A ringtone for an alarm goes off

A hand clicked on the dismiss button on the phone. A boy got up as a yawn escaped his mouth. It was nothing unusual. It was just the morning of a new day? He got out of his bed and stretched. He sighed quietly before heading to the bathroom.

The boy's name is Touya.

Once Touya took a shower and got ready, he walked to the kitchen to greet his mother and get some breakfast. "Good morning, Touya." His mother said. Touya smiled as he walked down the stairs. "Morning, mom!" Touya replied happily.

In addition, he smelled his favorite breakfast. Pancakes.

Pancakes was Touya's favorite breakfast. He always liked blueberry pancakes and he would do anything to get some. As his mother cooked, Touya put a slice of bread in the toaster. Touya then took a small glass out and poured some orange juice in it.

Thank god he didn't brush his teeth before he ate.

Once the pancakes were done along with the toasted bread, Touya put a pancake and his bread on the plate. As he ate, he looked outside the window. The sky was smiling as there was the sunshine and the blue sky with white fluffy clouds. It doesn't seem like a bad day will happen today.

He also looked at two houses. One of them belonged to Bianca, a close friend of his. The other belonged to Cheren, who is also a close friend of him. Unknown to everybody, Touya has feelings for Cheren.

Once he finished eating breakfast, he brushed his teeth and grabbed his bag. Once he decided he has everything in his bag, he walked out the door. "Bye, mom!" Touya called and out and his mother waved.

As Touya walked to school, he noticed Cheren.

'Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.' Those words continue to repeat in Touya's head.

"Cheren! Hey!" Touya called out to him. This got his attention and he waved. Touya ran to him. "Hello, Touya." Cheren replied and Touya smiled big. "And hello to you, Cheren!" A small chuckle escaped Cheren's mouth.

It's like Touya felt a calming aura around Cheren. He always felt comfortable around him. "Hey, guys!" They turned and saw Nate. "Nate, hey!" Touya greeted and they both high five each other. Cheren couldn't help but chuckle even more from that.

They met Touko, Rosa, and Hugh along the way. As they walked, they realized something. "Gods...is she late again?" Rosa asked when they stopped walking. "She could be." Touko replied. "Heeeeeeeeeeeey!" They heard a voice say. "Welp, there she is..." Cheren calmly spoke.

They saw Bianca run up to them. "So sorry for being late!" Bianca said with a embarrassed smile. Cheren sighed quietly and looked away. "Bianca, you shouldn't continue coming late." Touko said to her. As they continued walking, they saw the others wait in the courtyard. "Hey, guys!" Brendan exclaimed.

"Hey, Brendan!" Touya said, exchanging brofists. Everyone was here except one person. "Hey, where's Calem?" Nate was the first one to ask. They all looked around. Suddenly, Red closed his eyes. "I'll call him." Red got on his phone and left.

Everyone got confused but they chose not to press.

They talked for a while. Touya decided to talk to Cheren. Red didn't return at all. After 6 minutes passed, they heard the bell. "We have to get to class!" Lucas said before going inside the school. Everyone else nodded.

"Ha ha!"

"Look at him! He looks so dumb!"

"He shouldn't have come to this school at all!"

Cheren sighed quietly as he heard this. This has been going on for quite a while unfortunately. "Hey, nerd!" One said. "Watch out!" Cheren felt a crumpled paper ball hit his head. Cheren flinched but didn't say anything. The teacher wasn't here yet apparently.

"Hey, nice hair!" One of them said. "Mind if I gave it a haircut?" He heard footsteps approaching his desk. Cheren realized what was going to happen. He turned and-

Suddenly, Cheren felt a cut. Cheren grunted in pain. "Oh my god! What have you done?" Dawn asked as he heard the grunt. The bully stopped and looked. He saw the tips of the scissors covered with a little amount of blood. He looked and he saw Cheren clutch onto his shoulder.

Everyone turned and gasped at what they saw.

On Cheren's left shoulder was a cut that went through his uniform. In addition, parts of the end parts of his hair was cut as well. Overall, the cut looked pretty bad.

"I'll get you to the nurse's office!" Dawn said and stood up. Cheren didn't want help. If they really wanted to hurt him physically, then that means they want him dead. But he couldn't do anything other than accept Dawn's help.

Dawn took him gently to observe the cut. She looked at the bully. "Now look at what you have done!" Dawn said angrily to him. The bully stood back. Some of them began laughing at Cheren in pain. "Get away, pretty girl." One of them said. "Otherwise, we will hurt you too!"

Dawn growled and then took Cheren out of the room. As they were walking down, their teacher saw it. "What happened to you, Cheren?" Dawn looked at her. "A boy with scissors tried to cut his hair, but instead he cut his shoulder." Dawn explained. "I'm taking him to the nurse." The teacher nodded. "Thank you, Dawn. How kind of you. He will take some disciplinary action." She left.

Dawn helped Cheren walk to the nurse's office.

The nurse fixed Cheren's cut after Dawn explained what happened. "You shouldn't use your shoulder for a little bit, okay?" The nurse said and Cheren nodded. Once the nurse left, Dawn looked at him. "I'm so sorry this happened to you." Dawn said. Cheren didn't reply.

Suddenly, she heard soft crying sounds. She turned to look, only to see tears fall down. "Cheren...?" Dawn asked and Cheren looked at her. "This has been going on for 3 months..." Cheren spoke weakly. Dawn looked at him. He suffered bullying for 3 months.

One of Dawn's hands went on Cheren's right cheek. "Don't worry...me and the others will make sure this stops..." Dawn assured him. Cheren didn't say anything other than a weak nod. "Thank you, Dawn..." Cheren replied weakly and they stared into each other's eyes.

Their hearts raced when it came to each other for some reason. They didn't know unfortunately.

Cheren knew that the bullying wasn't gonna stop either way. Cheren winced as he moved his shoulder a little. The cut must have been a little deep. He couldn't tell. He sighed quietly as he opened his locker to get one of his notebooks.

"Hey, Cheren!" A voice called out to him. He turned and saw Touya walking to him. "I saw you go the nurse. What happened?" Touya asked. Cheren could swore he felt his blood turn to ice.

"Can we talk later? After school?" Touya nodded.

"He did what?!"

Cheren flinched when he heard Touya yell. They went through a boring day of classes and they were on swings. Touya insisted about it and Cheren couldn't talk out of it. "Yeah..." Cheren replied and showed Touya the cut on his left shoulder. "Oh my god..." Touya said quietly. "Dawn took me to the nurse's office and from what I heard, the bully got in trouble for it."

Touya nodded. "Yeah, he did. I saw him walking to the principal's office." Touya replied and Cheren didn't reply. What could he say at that point? They sighed quietly together and continued to use the swings.

Back and forth...back and forth...and the process repeated...

Touya lied down on the bed, looking at the ceiling. He had dinner and decided to go to bed. Shortly after he got home, he worked on his homework and studied. "Now I'm really worried for Cheren..." Touya spoke quietly before pulling the covers over himself. It has been a rough day since exams were coming up.

With a soft sigh, he fell asleep.

Touya...save me...save me...SAVE ME!!!

Touya woke up almost immediately. He didn't knew what that was. "Was...was that a nightmare...?" Touya asked quietly to himself. "It sounded like Cheren...but it sounded like...someone else..." Touya sighed again before going back to sleep.

Same ringtone...same alarm...

Touya pressed the dismiss button and he yawned. He looked at the time on his phone. 7:12 AM. Touya rubbed his eyes. He thought about that dream he had last night. He looked through his notifications. He saw a voicemail from...

Cheren?

This was sent to him at 3 in the morning. Touya clicked on it to give it a listen.

"Hi, Touya....it's me, Cheren..."

Cheren sounded so tired in the voicemail. He really did.

"I...I can't live with a lie any longer. I'm sorry to state this, but...I decided that I will end my own life."

Touya flinched from this. No...

No!

"All the bullying is starting to become too much for me. It's like the bullies want me dead, so I will grant them that wish. I sent this voicemail to others as well. So, Touya, I know you are not gonna be happy, but I want you to know that..." He paused for a few seconds before speaking. Touya also heard sniffles.

Was Cheren crying when he recorded this voicemail?

"...that you were a great friend along with the others. No...you are more than that. I love you, Touya. No one knew about my feelings for you. I realized that I don't deserve to be with you. You deserve to be with someone better than me. Someone who will protect you, someone who will love you more than me..."

Touya couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did Cheren truly felt this the whole time?

"Anyway, I gotta go. I'm so sorry for being a burden to you, Touya, and to everyone...and I'm sorry for not being a great friend...I hope you will forgive me..."

The voicemail ended. Touya immediately got up and got ready for school. He ran out of the house. His mother went to work early so there was no time for breakfast. Touya continued running. He didn't think about waiting for the others.

He saw Cheren walking towards...train tracks? There was also a couple of students waiting for the train as well. But Touya was so far away. He knew he needed to get there, fast.

Touya continued running. He saw the train coming. Why was no one stopping Cheren? He then saw Cheren...

...leap towards the train tracks as the train came. Everyone gasped in horror. It felt like everything slowed down.

"Cheren!!!"

Cheren looked at him as he was falling to the train tracks. Tears were sliding down Touya's face as he knew that he was too late. He swore that he saw Cheren give him a sad smile as tears fell down his own face. Touya tried to grab Cheren's arm but...

The train hit Cheren, causing blood to spill on students that began screaming. Blood also spilled on Touya. This was no joke. He hoped that he would stop Cheren...but he failed to.

He fell on his knees as he saw the train stop. He noticed that Cheren didn't have his stuff with him. He couldn't respond. He couldn't do anything. He felt the world turn upside down as he fainted.

"Touya, wake up!"

Touya woke up almost immediately. He noticed that he was back in his room again. He saw Nate and Calem. "What...what happened...?" He then realized something. Cheren...was it all a nightmare. "Cheren...Cheren!" Touya looked at Nate and Calem. "Where's Cheren?" Nate and Calem looked at each other with sad looks.

"Touya..." Calem spoke softly. "I'm afraid that Cheren has died." Touya felt his blood turn to ice. "...He committed suicide by jumping into the train tracks when the train was coming." Touya immediately realized something. This was no nightmare.

This is reality.

"They cancelled school today because of that." Nate said. "Me and Calem carried you back here." Touya felt tears sliding down his face. He began crying. Nate and Calem looked at him before hugging him, leaving Touya crying in their arms.