Albion sat down heavily against the wall, trying to hold off a panic attack. How did he know? Was he one of them? Is it going to happen to me again? His heart was palpitating too quickly, his tears continued to fall. Who was he? He called me Albie…he knew me. He phoned his mum, and she talked to him calmly, helping to fend off the full effect of the panic attack.

When he ended the call, Albion relaxed a little. He glanced down at his phone, promptly dropping it on the ground. Gingerly, he picked up his phone again, inspecting his home screen background. Why is he my background? WHY AM I HUGGING AND KISSING HIM?!! He looked in his photo gallery, and saw more photos with the boy - he definitely knew him then…maybe, well enough to tell him about his eye.

“Maybe he has nothing to do with Jared,” he breathed out. He went in to his recent text messages, and the top one was from ‘<3Fen<3’. “Who are you, and why don’t I remember anything about you?” He tried to think about what he knew about him, and after going through the messages, concluded that they were friends…who went on dates, apparently.

I must have meant a friend date, he thought to himself as he read through more texts. He placed his phone back in his pocket, his legs still feeling too weak to stand. “I shouldn’t have slapped him,” he sighed, sliding a hand down his face. When he got enough energy to stand, he made his way to the school’s parking lot, where his mother was waiting to pick him up, when she had a break in appointments.

“Hey darling, let’s get you home,” she said as he climbed in. When Albion close his eyes, all he could see was the other boy’s terrified look of horror and surprise when he had slapped him. Shit - should I text him? I should probably at least apologise.

After mulling it over for several hours, in the evening he finally decided to text him. He sent a brief text apologising. By the time Albion went to sleep, there was still no reply.

—————

Fenner stopped outside his front door, sweating and crying equally heavily. Can I even go inside? What if dad is still freaking out? He decided to call his mum and ask. “Fenny! Is everything ok?” She asked. Her concern brought about another wave of tears. He couldn’t formulate a proper sentence, instead just cried. His mother was able to work out pretty quickly that Albion must have forgotten him.

When she asked where he was, and he told her outside, she rushed to open the door, pulling him in to a bear hug. “Oh, my love, it’s ok. You’re going to be ok my sweet!” They sat together on the sofa, his mother’s work abandoned for the time being. She didn’t stop hugging him until his tears had slowed.

“I…brought up his eye…he…he’s blind in one eye, and…it’s a big secret of his,” Fenner explained. “Last night he told me he had some good news regarding it, so I asked him this morning, and he totally freaked out.” He wiped his face, his eyes puffy from all the crying.

“He said something about how I knew, if I was friends with some guy…” Fenner cut himself off, remembering Albion’s words. “He told me before that he was clumsy and got some glass in his eye, but today, he made it sound like someone did it to him.” His mother pulled him in to another hug.

“Albie must have been really scared, and that’s why he panicked. Did anything else happen?” Fenner nodded. “He slapped me and kept crying on me, until I panicked too and shoved him away and just ran…if I stayed, maybe I could have sorted it.” His mother’s grip tightened on him.

“He slapped you?”

“Yeah, but I think he felt really threatened - I’ve never seen him look so terrified.” She nodded, inspecting his face. “Did he slap you hard?” He shook his head, luckily the boy had been shaking too much to get a good hit in.

“Mum, what do I do? He doesn’t remember me!” Tears pricked the back of his eyes again. “He promised me he wouldn’t forget, mum he promised!” He clung to her shirt, tears streaming down his face again. “Ssh, my baby. You just have to get close to him again. Remember how determined he was to befriend you? Now it’s your turn.”

Fenner nodded, wiping his tears away once again. I’m going to be fuckin dehydrated after this shit, he thought to himself. “Will he even let me get close to him? I scared the shit out of him,” and he scared the shit out of me. “He’ll let you. I’m sure of it.” She smiled reassuringly, and Fenner hoped that she was right.

For the first time in a long time, he fell asleep as soon as he got in to bed. He climbed in early, exhausted from crying for so long, and felt himself relaxing into the bed. As he fell asleep, his thoughts ran wild - he thought about Albion’s nightmare…he said memory at that time, and how it seemed someone injured his eye. He thought about his day, and a wave of anxiety and despair hit him again. His thoughts lingered on I want to disappear for a little too long.