Bronies, Unite!

The next morning:

I awaken to see the back of Lucy’s head in front of me, I’m under the covers. I lift them up to notice that I’ve been undressed, and so is Lucy. I put the cover down, snuggling up to Lucy and wrapping my arm around her, temporarily forgetting the previous night. After it hits me, a single tear comes to my eye. I try to stop anymore coming, as not to wake her up. I just feel so safe right now with Lucy.

Lucy shuffles a bit, and then turns over. Her eyes slowly open, looking at me. I give her a smile, showing I’m alright. She puts a hand on my cheek, wiping the tear away from my eye. “You okay, Mark?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, today is Friday; do you want to go home?”

“N-Not yet. Lucy, is it okay if I stay with you today?”

“Sure it is. Want me to draw a picture to make you feel better? I know how much you like my drawings.”

“No, just cuddling with you makes me feel better.” I increase my smile, which makes her smile at me. My arm starts to get cold, so I put it under covers and then back around Lucy, just lying there. As I move my hand, I notice a few bumps on her skin. Her smile slowly fades away from her face, as she starts to notice what I’m feeling.

“Mark, I can explain.”

“Have… Have you been cutting, again?”

She doesn’t answer for a while, but just puts her head in my chest before speaking. “Yes…” I bring her in closer, and hold her tightly, not wanting to let go.

We lay there for another hour before moving. I get up and bring my legs out the side of the bed, remembering that she must have undressed me. “Did you, uhm, undress me last night?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I hope you don’t mind. I put your clothes over there.” She points a finger to her windowsill, which has a neat pile of clothes on it.

I put my boxers on first, then my socks, almost falling over onto the bed in the process, which gets a giggle out of Lucy. I then proceed to put on my black jeans and my 20% cooler t-shirt.

“Hey, Lucy.”

“Yes, Mark?”

“Well, could you uhm… could you come with me to see my mum?”

“Sure I will, just let me get dressed.”

I look away, to mind her privacy. I then hear the movement of drawers and her wardrobe as she picks out her clothes. She taps me on the shoulder and I slowly turn around.

“Which looks better, this or this?” She keeps alternating between two t-shirts, one being a Fluttershy t-shirt with her screaming ‘yay!’ on the front, and the other being a red t-shirt.

“Which opinion would you like?”

“Uhm, both?”

“None.” I let out a tickle of laughter, while she holds a serious face. After a few seconds though, she joins in laughing; now both of us in a uncontrollable fit of laughter. She puts on the Fluttershy one and grabs my sides, throwing me onto the bed.

“Oh? We got a funny guy, do we?” She asks, giggling.

“Yeah, I think we do!” I sputter out between fits of laughs.

She then starts to tickle my sides, making me toss and turn in laughter, “St-Stop-op it-it!” I can’t control my laughter as she tickles me, making me laugh harder than I thought was possible. She puts her bum on my chest and then her knees on my shoulders, keeping me in place. My eyes widen in shock as to what she is about to do, I can see it coming. She starts to tickle under my arms, making me spasm about. Laughing more than my lungs can take, my face is filled with a huge grin. She finally stops and gets off of me, her smile fading.

“What’s wrong?”

“We have to visit the hospital, remember?”

My face darkens, and then turns into a frown. “Oh yeah, my mum…”

“Don’t worry, Mark. It will all be okay.”

“Sure…”

*****

We arrive outside of the hospital doors, just out of reach so they don’t open automatically, when Lucy starts to ask, “So, are you ready?”

I take a moment to answer. “Well, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” We both slowly walk in, while I’m slightly shaking, and walk to the front desk where the woman asks me what I’m in here for. I quickly explain about my mum and she points me down the hall.

“First door to your right, she’s in there. I’m sorry for your loss, Mark. She will be truly missed.”

“Thanks.” I wave her off and start walking towards the door with Lucy by my side. She’s been holding my hand ever since we walked through the doors. Weird that I only just noticed, but I allow her to carry on holding me. I gently push the doors open to reveal my mum lay down on a table on a strange machine that seems to be beeping.

I ask the nearby doctor, “What’s that machine doing?”

“Well, might I ask whose asking first?”

“Mark, her son.” I say in a slightly angry tone.

“Ah, I’m very sorry, Mark. We tried to get into contact with you last night, but no one seemed to be in. We’ve been able to put her on a life support machine until we got the final word from you. The machine is keeping her alive, but she’s brain dead and I’m sorry again, but there is no way to recover her from it.”

“I see… Is it okay if I have a few minutes alone with her?”

“That’s fine; I’ll be just down the corridor if you need me.”

“Thanks, I’ll call you back when I’m done.”

“Would you like me to leave, too, Mark?” I hear Lucy ask.

“No, could you please stay with me?”

“Sure.”

I slowly walk towards where my mum lays on the bed. When I reach her side, I drop to my knees and let tears form in both my eyes. Letting go of Lucy’s hand, I take my mum’s left hand in both and start to cry into them. I’ve never cried so much in my entire life, and now I think I’m just letting it all out. “Why mum? Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t feeling better? I can’t live without you!” I keep on sobbing, and crying into her hand as I speak, not wanting to stop, just wanting it to flow. “I…I love you so much mum, you’ve raised me from a child and made me into the man I am now. I can’t even say thank you without you not giving me a response. I feel we had so much left to do, and now it’s all gone…” I try to stop crying, it only works a little though. “Mum, I love you so much…”

I stand up, still crying and let go of her hand. I walk out of the door and look to my right. I see the doctor. He sees me as I motion him over. He complies and follows me back into the room, turning from me to look at Lucy, who was solemnly sitting in the corner on her own, slightly crying. He then turns towards my mother, who lies on the bed, lifeless- at least that’s what it looks like. He finally looks back up at me, giving me a comforting smile, which isn’t easy to do in most circumstances.

I break down, wrapping my arms around him, while tears still stream down my face. At first he is surprised, but then pats my back, telling me it will be okay. After a few moments of crying, I tell him in a low tone; “C-Can you make it p-painless?” I sputter out, still crying.

“Yes we can, Mark. She will feel no pain.”

“T-Thank you, d-doctor…”

I let go of him, and turn away to face my mum. The machine slowly beeping away, the doctor looks out of the door and gestures to a nurse who walks over. “Call it.” He says.

The nurse looks up at me, a slight frown on her face, and mouths the words ‘I’m sorry.’ And proceeds to say the date and time of my mum’s death, then suddenly, no more beeping… At this point, I didn’t think I had enough fluids in my body to keep crying, but I kept going, even more so now. I slowly walked over to my now dead mother and fall to my knees once again, crying into her body, her slowly growing cold body, and all I can do is cry.

Behind me, I notice the doctor give Lucy a wave of his hand, telling her to follow him. I don’t stop her, and all three of them leave. They leave me and my mum alone, and all I do is sit there, crying, crying for what would seem like hours, but is only a mere few minutes. I just can’t stop…

*****

I am awakened by someone prodding my side. I immediately bounce up to my feet to look at who it was, but I can’t see, since my glasses aren’t on. I must’ve put them down somewhere. The mysterious figure hands something to me, and I notice it’s my glasses. I take them off of the figure and put them on, and once I do I notice it was the doctor from before. I must’ve fallen asleep while I was crying.

“Wakey, wakey, Mark.”

“Mhleh… Oh, uhm, sorry. I must have fallen asleep, I guess.”

“Yes, you’ve been out for quite a while, but time’s up, and I think your friend is still waiting for you outside. Would you like to go with her?”

“Yes, please. And doctor?”

“Mmhm?”

“Thanks.”

“Er- Not a problem, Mark. I’m sorry for your loss.”

I slowly edge to the door, still slightly groggy from the sleep. I wipe my eyes clear and look up to see a tired Lucy sitting down on the public seats. I pick up the pace slightly and sit down next to her. She doesn’t notice at first, so I give her a little nudge, which almost instantaneously wakes her up.

“Oh, hey Mark…”

“Hey… Can we go, please?”

“S-Sure…”

We both stand up and I put my arm around Lucy. She rests her head on my chest and we walk out of the hospital, and in the general direction of her house, just walking in complete silence.

*****

“So, guys, what shall we do, then? I heard that a squirrel's brain is about the size of a walnut.” Jeronimo says to Matthew and Blake, who are both sitting outside on the decking of Jero’s house, now giving him a really weird look.

Matthew speaks up first, sitting up on his deck chair; “Dude, why can’t you make your mind up? You want to do something, and then you suddenly change your mind to something completely different. It’s really weird, but also funny.” He snickers a bit at Jero who is looking slightly stunned. “Why do you know that about squirrels’?”

“Well er-I don’t really know. I just feel like doing something else.”

“Ugh, what is it you want to do?”

“We could uhm… play football?”

“Meh sounds good, what about you, Blake?” Matthew glances over to Blake, only to see him sleeping, as per usual. “Oh, well he’s asleep. So, you wanna go play some football, Jero?”

“Sounds like fun. Are we going to call for Lucy and Mark?”

“I don’t think now’s a good time.”

“Let me guess, Mark finally noticed Lucy likes him?”

“No dude, he’s still stupid.” They both share a laugh for a few minutes, while the rummage through Jero’s house, looking for a football. “His mum died… the cancer finally hit her.” Jero stares at Matthew for a while, gobsmacked.

“Dude, how do you know?”

“I went to call for him before, you know, after school? We both went and played your ‘Magic The Gathering’ or something, but before we did, I saw that there was an ambulance outside his house. I rushed in because I thought something happened to him, but a doctor stopped me, asking who I was. I explained that I was his friend, and asked if he was okay, and they said they couldn’t get in touch with him. So, I gave them Lucy’s home number, because he’s mostly there all the time.”

“Wow man, I hope he’s alright, I’d hate to have to go through all of that on my own. Luckily he has us though, right?”

“Yea-Ah ha! I found it!” He pulls out a white and black spotted football, only slightly deflated. “I got the football man, we going to the park then, or what?”

“Y-Yeah, I still can’t believe about Mark’s mum, dude. That’s intense.”

“Yeah it is, but let’s try not to focus on it, he wouldn’t want our sympathy. He doesn’t like that, remember?”

“I guess so, so about that football?”

“Here it is!” Matthew slams it into Jero’s face, but he luckily blocks it with his left arm.

“…Dick.”

“You love me, really.” The both share a laugh together, and head off towards the park, kicking the ball around as they get there.

After a couple minutes of walking/running, they eventually turn up to a big field, with a cornered area off that’s for the kids, some swing sets, a see-saw, a merry go round etc. A few kids are there, they look about twelve or thirteen.

Matthew proceeds to steal the ball from Jero, who doesn’t notice at first, until he turns around to look at Matthew running along with the football, kicking it across the field. Instantly, Jero chases after him. Closely following behind him, he slide tackles him to the floor, and then he eats a face full of dirt.

“You cheater!” Matthew bellows.

Jero laughs it off, jumping up and kicking the ball towards the goal posts at the top of the pitch. He gets close enough to shoot, but not before Matthew comes from behind him and swipes the ball away from him, almost causing Jero to trip in the process.

“Come on man, I was gonna score!” Jero shouts at Matthew, who is running down the pitch now.

“Too bad!” he shouts back, getting closer and closer to the goal.

He nears the goal, he’s just about to blast the ball, but as he kicks, he kicks nothing but air. Looking down he sees that the ball is no longer there, his stats to panic for a second, spinning around though, he eyes a certain person that they left snoozing on the decking, Blake.

“Hey guys, you miss me?” Blake asks them, obviously being cocky, because of his skills in football.

“Screw you, Blake! I was just about to shoot!”

“Oh, that’s ironic, isn’t it, Matthew?” Jero says.

“…Shut up.”

“So, what are the teams, then?” Blake asks both of them, which eye each other awkwardly, trying to fathom what to say, after a couple of seconds, they look at Blake, and both shout “MY TEAM!” At the exact same time “NO, HE’S ON MY TEAM!” They both say to each other, again in sync.

“Wow guys, how about we flip a coin? Matthew, you’ve got heads, Jero, you have tails, alright?”

“Alright.” They eye each other suspiciously, wondering how they kept speaking in sync, which was very weird, but only made Blake laugh a lot.

Blake kicks the ball up in the air, catching it under his left arm. He then pulls out a 50p coin from his right pocket, placing it carefully on his right thumb. Matthew and Jero stare at the coin for a couple seconds, until he flips it in the air. Their eyes follow the coin into the sky, as it lands on the grassy floor below them; Blake bends over and looks at the coin, revealing what it landed on. “Tails it is!” Blake chuckles to himself, while Jero woops in the air, almost fist pumping.

“Lucky git.” Matthew remarks.

“Well, that’s the rules, Matthew, sorry.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now, are we going to play some football? Or are we going to lollygag around for ages?”

“Hey Matthew!” Jero shouts.

“What?”

“I used to lollygag like you…”

“Don’t you fucking DARE say it!” Matthew exclaims at the top of his lungs, now starting to chase Jero around the grass.

“BUT THEN I TOOK AN ARROW TO THE KNEE!”

“YOU’RE DEAD!”

“Come at me bro!”

Jero quickly whizzes around the pitch, just barely keeping up with him. Blake watching the whole time, laughing his arse off that much, that he fell on the floor because of it. “You guys!” He starts to gasp for air because of the laughter, “Stop it! It’s too funny!” His face is screwed up from the laughter, rolling around on the floor laughing, grabbing his sides.

“No! He’s going to pay for saying that, he knows how much I hate it!” Out of nowhere, Matthew smashes Jero to the floor; they tumble for a while across the grass, until eventually coming to a stop, Matthew on top of Jero, he’s about to put Jero into a headlock, when he suddenly moves and squeezes through his legs, racing for Blake now. “Get back here you twig!”

“NOPE, NOPE, NOPE!”