Fall Away

“Hello boys and girls! Today we will be starting the unit on ‘The Canterbury Tales’ by Geoffrey Chaucer- a true classic from medieval Europe.” Mrs. Greenberg proclaimed as she stepped inside the classroom, placing her materials on the desk at front.

“Wow, the book is almost as old as her.” A voice came from beside Jack, and the dark-haired boy snorted with laughter.

“Jack, would you like to share the joke with the rest of the class? I’m sure we’re all dying to have a good laugh as well.” She stared at him from behind her glasses, trying to look stern.

“No, Miss, I’m sorry I was just recalling something my friend told me earlier.”

“Recall it some other time. Now, where were we?” She shuffled her papers, pulling out a stack of sheets. “Pass these out.”

“I don’t know if she’s dying to have a good laugh, but she sure is dying. She could use some laughter; she looks like she has a pole up her ass and maybe it would pause her rapidly approaching death. Jesus, she is old.”

Jack giggled again, glaring at the empty space beside him. To anyone else, it would look like he was talking to the passageway between people’s seats, but he saw the boy sitting there making clever remarks.

“This story focuses extremely on irony and the concentrated ironic lifestyles people led during Chaucer’s time. So remember children! Irony is the key to understanding this book. Irony!” Mrs. Greenberg continued.

“I didn’t know they even listened to heavy metal back then, let alone wrote novels about it.”

Jack’s shoulders shook with silent laughter and he shot the boy beside him a look, trying to get him to shut up.

“The magic comes out through the metaphors…” The Teacher continued.

“No, the magic comes out my penis.” Alex interrupted again, causing Jack to gasp, nearly doubling over in a fit of giggles, while the teacher kept speaking, completely oblivious.

-----

“You’re crazy! Were you trying to get me detention?” Jack asked later when the two found a minute alone in the bathroom in between classes.

“No, I like your laugh,” A blush appeared on his pale cheeks. “And you’re cute when you giggle.”

“Oh, shut up; you’re just kissing my ass.” Jack slapped him lightly, before grabbing his arm and pulling him to the cafeteria. “Not that I would mind you kissing my ass.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Alex stated as he followed Jack to table where two guys were already seated.

“Hey Zack, Hey Ri!” Jack made sure to stare at each one while saying hello so Alex could see who was who.

“Sup dude?” The shorter, bald one asked. Alex immediately noted that his teeth were perfect. So: Rian with the amazing teeth.

“Ehh, fucking bored. Can we cut the rest of the day and hang at the bridge instead?” Jack asked, hopeful.

“I don’t know man; I have a test tomorrow in friggin’ art class. Who even gives a test in art?!” The other boy, Zack, fumed, his biceps flexing as he formed his hands into fists. Zack: The one with the insane muscles, who Alex immediately swore to never get in a fight with.

“So cut! Like it matters what you get in art.” Jack exclaimed, trying to convince his friends.

“In Middleton High, we don’t get tests in art, but we do in band class.” Alex stated, trying to capture Jack’s attention. He didn’t want to share it, after just getting it a few days ago. Jack nodded slightly, before turning to his friend.

“Yo, Rian, don’t you have some friends from Middleton? Do they have band class or just general music class? I’m about to transfer out of this shithole.”

“Yeah, it’s like you get in groups and make bands and do whatever you want. And his name is Brian, like I’ve already told you hundreds of times.”

“Oh wait, doesn’t he hang with like Matt and the other preppy guys?” Jack asked.

The boys nodded.

“Those are my friends!” Alex exclaimed, defending them.

“Do you know a guy named Alexander Gaskarth?”

Zack spoke this time. “Yeah, we met him a couple times, you never did though. We were supposed to hang out all together, but some shit happened, the boys refused to tell us. Anyway, he’s not really preppy; he’s more like a band guy except he ran track before he got kicked off the team.”

“Why’d he get kicked off the team?” Jack directed the question in Alex’s general direction.

“Got caught making out with this guy named Charlie behind the bleachers on a Saturday night. My question is why the fuck was coach even there on a Saturday night, but whatever.” Alex grumbled.

At the same time Rian told the same story, and then added, “I think he was drunk, that’s the biggest issue. You’re not supposed to drink on any sports team.”

Jack gave Alex a ‘you can’t hide shit from me’ look, before continuing, “Kids these days. C’mon guys, let’s leave.”

They made their way out of the school building and Alex was surprised by how easily they just left without getting into any trouble.

The boys piled into Jack’s busted Jeep from what seemed to be his great grandparents’ time.
Alex sat in the back amongst their shitty backpacks, watching them silently. Rian and Zack sat in the front, Rian driving recklessly as the other complained about some concert he wasn't allowed to go to. Jack sat beside Alex his gaze constantly returning to the ghost and wondering what was going through the kid’s mind. Alex had no idea he was being watched and for the first time since Jack had seen him (besides that time he cried), there was no smile present on his face. Instead there was a soft frown and he looked sad. Jacks heart sank; surely the boy was dreading his upcoming death.

"Dude shut the fuck up we're here." Rian mumbled to Zack, before grabbing a can of coke from under the seat and stepping out of the car.

Jack admired the landscape. No matter how many times they'd been there it never seemed to lose its special aura. It wasn't anything special to look at but it was their favorite place in the world. The small river had a rusty old ridge over it and the boys had long claimed it as their bridge; like a personal jungle gym they would invade whenever they wanted to hang out whether it was during or after school. On the side of the bridge they had scribbled their names in small permanent messes. 'To make sure everyone knows it’s ours' Jack had stated back in freshman year proudly. One night they had come down to the bridge only to find that there were already three kids there smoking weed and drinking cheap beer. Instead of fighting they joined in together having a great time. That's the last time Jack had seen the guys, even though Rian and Zack claimed to have seen them a few times after.

The four boys walked down to the water sitting down on the ground and getting comfortable. Alex looked paler than his usual ghost self and his eyes were wide open as he kept looking around him with fear in his eyes, but Jack decided to ignore it because he couldn’t really help the boy with his friends right there, and anyway it’s not like the ghost could get hurt if some kidnapper came. So they sat together talking about meaningless shit and their plans for the weekend, until Rian looked behind them and started yelling.

"What the fuck?! Who did this to our fucking bridge?!" He got up pointing at the cement wall, his hand shaking. Jack and Zack stared at the wall trying to read the badly sprayed on blue letters.

“ ‘Alex- We love you.’” Jack read it out loud, looking confused. “Who’s Alex?”

Rian stepped closer to the wall, reading the small scribbles below it: “From your best buds, Matt, Danny, Evan, and Brian.” He sighed softly, nodding once, before stepping away. Zack never said anything, ignoring the presence of the new message on their wall as if they had never seen it in the first place.

“Guys, who are these people and why aren’t you mad anymore? They wrote on our fucking wall.”
Jack proclaimed, desperate for answers.

“Matt and them are the guys we hung out with.” Rian explained. “And Alex is the guy you were supposed to meet. This is presumably a mural of some sorts.”

Jack felt uncomfortable suddenly. He felt as if he was now the intruder on someone else’s private property. “What happened to Alex?”

Rian looked upset as he shook his head slightly. “We don’t know. Matt refused to tell me, I guess it’s all pretty serious. What we do know is that he got hurt the night before you were supposed to meet him. We were going to set you two up on a date.” He chuckled lightly. “We all agreed you two were made for each other.”

“S-so what n-now?” Jack stuttered out, realizing that Alex hadn’t been lying; they really were meant to meet.

“He’s in a coma, Jack. Brain-dead. Gone. The machines are keeping him alive. He’s gone.”

Jack heard a gasp beside him and he sent a fleeting glance towards Alex, hoping to reassure him that everything was fine. Everything would be okay.

“How long does h-he have?” Jack asked, hoping for a good answer, if only for the sake of the caramel-haired beauty.

“A few months before the doctors said there is no chance of him waking up ever again. Not unless it’s some fucking miracle or something.” Zack stated, giving a small smile and patting Jack’s shoulder when he saw the tall boy’s facial expression.

He was terrified because everything Alex had said was true so far. He was terrified because the more and more he realized, the more possible it seemed that the life of a gorgeous teenager was in his hands and he didn’t fucking know what to do.

He turned to look at Alex to gauge his reaction to this information, but the boy was gone.