that day with today. Today was bad. Today was the worst it would ever get. Today Jack had lost his best friend in the whole world. Today nobody could tell him why. Today nobody would tell him why. Today Jack had watched his best friend’s Mom break down into his boss because her son was gone and nobody could explain why. “They’re just gone”. That’s what everyone said. That wasn’t fucking good enough for Jack. Turning to look back up the beach, he caught Alex drop to his knees in the sand and heard his scream of anguish catch on the wind. Jack looked down at the sand and picked up the red velvet box Alex had deposited there a few minutes ago and pocketed it. Alex might want to forget on the outside, but Jack knew he didn’t on the inside.

“Jack?” Jack almost leapt into the waves with fright as Alex whispered his name somewhere close to his right ear.
“Jesus Alex, I almost shit a house, what’s up man” He turned to face the other man, plastering his biggest smile across his face, Alex returned the smile and Jack was almost convinced that it was genuine. Almost.
“I feel better, now that I’ve let something out, thanks for bringing me here man, uh, yknow, on the journey back, could we uh- like, could we talk about Rian, I don’t want to forget about the fact that he needs help just because we’ve got some shit going down too” The comment sounded particularly sharp, but Jack knew Alex didn’t mean that what had happened was insignificant, there was just no better way of saying what needed to be said.
“C’mon buddy, I told Rian to meet us for hot dogs an hour ago, he probably thinks we’ve ditched him, I’ll call him on the way”

Jack sat alone in the booth of the gaudy diner, the cliché of all clichés. The black and white check tile floor, the swinging doors behind the counter. Jack was just waiting for a waitress to come skating over on a pair of vintage rollerblades. Rian and Alex were stood outside on the corner whilst Alex explained what was going on, Rian and Lisa had known each other since high school and Alex didn’t want to cause a scene if Rian freaked out. Jack was proud of Alex, he’d only known the guy a week and he’d developed a mind-numbing crush on him, learned that his girlfriend was pregnant and watched the anguish that came with losing both his girlfriend and the unborn child. The last thought choked Jack a little. The child hadn’t even had the chance to live. It could’ve been the next Beethoven, hell it could’ve become Jack’s next boss. Jack frowned at himself for calling it “it”, but that was just it. There wasn’t even a gender, they hadn’t even known whether it would be a little Alex, or a little Lisa. Jack looked up out of the window again and saw Rian pull Alex in for a hug. It was all Alex needed, he wound his hands into the back of Rian’s t-shirt to stop himself crying again and murmured an “I love you man” into Rian’s ear. Rian replied the same and they separated, Rian punched Alex in the arm and told him to man up and Alex pulled him down into a chokehold, pulling him in the direction of the restaurant and told him to fuck off. Jack wished more than anything he could say something like that to Alex and Alex would immediately take it as a joke, he’d give anything for the guy to be his best friend. But it wasn’t to be. Alex and Rian sat opposite Jack in the booth and he smiled up at the pair
“So, what are we ordering?”

“Chilli Dogs for sure, Ri?”
“I might get a jumbo, that’s like a twelve inch hot dog you know, it’s like eating my own dick”
“Shut up you fucking idiot” The carefree way Alex and Rian were making joke to each other, when something so large had just happened, was beginning to offend Jack. The love of his life and his child had just died. Jack’s best fucking friend had just died. So many other people’s loved ones had just fucking died just DIED. They were just gone. Just like that. And Alex and Rian were finding the time to joke. Obviously his anger was beginning to show because Alex put a hand over his.
“It’s the best way Jack, crack a joke, give a smile, it’s the only way it’ll get better. You helped me calm down before remember? Listen to me man, just give us a smile, it’ll never get better on the inside if you never let it get better on the outside” And Jack realised Alex was making perfect sense. Pretending everything was okay would make it okay eventually.

Alex hoped Jack would take his advice on board, because he was just hanging on by a thread and Jack’s amplified bad mood and sawing through the thread at a painfully slow pace. Just at that moment, an urgent message flashed across the TV screen in the diner and the girl at the cash register with the blonde curls turned the volume up to 30 and everyone in the diner craned their heads in the direction of the TV.
“This is an urgent news cast, from Baltimore General Hospital. Katie’s on the scene, what’s going on Katie?”
“Well Danny, a mass series of deaths broke out at the hospital a few hours ago and after the head doctors made some calls, it was discovered that this phenomenon occurred at three hundred other hospitals across the states, mostly concentrated in the Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey areas”
“Sounds rough Katie, our condolences to the people affected, is there any explanation for this phenomenon?”
“That’s the big question Danny, it’s been almost four hours and not one single person can come up with a reason that these people all just died, at the same time”
“Keep us updated Katie, and we’ll keep you updated Baltimore, back to the weather”

“Fuck bro, this is real serious, 300 hospitals?” Rian’s mouth had dropped into an O during the newscast.
“What the fuck is going on guys?” Jack didn’t really expect an answer; he just needed to voice his thoughts. He was definitely going a tad crazy up there. His best friend was dead, and there was no explanation, he was sitting with two guys he’d known for a week who were both fucked up beyond belief on the inside and he could literally feel his brain melting under the pressure.

Shit like this didn’t happen to nobodies like Jack Barakat.