Heart-Shaped Box
Angel
The next day…
Clouds filled the sky and even though it’s eleven in the morning, the sun shone weakly. There are no classes but students were asked to come for a meeting before the dance that will take place tonight. The school was already crowded both outside and inside when you and Gerard arrived there together.
Assuming that your friends arrived there earlier, you entered the school immediately and searched for them on the hallway.
But instead of finding your friends, you came across the person you least wanted to see.
Just as you turned around the corner, you saw Nikki and two of her other friends with their back leaning on the lockers behind them.
You easily caught their attention because in an instant, the three of them were already looking at you. Then Gerard tapped you on the back and whispered for you to just continue walking, for you stopped.
But as you expected, she stopped the both of you, even Gerard stopped all of a sudden when Nikki spoke.
“I guess you’re excited for the dance…” she smiled sarcastically. Neither you and Gerard spoke. “Well, I can’t wait too… this is gonna be a big night… this night is gonna be a lot of fun.”
You felt Gerard’s grip on your wrist tighten, you knew he doesn’t like what’s happening, so you pulled him past Nikki. This time, she did nothing to stop you.
Then you saw how confused Gerard was, well at least that’s what you noticed. You weren’t sure if it will help but you stopped him as your turned the corner and faced him.
“She has always been that evil… that’s the real her.” you began. “I thought you should know. Believe me…”
He smiled. “I believe you.”
Then you pressed your lips against his… and you didn’t know that… that sincere kiss is the beginning of the evil twist of fate.
xxx
The dance starts in an hour and you still looked at yourself in the mirror with your beautiful black-red dress on. You looked so perfect… but pale.
Ray and Matt waited for you downstairs, they know you have no idea where the event will take place so they’re giving you a ride. The three of you will go there together while Gerard, Mikey, and Frank goes together too.
GERARD’S POV
I stared at the two golden rings that rest on the bed as I waited for Mikey to finish dressing up. The rings were my parents’ promise rings when they were young… my dad was sixteen and my mom was only fourteen when they had that… so when I informed them about me and Ahreya… they did not hesitate and gave me the pair right away.
My mom was eager to let Ahreya have her ring, my mom likes her, she always did.
Frank impatiently knocked on the door… again.
“What the hell are taking you so long?” Frank asked.
“Just one more minute.“ I shouted loud enough to be heard despite of his loud knocking.
“Make it two!” Mikey yelled.
“Damn.” Frank punched the door one last time.
After a minute or two, just like what Mikey promised, we were all finished, I took the rings and put them into my pocket, then we went out of the room. Dad is giving us a ride since my car’s engine is broken, he won’t trust me with his car, and Frank and Mikey were both too young to own or drive one.
We exited the house and Frank and I hopped into the backseat as Mikey sat on the passenger seat. My dad got in quickly and started off the road…
NORMAL POV
I went downstairs and found Ray and Matt talking to my mom.
“I guess you’re all ready to go.” your mom beautiful mom said as she saw you.
“Alright then… bye Ms. Savenns.” Ray and Matt bowed to your mom and you went to kiss her goodbye.
“Have a good time.”
“Thanks mom.”
The three of you went out, hopped into Matt’s truck and went off…
Matt took a completely unfamiliar road and he slowed down in front of a building and stopped. Then you realized this is where the dance will take place.
Ray threw the door open and the both of you got out and Matt drove off to park his truck.
“Let’s go inside?” Ray asked for the both of you stopped dead, staring at the structure in front of you.
“Yeah ok.”
You went inside and pushed the second door that leads to another room. As you opened the door, you and Ray did not pay attention to anything going on inside for the first thing you did is look for the Way brothers and Frank.
It didn’t take long before your eyes spotted a round table not far from you and saw the people you were looking for.
“There they are!” you pulled Ray focefully and made him yell ’Oh don’t pull me!’
’Fucking loners…’ you laughed to yourself as you saw the three of them. Mikey was staring at the group of girls who were seated around the table right next to where he was seated, Frank absent-mindedly stared at the center of the huge room where people were dancing, and Gerard’s head rested on his right palm, staring at the ground, and his left hand is somewhat playing something in his pocket.
“Guys!” Ray jumped to Frank and knocked him down.
“What took you so long?” Gerard asked, smiling, as you sat on the chair beside him.
“Umm… nothing… really…” you smiled back. “Are you guys having a wonderful time?”
“Nope. Well… I’m fine… but the two got bored easily.”
“I see.” you stared at the people dancing and saw how crazy some of them were.
“Hey…” Gerard tried to get your attention.
“Yes?”
“Can I have you for a minute?”
“Yeah why not?”
“Right, good. You don’t want to dance anyway, do you?”
“No, no.”
“Alright.” Gerard grabbed your hand. The guys stared as the both of you stood up, you just nodded at them, they nodded back.
He slowly pulled you through the crowd and you can’t see where you’re going, and as you were pulled farther, you assumed he wanted the both of you to be alone with each other for a moment. The both of you arrived in front of a door at the back of the room, Gerard looked around before he opened it and you went out of the building.
You saw a very familiar carpark and stretch of road in front of you… very familiar…
’Damn…’
But it’s not the place that caught most of your attention… You saw dozens of red and white roses scattered on the ground where you stood.
You returned your gaze to Gerard who was smiling at you then he pointed to the direction of the sky. You looked and found nothing, but it wasn’t long before you saw what he wanted you to see.
Bright sparks of different colors flickered and filled the night sky… you stared in amazement as the loud sound of fireworks filled your ears and you can feel your eyes sting a bit… tears slowly filled them.
“ReMember what you told me last night? About the night sky refusing to give light to you? Well… I can’t make the moon and stars twinkle for you, but I can give you light when you want to.” he smiled. You stared at him and felt like you wanted to say something, but the Word to change tos seemed to get caught in your throat.
He took your hands and squeezed it softly, he guided you to the sidewalk before he started reaching into his pocket… but before he was even able to withdraw what he was trying to get, you heard loud claps from behind you.
“Aww how… romantic.” Nikki appeared from nowhere. Your eyes narrowed but you chose to keep silent.
“Nikki please… leave us alone.” Gerard said in a serious tone.
“Oh… you’re asking me to leave you alone? I wonder why you didn’t ask the same thing to Ahreya two weeks ago?” she walked near the two of you.
Then suddenly an eerie feeling enveloped you… a familiar eerie feeling. Your eyes darted to the road in front of you and realized why it seemed so familiar… you reMembered the nightmare you had on your birthday, the nightmare where a man laid dying on your lap...
You felt your heart jump as you realized… you are pretty much living that nightmare…
You were knocked to your senses when you heard Nikki talk once again.
“You know… I’m so fucking jealous… and somehow I need to find a way to pour my anger out… and maybe this could help.” Nikki reached into her blue dress’ pocket and what she withdrew made your heart stop.
“Nikki… please… just put the gun down.” Gerard pleaded.
She grined evilly and motiviated the gun.Then she pointed the gun to Gerard.
“Bitch!” you jumped on Nikki and the both of you fell hard on the ground. You heard the gun shoot, shakingly you looked over to Gerard to see if he’s alright, good thing the bullet didn’t hit anybody. You did not notice Nikki reaching for the gun until she fired it to you. The bullet didn’t hit you though, but you knew you were close.
People who heard the shoot of the gun crowded the place. Now, you’re sure you’re living that nightmare… the noise, the people, the chill of the nighttime air are exactly the same as they were on your dream. You breathed heavily as you tried to pull the gun from her hand.
“Nikki! Please calm down!” you yelled when you realized all tries to do right now is to keep on pressing the trigger.
Gerard knelt beside the both of you and helped you on the gun.
BANG.
She fired on Gerard’s direction.
You looked at Gerard, you don’t know if it had hit him, you saw the shocked expression on his face.
“Gee, are you alright?” you asked, you didn’t receive any response but he looked okay.
You sighed and pinned Nikki to the ground… it didn’t help… one of her friends grabbed the gun from Nikki’s hand and pointed it to your head.
“Let go of her!” the girl shouted at you. Gerard grabbed your arm and motioned for you to stand up and let go of her.
You looked at him and did so. Nikki jumped to her feet and pushed you away from Gerard, and much to your dismay, even though you already let go of her, her friend still pointed the gun at you.
“Ahreya!” you heard Gerard cry out, you darted your eyes over to him, you’re completely filled with fear.
But as you returned your eyes to the girl, you saw an old man behind her… you recognized the man to be the one in the cemetery when you went there one Sunday morning… you’re sure she’s the old man you talked to on the cemetery… but why is he here?
Then suddenly everything seemed to be mute to you as the old man started mouthing Word to change tos…
… “It is still a decision to make.” he started whispering, you can’t make out what he meant by that though, then he spoke once again… “it is still your decision to make.”… and with that you now understood.
Now you know what all your dreams were trying to say…. everything that will happen next… It’s all up to you.
Then the old man started to fade… and as he started to disappear, the sounds from around you started to fill your ears once again. You felt the pressure laid on to you, you felt your heart beat fast, breathing suddenly became a hard thing to do, and tears flowed from your eyes freely.
Then you heard the loud sound of a vehicle horn. You quickly looked at the road and saw a truck driving wildly on the street and the driver seemed to have no control over it, you quickly looked at Nikki and Gerard who were both standing on the sidewalk…
You know exactly what will happen next… and you know exactly what to do…
And from that everything seemed to all happen in slow motion…
Gerard’s attention was still on you and the girl who held the gun, completely unaware of the danger approaching.
“NO!!!” you pushed past the girl in front of you, causing her to stumble down and drop the gun, you ran fast and tried to approach Nikki as fast as you could… but before you did she already pushed him hard to the middle of the road…
“Gerard!!!” you yelled harder… ’No, I’m not gonna let this happen…’…
You closed your eyes and ran…
GERARD’S POV
I fell to my side and groaned in pain…
“Gerard!!!” I heard Ahreya yell… bright lights filled my eyes as I reopen them and the deafening yells of people were all that I heard. I quickly stood up and I finally saw where the bright light came from… they were bright headlights of the truck that will advance toward me in no more than a second… I’m gonna die…
I was frozen dead on the spot, closed my eyes, and waited for the truck to hit me… but it didn’t… instead I felt someone push me really hard and it made my feet stumble far to the other side of the road…
The deafening sound of the truck’s horn became louder with every millisecond that passes… I fell hard on my back and my head hit the ground... but it wasn’t hard enough to have knocked me out of my consciousness…
I heard the truck come to a sudden stop, I heard yells of people… I heard panic from everywhere…
I tried my best to get up, rubbed my eyes, and look around. I saw people crowded where the bus stopped… I also saw Frank, Ray, Mikey and Matt run with terror… I searched for Ahreya around… I don’t see her. Where is she?
I quickly walked toward where the people were crowded… and what I saw killed me.
“Oh God! No… this can’t be happening…” tears flowed from my eyes and I can feel myself shaking.
There Ahreya lay, her back on the ground… almost barely awake… almost barely alive… blood covered her beautiful face.
I sat her up and wrapped my hands around her…
“Ahreya… don’t… don’t close your eyes… hold on…” I pleaded as I wiped the blood from her face.
She slowly placed a shaky hand on the side of my face and smiled…
“I can’t hold on any longer… but this isn’t the end…” she whispered. “I love you… I will always love you…”
“I love you too… Ahreya please don’t die…”
She smiled one last time as her hand fell limply to her side and she closed her eyes…
I shook her but she didn’t wake up anymore… I refuse to believe that my angel is gone…
Clouds filled the sky and even though it’s eleven in the morning, the sun shone weakly. There are no classes but students were asked to come for a meeting before the dance that will take place tonight. The school was already crowded both outside and inside when you and Gerard arrived there together.
Assuming that your friends arrived there earlier, you entered the school immediately and searched for them on the hallway.
But instead of finding your friends, you came across the person you least wanted to see.
Just as you turned around the corner, you saw Nikki and two of her other friends with their back leaning on the lockers behind them.
You easily caught their attention because in an instant, the three of them were already looking at you. Then Gerard tapped you on the back and whispered for you to just continue walking, for you stopped.
But as you expected, she stopped the both of you, even Gerard stopped all of a sudden when Nikki spoke.
“I guess you’re excited for the dance…” she smiled sarcastically. Neither you and Gerard spoke. “Well, I can’t wait too… this is gonna be a big night… this night is gonna be a lot of fun.”
You felt Gerard’s grip on your wrist tighten, you knew he doesn’t like what’s happening, so you pulled him past Nikki. This time, she did nothing to stop you.
Then you saw how confused Gerard was, well at least that’s what you noticed. You weren’t sure if it will help but you stopped him as your turned the corner and faced him.
“She has always been that evil… that’s the real her.” you began. “I thought you should know. Believe me…”
He smiled. “I believe you.”
Then you pressed your lips against his… and you didn’t know that… that sincere kiss is the beginning of the evil twist of fate.
xxx
The dance starts in an hour and you still looked at yourself in the mirror with your beautiful black-red dress on. You looked so perfect… but pale.
Ray and Matt waited for you downstairs, they know you have no idea where the event will take place so they’re giving you a ride. The three of you will go there together while Gerard, Mikey, and Frank goes together too.
GERARD’S POV
I stared at the two golden rings that rest on the bed as I waited for Mikey to finish dressing up. The rings were my parents’ promise rings when they were young… my dad was sixteen and my mom was only fourteen when they had that… so when I informed them about me and Ahreya… they did not hesitate and gave me the pair right away.
My mom was eager to let Ahreya have her ring, my mom likes her, she always did.
Frank impatiently knocked on the door… again.
“What the hell are taking you so long?” Frank asked.
“Just one more minute.“ I shouted loud enough to be heard despite of his loud knocking.
“Make it two!” Mikey yelled.
“Damn.” Frank punched the door one last time.
After a minute or two, just like what Mikey promised, we were all finished, I took the rings and put them into my pocket, then we went out of the room. Dad is giving us a ride since my car’s engine is broken, he won’t trust me with his car, and Frank and Mikey were both too young to own or drive one.
We exited the house and Frank and I hopped into the backseat as Mikey sat on the passenger seat. My dad got in quickly and started off the road…
NORMAL POV
I went downstairs and found Ray and Matt talking to my mom.
“I guess you’re all ready to go.” your mom beautiful mom said as she saw you.
“Alright then… bye Ms. Savenns.” Ray and Matt bowed to your mom and you went to kiss her goodbye.
“Have a good time.”
“Thanks mom.”
The three of you went out, hopped into Matt’s truck and went off…
Matt took a completely unfamiliar road and he slowed down in front of a building and stopped. Then you realized this is where the dance will take place.
Ray threw the door open and the both of you got out and Matt drove off to park his truck.
“Let’s go inside?” Ray asked for the both of you stopped dead, staring at the structure in front of you.
“Yeah ok.”
You went inside and pushed the second door that leads to another room. As you opened the door, you and Ray did not pay attention to anything going on inside for the first thing you did is look for the Way brothers and Frank.
It didn’t take long before your eyes spotted a round table not far from you and saw the people you were looking for.
“There they are!” you pulled Ray focefully and made him yell ’Oh don’t pull me!’
’Fucking loners…’ you laughed to yourself as you saw the three of them. Mikey was staring at the group of girls who were seated around the table right next to where he was seated, Frank absent-mindedly stared at the center of the huge room where people were dancing, and Gerard’s head rested on his right palm, staring at the ground, and his left hand is somewhat playing something in his pocket.
“Guys!” Ray jumped to Frank and knocked him down.
“What took you so long?” Gerard asked, smiling, as you sat on the chair beside him.
“Umm… nothing… really…” you smiled back. “Are you guys having a wonderful time?”
“Nope. Well… I’m fine… but the two got bored easily.”
“I see.” you stared at the people dancing and saw how crazy some of them were.
“Hey…” Gerard tried to get your attention.
“Yes?”
“Can I have you for a minute?”
“Yeah why not?”
“Right, good. You don’t want to dance anyway, do you?”
“No, no.”
“Alright.” Gerard grabbed your hand. The guys stared as the both of you stood up, you just nodded at them, they nodded back.
He slowly pulled you through the crowd and you can’t see where you’re going, and as you were pulled farther, you assumed he wanted the both of you to be alone with each other for a moment. The both of you arrived in front of a door at the back of the room, Gerard looked around before he opened it and you went out of the building.
You saw a very familiar carpark and stretch of road in front of you… very familiar…
’Damn…’
But it’s not the place that caught most of your attention… You saw dozens of red and white roses scattered on the ground where you stood.
You returned your gaze to Gerard who was smiling at you then he pointed to the direction of the sky. You looked and found nothing, but it wasn’t long before you saw what he wanted you to see.
Bright sparks of different colors flickered and filled the night sky… you stared in amazement as the loud sound of fireworks filled your ears and you can feel your eyes sting a bit… tears slowly filled them.
“ReMember what you told me last night? About the night sky refusing to give light to you? Well… I can’t make the moon and stars twinkle for you, but I can give you light when you want to.” he smiled. You stared at him and felt like you wanted to say something, but the Word to change tos seemed to get caught in your throat.
He took your hands and squeezed it softly, he guided you to the sidewalk before he started reaching into his pocket… but before he was even able to withdraw what he was trying to get, you heard loud claps from behind you.
“Aww how… romantic.” Nikki appeared from nowhere. Your eyes narrowed but you chose to keep silent.
“Nikki please… leave us alone.” Gerard said in a serious tone.
“Oh… you’re asking me to leave you alone? I wonder why you didn’t ask the same thing to Ahreya two weeks ago?” she walked near the two of you.
Then suddenly an eerie feeling enveloped you… a familiar eerie feeling. Your eyes darted to the road in front of you and realized why it seemed so familiar… you reMembered the nightmare you had on your birthday, the nightmare where a man laid dying on your lap...
You felt your heart jump as you realized… you are pretty much living that nightmare…
You were knocked to your senses when you heard Nikki talk once again.
“You know… I’m so fucking jealous… and somehow I need to find a way to pour my anger out… and maybe this could help.” Nikki reached into her blue dress’ pocket and what she withdrew made your heart stop.
“Nikki… please… just put the gun down.” Gerard pleaded.
She grined evilly and motiviated the gun.Then she pointed the gun to Gerard.
“Bitch!” you jumped on Nikki and the both of you fell hard on the ground. You heard the gun shoot, shakingly you looked over to Gerard to see if he’s alright, good thing the bullet didn’t hit anybody. You did not notice Nikki reaching for the gun until she fired it to you. The bullet didn’t hit you though, but you knew you were close.
People who heard the shoot of the gun crowded the place. Now, you’re sure you’re living that nightmare… the noise, the people, the chill of the nighttime air are exactly the same as they were on your dream. You breathed heavily as you tried to pull the gun from her hand.
“Nikki! Please calm down!” you yelled when you realized all tries to do right now is to keep on pressing the trigger.
Gerard knelt beside the both of you and helped you on the gun.
BANG.
She fired on Gerard’s direction.
You looked at Gerard, you don’t know if it had hit him, you saw the shocked expression on his face.
“Gee, are you alright?” you asked, you didn’t receive any response but he looked okay.
You sighed and pinned Nikki to the ground… it didn’t help… one of her friends grabbed the gun from Nikki’s hand and pointed it to your head.
“Let go of her!” the girl shouted at you. Gerard grabbed your arm and motioned for you to stand up and let go of her.
You looked at him and did so. Nikki jumped to her feet and pushed you away from Gerard, and much to your dismay, even though you already let go of her, her friend still pointed the gun at you.
“Ahreya!” you heard Gerard cry out, you darted your eyes over to him, you’re completely filled with fear.
But as you returned your eyes to the girl, you saw an old man behind her… you recognized the man to be the one in the cemetery when you went there one Sunday morning… you’re sure she’s the old man you talked to on the cemetery… but why is he here?
Then suddenly everything seemed to be mute to you as the old man started mouthing Word to change tos…
… “It is still a decision to make.” he started whispering, you can’t make out what he meant by that though, then he spoke once again… “it is still your decision to make.”… and with that you now understood.
Now you know what all your dreams were trying to say…. everything that will happen next… It’s all up to you.
Then the old man started to fade… and as he started to disappear, the sounds from around you started to fill your ears once again. You felt the pressure laid on to you, you felt your heart beat fast, breathing suddenly became a hard thing to do, and tears flowed from your eyes freely.
Then you heard the loud sound of a vehicle horn. You quickly looked at the road and saw a truck driving wildly on the street and the driver seemed to have no control over it, you quickly looked at Nikki and Gerard who were both standing on the sidewalk…
You know exactly what will happen next… and you know exactly what to do…
And from that everything seemed to all happen in slow motion…
Gerard’s attention was still on you and the girl who held the gun, completely unaware of the danger approaching.
“NO!!!” you pushed past the girl in front of you, causing her to stumble down and drop the gun, you ran fast and tried to approach Nikki as fast as you could… but before you did she already pushed him hard to the middle of the road…
“Gerard!!!” you yelled harder… ’No, I’m not gonna let this happen…’…
You closed your eyes and ran…
GERARD’S POV
I fell to my side and groaned in pain…
“Gerard!!!” I heard Ahreya yell… bright lights filled my eyes as I reopen them and the deafening yells of people were all that I heard. I quickly stood up and I finally saw where the bright light came from… they were bright headlights of the truck that will advance toward me in no more than a second… I’m gonna die…
I was frozen dead on the spot, closed my eyes, and waited for the truck to hit me… but it didn’t… instead I felt someone push me really hard and it made my feet stumble far to the other side of the road…
The deafening sound of the truck’s horn became louder with every millisecond that passes… I fell hard on my back and my head hit the ground... but it wasn’t hard enough to have knocked me out of my consciousness…
I heard the truck come to a sudden stop, I heard yells of people… I heard panic from everywhere…
I tried my best to get up, rubbed my eyes, and look around. I saw people crowded where the bus stopped… I also saw Frank, Ray, Mikey and Matt run with terror… I searched for Ahreya around… I don’t see her. Where is she?
I quickly walked toward where the people were crowded… and what I saw killed me.
“Oh God! No… this can’t be happening…” tears flowed from my eyes and I can feel myself shaking.
There Ahreya lay, her back on the ground… almost barely awake… almost barely alive… blood covered her beautiful face.
I sat her up and wrapped my hands around her…
“Ahreya… don’t… don’t close your eyes… hold on…” I pleaded as I wiped the blood from her face.
She slowly placed a shaky hand on the side of my face and smiled…
“I can’t hold on any longer… but this isn’t the end…” she whispered. “I love you… I will always love you…”
“I love you too… Ahreya please don’t die…”
She smiled one last time as her hand fell limply to her side and she closed her eyes…
I shook her but she didn’t wake up anymore… I refuse to believe that my angel is gone…