“Bye, see you tomorrow,” Albion smiled as he hung up the phone. Earlier at school, Fenner had given him a brief summary of what his mum had told him, and although Albion didn’t entirely get it, it seemed like a good thing - people would no longer forget Fenner, and he might be gaining control over his power. Seemed like a great thing to Albion, however, Fenner seemed more stressed than usual.
This was because Fenner was certain Albion was going to forget him, and he hadn’t told Albion, not wanting to scare him.
Albion lay back on his bed, covering his right eye. What? He blinked, and it stayed - the outline of his ceiling light. It was faint, but considering he was used to nothingness, it was a massive improvement. He ran down the stairs to his mum to tell her the news. She grabbed him into a hug, crying. “Mum, I’m gonna be fine! Maybe in another year I’ll be even better!”
Albion’s family decided to go out for dinner to celebrate, and once they got back, Albion realised he hadn’t told Fenner yet. He sent him a quick text saying he had some good news regarding his eye. He wanted to tell him in person, he knew his boyfriend would be thrilled. They hadn’t really talked about his eye in the past two weeks after that first time, which he was glad about - he didn’t like thinking about it; it always brought back unpleasant memories.
He went to bed that night feeling very happy; everything was going well for him - he had nice friends at school, he loved being with his boyfriend, and now his eye was well on the way to a recovery.
He had no idea of how things would change.
—————
Fenner walked down the stairs, feeling slightly dizzy. His parents were sitting at the table as usual, but when he saw the look on his father’s face, he knew something was wrong. “Dad? What’s up?”
His mother looked between them, confused also.
“Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my house?!” His father yelled at him. Fenner froze. He was visible now though, what went wrong?! “Sweetie calm down, that’s Fenner, your son!” His mother tried to calm the man down, and brought over the picture of him with Fenner from when he was around 10 years old.
“That’s fake! I don’t have a son! Get out of my house you damn brat!” Fenner backed away, panicking. This was worse than it normally was when his father forgot him. His mother pushed him out the door, telling him to go to school early whilst she calmed down his father.
“I love you, sweetie! You must have gone invisible in the night, I don’t know why it lasted for such a short amount of time, maybe you are learning to control it.” She kissed him on the forehead before closing the front door. Fenner stood there in complete shock. He’d never seen his father so angry before, he was usually so calm and quiet, even when reintroduced to his son.
A tear slipped from his eye, as he made his way to school. He had to see Albion. He’d explain about his father later. Besides, Albion had seemed very happy last night, he didn’t want to bring him down. He decided to hear Albion’s good news first.
When he made it in to class and saw Albion in his usual spot, he breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God that was still the same. He sat next to him, and the girl to his left poked him with a pencil, as usual. Nothing much has changed here, apparently, he thought to himself.
“Hey, are you new?” She asked. Fenner tried to hide his slight disappointment that she’d forgotten him, she was the only other person Fenner every spoke to. “Kinda. I’m Fenner.” He turned to his boyfriend, placing his head on the desk.
“What’s the good news about your eye? Are you…” he lowered his voice, so as to not be heard by the girl on his other side. “Are you able to see any more out of it?” Albion’s relaxed smile changed to panic in an instant. “Ah shit, I’m so sorry, I thought- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to like…rub it in. I just thought-“ Albion grabbed his bag, rushing out of the classroom.
FUCK Fenner yelled to himself, as he ran after the boy. He was sure he’d upset him - that the news wasn’t about his vision improving, and instead, he’d poked a sensitive spot. He finally caught up to Albion, grabbing his hand and pulling him round the side of the school.
“Albie, what’s wrong? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you!” Albion slapped Fenner across the face, sending him reeling back in surprise. The other boy crouched over him, fear clouding his eyes. Something is very wrong here, Fenner thought. He’d never seen Albion look so scared before.
“How do you know?!” He yelled, grabbing Fenner by the collar. “Who told you?! Was it Jared?! Are you his friend?! Hell, were you one of those fuckers who did this to me?!” Fenner froze in shock, Albion had begun to cry tears of anger, which were gliding down his face, falling on to Fenner’s face.
Fenner was terrified by the boy, Albion’s fury, anger and fear were practically palpable. “Albie let go!” Fenner’s voice cracked as he shoved the taller boy away; scrambling to get to his feet, he ran as fast as he could back to his house.
He could feel his heart shattering in his chest as he ran. It was over. Albie has forgotten me. It’s all over.
He wiped his face, crying heavily as he ran.
I want to disappear.
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