Bardzo Mi Przykro

by: Niebezpiczny Ksiezyc

 

Part Two: Czy To Juz Wszystko?

(May I Go Now?)

 

          The young man began to violently vomit, and when his stomach was emptied, he began to hack and cough uncontrollably. He gripped his abdomen as his weak body fell onto the cold, hard floor. He began to cough up blood, as his body continued to refuse to stop coughing. His throat was raw and sore from the acidic vomit and then became inundated with the metallic taste of blood. Heero struggled against the involuntary actions of  his diaphragm, to try to breathe again. Seconds passed like years, and minutes passed like a lifetime as Heero tried to calm himself. Exhausted from last night, and with the horrible picture burned into his mind, Heero passed out, lying in a pool of his own bodily fluids.

          This sweet release from reality did not last long enough for Heero to dream. He felt his eyelids slowly flutter as he began to open them. The sunlight that poured into the kitchen, burned his eyes, and Heero reached up with his hand to shield the sensitive sense organs from the intrusive light. Every muscle in his body was weak and shaking as he struggled to move. He finally hoisted himself to standing position with the aid of a nearby kitchen chair. The image that had caused his body to rebel flashed into his weakened mind repeatedly. Heero fell once more to the floor, and slowly crawled out of the kitchen and made his journey to his bathroom. After he crawled into the bathroom, he slowly reached up to turn on the shower. The room slowly began to fill with steam as Heero painstakingly gathered all of his energy to remove his soiled clothes. He crawled into the shower and let the hot streams of water beat mercilessly onto his cold skin. He sat in the shower, mesmerized by the swirls of red and brown that slowly swirled and finally quenched the thirst of the metal drain. Heero’s body began to shake once more as the scene in the kitchen slowly began to unfold in his mind.

          He saw himself look at the core of the apple that he had demolished, and then look at the other fruit, waiting to be eaten lying on the table. Heero saw himself reach for another piece of fruit. He once again heard the sound outside of his apartment that made he look up the window. He saw the orange striped cat once again jump down from his windowsill onto the fire escape latter below. As he returned his gaze to the fruit, a bright object caught his attention. It was a metal toaster that Duo had given him as joke. The perfect soldier making the perfect piece of toast. The other pilots laughed at the thought of Heero being bewildered about something as trivial as toasted bread. Heero remembered how Duo smiled in triumph at getting the perfect soldier to crack a half, lopsided smile at the same thought. Heero’s attention once again returned to the memory of the incident in the kitchen. He was looking at the toaster when he saw that horrible picture. Those eyes, those hollow, cold, pain filled eyes. They looked so familiar. Not only did Heero recognize those eyes as his own from the reflection, but they also belonged to that young boy who haunted his dreams. Flashes of the dreams exploded into Heero’s mind. The voice, the facial expressions, and the eyes. Slowly the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

          Heero’s weak body began to shake violently as he fought to keep the tears from flowing freely from his red, sleep deprived eyes. “So it was true,” Heero hoarsely gasped, “it was true all along. I couldn’t save him. I can’t save him.” Heero threw his head back and yelled “I can’t save him ! When does it stop? When the hell does it stop?!” The boy, the one reaching for his help. The one who needed to be saved, and yet never was saved was named Heero Yuy.

 

          Duo and Hilde raced to Heero’s apartment, each trying to win the infantile race to his front door.  Heero had been acting more recluse and quiet lately, even more so than his normal anti-social self. The two had planned to surprise Heero with a visit. What could be better than a visit from some old friends? They laughed as they tried to grab each other’s arms to hold the other person back. Duo laughed as he found an extra burst of energy and sprinted to Heero’s door, and temporarily out of Hilde’s sight. Hilde was laughing as she reached Heero’s front door. She was still laughing as she said “Okay Duo, you win this round but next time I won’t play nice!” She giggled and lightly punched Duo in the arm. “Duo? what is it, what’s wron-” Hilde abruptly stopped talking as she saw Duo’s normally jovial face wrinkle with worry. Hilde turned to see Heero’s front door wide open. Handprints made from blood and mud were beginning to dry on the handle and door frame. Duo grabbed Hilde’s arm and pulled her behind him. He stepped cautiously into the apartment, followed closely by Hilde. They first approached the kitchen, and Duo quickly grabbed and squeezed Hilde’s hand as they saw the bloody mess on the kitchen floor. Duo’s free hand covered Hilde’s mouth to stifle her scream.

          Hilde slowly nodded showing that she was okay. Duo released her from his vise-like grip and turned to leave the kitchen. He heard the sound of the running water coming from the bathroom. He breathed a sigh of relief, Heero was probably out training again last night. The blood was merely from the cuts that he was sure to have received.  “Hey, Heero? Are you here? You sure scared the crap out of Hilde and me! You’re going to make my hair turn gray before I’m even 30!” Duo said laughing. “Heero?” Duo waited but no response came from the bathroom. “Heero?” Duo said again. “Hee-” Hilde grabbed Duo’s arm and pointed to the trail of blood and mud that lead into the bathroom. “Hilde, stay here alright?” Hilde meekly nodded as Duo made his way to the bathroom. The door was opened, but Duo knocked on the frame the let Heero know that he was there. “Heero? Are you alright?” The steam from the shower shrouded the bathroom in an almost fog-like atmosphere.

          Duo felt his heart beat painfully fast in his chest as he walked further into the bathroom. “Heero, if this is your idea of a joke, then you seriously need to keep your day job cause you could never make it as a comedian,” Duo nervously babbled. When he reached the shower stall, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He began to quietly talk to himself, “Okay Maxwell, no worries, Heero is going to be alright! Hell, you will probably end up more injured than he is when he sees you here in his bathroom.” He slowly exhaled and opened his eyes. Of all the things that Duo expected to see and thought had happened, this certainly was not one of them.