moments with you are always special

“Well, I’ve got all night so you can tell me.” Mark says as he takes a seat in the chair by his desk, taking his guitar from its stand and giving it a light strum. He looks back up at the boy who was starfished out on his now slightly blood stained bed sheets, his hand still over his heart as he took deep breaths. His forehead glistening slightly from the sweat, and the top few buttons open from when Mark tended to his gunshot wound.

This wasn’t the first time Haechan had crashed Mark’s apartment at an ungodly hour. In fact, the two of them would spend weekend nights playing video games and eating ramen, unless Mark had college work to complete. Then Haechan would just help himself to Mark’s game consoles. However, this was the first time Mark had to catch his best friend right after opening the door for him and help him into his bedroom so that his housemates didn’t walk up. This was the first time Mark had seen someone bleed as much as Haechan did. This was the first time Mark had to use his telekinesis on another human. The first time Mark had to remove a bullet from someone’s chest. And hopefully, the last time too.

“Another fight. Two dudes. One dude pulled out a gun and bang.” Haechan emphasises the bang by mimicking a gun using his hand, pointed straight ahead of himself and shooting the ceiling. Him dramatically threw his head back into Mark’s pillows only to groan and clutch his chest once again. His harsh reenactment of the fight he found himself in earlier caused him to have stabbing pains in his throughout chest.

“What was it about anyways? The fight.” Mark questioned out of curiosity.

“Drugs, i guess.” Haechan replied unsure, his quiet tone hinting at the fact he didn’t want to talk about it any further. Haechan didn’t like talking about the fights and bad habits he had, which were mainly fueled by his awful childhood. He wasn’t proud of that side of himself. At least that’s what Mark was told. Mark hummed in acknowledgement, trying to keep the silence out of the disorganised room. 

“You need to be more careful.” 

“I’m immortal, Mark.” Haechan remarks, making the other boy screw up his eyebrows, disapprovingly. “I’ll be fine.” 

‘I sure hope you will.’ Mark though to himself.

“Sorry about your sheets by the way.” Haechan speaks up, examining the blood stains that were dotted on the bed he was lying in. 

“Oh, it’s fine.” Mark reassured the boy, drawing his attention back to his guitar. “I’ll throw them in the wash tomorrow.” 

“I don’t understand how you can deal with me.” The wounded boy comments, letting out a soft chuckle at his friend’s patience. Something most people he knew couldn’t show or be. Especially his dad. Haechan scrunches his face as the memories of his abusive father were brought to his mind. 

“Because I care about you.” Mark whispers just loud enough for Haechan to hear, as he moves his guitar to prop it against his desk. A small smile planted itself onto Haechan’s face.

“Thanks.”

“For?” Mark raises an eyebrow.

“Caring.” 

“No, you deserved to be cared for and loved-”

“Mark?” Haechan interrupts him and props himself up so that he could easily look at Mark without completely lying on the bed.

“Yeah.”

“If you don’t shut up, I’ll beat you with that guitar.”

Haechan shifted in his seat, taking in a deep breath. He looks down at the phone in his hand and then back at the camera positioned a couple of feet away from him. “Uh...yeah.” He replies gently, trying to hide the sorrow in his voice by laughing lightly. 

“Could you read them to us?“ 

“Um...sure.“ The red haired boy replies as he slides the lock screen, taps in his password and opens up the messaging app. “It was from a very close friend...Mark.” Haechan feels weird saying his name after so long. It had only been a couple of months since his death but to him it had felt like years.

“He...um...died in a car crash. 7 months ago.” Haechan speaks up, only telling half the truth. Mark did die in a car crash, but he was taking part in an illegal street race. His car had collided into another. It didn’t make any sense though, Mark had done many races on that same track, with the same people and always came first, without any injuries.

“I don’t remember much…that night.” Haechan lied, of course he did. He remembered the violent sound the cars made when they hit one another, to how he could hear his heartbeat in his own ears when he saw the bloody state his best friend was in. Haechan couldn’t even recognise him. Mark’s car had flipped over and rolled off the road into a nearby ditch. 

Haechan clears his throat, as his slides through the messages he and Mark shared. Well, used to. “So, it was a Friday and I had asked him if he wanted to get pizza. I hadn’t eaten yet and the both of us would usually eat out together every week.” Haechan didn’t eat that night, in fact, he didn’t eat at all that weekend. His housemates, who’d also take part in these illegal races had all tried their best to convince him to eat something, anything, scarred they might lose him too. Eventually, he did. Only after a lot of convincing, tears and a promise. A promise that no one was going to ever take part in another race again. Ever. 

“He replied with ‘sorry, can’t.’ College was a bit stressful for him.” Haechan laughs again lightly as he skipped over a couple of texts that related to the illegal race that was being held. Mark didn’t attend college, well he had dropped out because he honestly couldn’t care. He only cared about racing and having a good time. ‘Life too short to be stressed’ Mark would say every time he was questioned about his carefree behavior. 

“Then I texted him good luck and I'd come to see him later.” Haechan’s eye scan over the last couple of texts the two boys ever exchanged. “He’d send a lot of smiling emojis instead of replying with ’ok’.” Haechan smiles, as his vision becomes blurry with tears. He missed Mark. His easy-going attitude towards life, his laugh and stupid jokes.