A Lion's Tail and a Bear's Hug: Chapter 13
#13 of A Lion's Tail and a Bear's Hug
Sorry this took me so long to get round to writing, I have been really busy lately. Anyway here is the last chapter of my series. I have changed my mind and this will actually be the last chapter I won't be coming back to this series. With the end of a relationship comes the end of a story. Anyway, votes comments etc. would be appreciated. I'm sorry it had to end like this.
A Lion's Tail and a Bear's Hug: Chapter 13
Moving on
Lejon hung out with Mitchell and Yusef for most of the day; once more they bunked off from their lessons. They were in Lejon's favourite piano room and Lejon was playing the piano once more.
"You know you guys should really be getting to your lessons" Lejon said to the two of them as he finished one of his pieces.
"Naw man, it's your last day, we don't know if we'll see you again."
"True..." Lejon said as he looked away briefly. Yusef caught on to the subtle motion.
"You ok Lejon. You know you can always talk to us about anything." Lejon smiled, his face betraying the emotions underneath. His eyes suddenly lit up.
"Guys we haven't played chess in ages!" The liger and the dragon looked at each other and then ran to the room where the chess pieces were kept. Lejon took a detour but sprinted to the room and arrived at the room about 10 seconds before the liger and the dragon arrived. He was breathing heavily but managed to straighten up to give them a smile before crouching over to get his breath again.
Fortunately nobody was occupying the room so the three friends entered and proceeded to take the chess sets out of their cupboard. 15 minutes later Lejon had the upper hand against both of his friends. Mitchell looked up from the board.
"Fuck you you're trying you're knight move again. But I already saw though it." He grinned as he went to move his queen well out of harm's way. Lejon nodded slowly,
"You're gonna regret that" He said with a sly grin.
"Am I?!" the dragon said, not sure whether to believe the lion or not.
"I dunno" The lion said smiling sheepishly. Mitchell decided to go through with his move to which Lejon grinned. He moved a bishop out of the way revealing a hidden check from his queen, checkmating the dragon expertly. Mitchell groaned. The liger to the left of him punched him in the shoulder.
"Ha, I lasted longer than you."
"Oh oops, sorry is it my turn Yusef?" The liger nodded apprehensively.
"Checkmate!" The lion said with a grin as he took one of Yusef's pawns with his queen. Yusef looked at the board and then facepawed as he suddenly noticed a bishop on the other side of the board protecting Lejon's queen.
"Fuck" was all the liger could bring himself to say as Mitchell punched him back.
Back in Lejon's apartment Bjorn was frantically looking in all the rooms. He needed to get to the lion but in all of his time with him he hadn't asked him where he went to school or what the address of the school was. He eventually noticed a slip of paper poking out from under Lejon's wardrobe. The bear pulled it out as quickly, but also as carefully as he could. He didn't have much time, but he couldn't afford for his one possible life line to break and be lost to him. It was a school report; and, to Bjorn's relief, the address was printed at the top right hand corner.
The bear collected his things and ran out the door, he hadn't picked up his keys, but he knew that if he was too late it wouldn't have mattered anyway. He rushed down the stairs taking them three at a time. As he turned to go down one flight he tripped and fell, his body bounced on the stairs several times before he finally came to the bottom of the set of concrete stairs. He gasped as he felt the pain in his side. He felt over his body and winced. He had broken at least one of his ribs and had several bruises.
A leopard had seen the whole event and crouched down next to Bjorn. He told Bjorn to stay where he was and to rest, but Bjorn pushed him out of the way and stood up, leaning on the wall for support. He growled as pain shot through his whole body and moved down the wall a few steps at a time. The leopard looked on, not sure what to do. After the bear had moved about a metre, the leopard moved to support him as he walked down the corridor to the door.
"Where do you have to get to?" the leopard asked the bear, a look of genuine concern running over his face.
"I need to get to my boyfriend; I think something's gonna happen to him. Say, could you call a cab for me? I don't have any cab service numbers on my phone." The leopard nodded slowly; slightly shocked that such a big guy could be gay but then took out his phone with one hand. Fortunately he did have the number of a cab service and called for a taxi. He lead the bear out to the pavement and supported him until the taxi arrived.
"Thank you, I won't forget this" The bear said with a smile as he got into the taxi and showed the driver the address. The driver, an aged badger nodded.
"I'll do my best, but there was an accident on one of the main roads, it's completely blocked up in that area; only clear bit is after the accident." Bjorn nodded his head. There was nothing else he could do.
"Please, I know it's your job, but I really really need you to get me there as quickly as possible"
The badger nodded and slammed his foot on the accelerator. Bjorn turned to wave quickly to the leopard before turning back quickly and focusing on the road ahead.
Back in Lejon's school the three friends were still bunking their classes. Lejon had excused himself to go the toilet and was just walking out of a cubicle. He washed his hands and looked into the mirror. The bloody face of a wolf stared back at him. Lejon felt his blood run cold. He blinked and was glad to see the wolf had gone. He looked at the mirror again, on first glance all looked normal but the past wasn't going to let up so easily. Lejon couldn't help but notice in the reflection that a lioness tail hanging limply under the door of one of the cubicles. Alcohol cans and needles were strewn on the floor of the cubicle. Lejon shut his eyes. So it's come to this. Not even my waking days are safe from the past any more. No matter how sorry I am, it keeps coming back. It always comes back. I guess it is the time to stop running. He looked at his paws; red stains were spreading across them. The golden lion sighed and walked out of the toilet. Yusef and Mitchell were waiting for him, talking about anime, as they always did.
"Guys what colour are my paws?" The lion said, holding up his reddening paws before his two friends.
"Uh, they're gold?" Mitchell replied, wondering how his answer was somehow wrong. Lejon nodded.
"Could I sell them for money?" Lejon said with a forced smile. There was a mixture of a sigh and a groan from the dragon and the liger. Even for Lejon that was sinking to new depths of comical failure. "Gosh I'm gonna miss you guys."
"What school are you going to again? I forgot the name" Yusef asked.
"It's called Saint Jesus' School. I don't think there is a Saint Jesus at all, Jesus Christ isn't considered a saint anyway, and the school is anything but 'saintly'" Lejon replied with a scowl.
Soon enough it was lunch time, the three friends had no reason to skulk around out of sight of the teachers and they joined up with their class mates in the canteen. All was well for the present, but in the staff room, other discussions were arising. A Scottish wolf, who happened to be Lejon's teacher, was sitting opposite the headmaster and was reading a newspaper.
"Headmaster, you know Lejon. He's being transferred to Saint Jesus school right?" The headmaster nodded as he sipped some coffee. "Well I found this newspaper on Lejon's desk this morning."
The wolf pushed the newspaper across the table. The front page showed a picture of a smiling arctic fox. The headmaster frowned and read the headline.
Third gay student murdered at Saint Jesus' School in two years.
"Well I assume Lejon should probably be okay provided the only murders have been of gay students. But I guess we should consider transferring him to a different school, perhaps even let him stay." The headmaster replied. The Scottish wolf growled.
"For your information sir, Lejon is one of the few students who've had the balls to actually come out in this school. He may be stronger than he looks but this is dangerous even for him, besides the fact that Lejon is one of the most exemplar students we've had in years, a strong contender for head boy and even lives by himself, because his parents aren't in a position to look after him." The head master frowned at the words.
"Why haven't I heard any of this before? I was always kept up to date on his grades, why did I never hear about the rest of this? Thank you. I have to go take care of some business." The wolf watched as the headmaster strode away. He sighed and went back to reading the newspaper. It wasn't too long before he heard news that Lejon would have his bursary increased due to his changing economic circumstances and that he would be able to stay in the school. The wolf smiled to himself and wagged his tail happily, he finally had some good news for the lion and he'd tell him when they met up in registration.
When the lunch bell rang Lejon looked up at Mitchell and Yusef. His paws were still red in his eyes, blood red; a stain that was on his paws and which he could never wash out of his fur. I've hurt so many people, my wounded tail and bloody paws are enough of a reminder of that. I'm going to Saint Jesus on Monday, and I'll probably leave in an ambulance by Tuesday. Might as well take my life into my own hands. Lejon doubled over and clenched his stomach with one of the paws using the other paw for support.
"Shit, guys I'm sorry, I'm really not feeling well. I'm gonna head home kay? If sir has anything to tell us at registration can you chat to me on Skype later on tonight?"
Lejon's two best friends nodded, the concern in both their eyes was evident, but they would respect Lejon's wish. They walked over to the exit together; Lejon was still holding his stomach and was hunched over slightly. As Yusef and Mitchell were about to turn and walk up the stairs next to the exit they asked Lejon one more time if he'd be ok. He nodded and was taken by surprise when his two friends hugged him tightly.
"We'll miss you Lejon, you better stay in touch." A tear came to Lejon's eye.
"I'll try..."
The three friends parted. Yusef and Mitchell quickly ran to their room and Lejon walked out the door and out to his bus stop. When he was sure his two friends could no longer see him he straightened up and started walking at a normal pace, which for him was slightly faster than most. He didn't take drama as a subject but that didn't stop him being a good actor when he needed to be. He made his way past his bus stop and to the busy duel carriage way near his school.
Yusef and Mitchell sat in their class for afternoon registration. Their teacher was a few minutes late, which wasn't surprising; he never got there on time. When all the names had been called out, their teacher looked up.
"Guys, where's Lejon?" The Scottish wolf asked.
"He had a stomach ache; he went home just now."
"I know you have lessons, but could one or both of you see if you could catch up to him and tell him that since his circumstances have changed, he can now stay at the school and doesn't have to worry about going to that hell hole of a school near him."
Yusef and Mitchell bounded out of their chairs and sprinted down the stairs hoping to catch up to Lejon before his bus arrived. As the two got there the two were disappointed to see he wasn't there.
"Wait!" the dragon exclaimed as he turned to the liger, "He once told me he'd walk to the next bus stop cos he could catch two different buses from there and increase his chances of getting home earlier." Yusef nodded and they ran to the next bus stop. Soon enough they spotted Lejon, he was standing on the pavement next to the duel carriage way. He was still, his tail twitched nervously as the two guys looked at him. He obviously hadn't noticed them. If they weren't so happy that Lejon was staying they would have noticed what was so strange about the whole thing, but nothing was amiss to the liger and the dragon as they tried to sneak up on Lejon. In the distance they could see a taxi approaching, it looked like it was definitely breaking the speed limit, but they thought nothing of it as they crept closer to their friend.
Bjorn was sat in the taxi as it was stuck in traffic, he kept checking his watch. Minute after minute went by and they seemed to be making little progress. He started tapping the dashboard idly with his paws. He just wanted to forget the pain in his side and he tried not to think about Lejon.
Soon enough the traffic was moving and they got past the scene of the accident. Bjorn was shocked, the wreckage of two cars, one on top of the other, lay on the side of the road.
"Excuse me," Bjorn said as he turned to the taxi driver, "I'll pay you double if you break the speed limit to get to that school as quickly as possible." If the badger's wife hadn't just lost her job he would've refused, but his family needed all the money they could get right now, he nodded reluctantly and sped up going at almost 45 miles per hour in the 30 mile per hour zone. They soon reached a duel carriageway and the badger sped up to 55 miles per hour. As they approached the school Bjorn got more and more nervous. He hoped Lejon would be ok.
Lejon stood at the duel carriageway. He was trying to remember the kinematic equations from physics the previous year. Finally the equation: kinetic energy= 1/2x mass x velocity2 came to mind. He looked up and down the duel carriageway; there were no particularly heavy vehicles and no particularly fast vehicles. Suddenly a taxi caught his eye; it was evidently speeding and fortunately was in the lane nearest to him. He breathed in deeply. It was time to take his life into his own hands. The taxi approached, getting closer and closer. Lejon took a deep breath and jumped into the road.
Mitchell and Yusef were right behind Lejon. They pounced for him just as he flung himself in front of the taxi, but they couldn't catch him.
Bjorn was barely aware of what was happening. He had barely registered the sight of Lejon at the side of the road when there was a load sound as a golden body hit the bonnet of the taxi, flew into the air and fell onto the road behind him. Bjorn's heart stopped. Once more the world slowed down, but this time there was nothing he could do. He got out of the taxi as soon as the driver pulled over. He walked over to Lejon. A liger was giving him cardiopulmonary resuscitation but nothing seemed to be working. The bear watched as the liger pressed down on Lejon's chest a few times and would give him mouth to mouth, followed by more compressions. Bjorn watched as Lejon didn't breathe. Over two minutes went by and the liger was starting to cry as he tried in vain to revive his friend. Meanwhile a black dragon was calling for an ambulance.
Bjorn sat down on the curb, he couldn't cry, he was too shocked to cry. This was his fault, if he hadn't asked the badger to break the speed limit he would've seen Lejon. Would Lejon have jumped? He'd probably be awake right now if the car wasn't going so fast. Bjorn put his face in his paws as the tears started flowing down his cheek. What did I miss? Why did you do it Lejon? Did you even give me a clue? Was there anything I could've done to stop you?
10 minutes later an ambulance took Lejon to a nearby hospital. Bjorn paid the taxi driver and then asked him to follow the ambulance again, at normal speed this time. Lejon's friend's rode with the lion in the ambulance, neither spoke, they just looked at Lejon. He'd always been there for them, they just couldn't believe that when he needed them to be there for him, they hadn't even realised.
Lejon was taken into the A&E section the doctors and surgeons looked him over, he wasn't dead, but he wasn't going to be walking around anytime soon. He was put on life support. Lejon was in a coma.
After almost 2 hours of waiting, Mitchell and Yusef went in to Lejon. They talked to him, just as Lejon had talked to his father. Lejon's soul sat in the corner of the room. It had been unable to move on, since he wasn't dead yet, but it was no longer restricted to his body any more. The lion's soul cried, he hadn't meant for his friends to see what had happened, nor had he meant for Bjorn to see. He was overcome with guilt again. He'd hurt so many people and he needed to put a stop to it.
After almost an hour Lejon's friends left. Bjorn came into the room. He sat down next to Lejon and stroked the lion's face. He took out his phone and dialled a number.
"What is it with you and hospitals?" He said shaking his head, "This is the third time I've come to a hospital because of you. Though I'd rather I hadn't. Lejon was it my fault? Are you here because of me? I'm sorry Lejon; I'll visit you every day. And I'll visit your father on Sundays until you wake up. So long as I can see you again I'll be happy to do it all."
Lejon's soul moved over to where Bjorn was standing. He hugged the bear from behind and kissed him lightly on the head. Bjorn spun round in shock, but nothing was there. Lejon moved over to where the life support machine was plugged in to the mains. Lejon wasn't sure if his plan would work but he focused hard. Bjorn gasped and looked as a semi transparent Lejon formed himself before him.
"Lejon..."
"Bjorn I'm sorry. Forget me and move on." With one claw extended, Lejon cut through the power cable. He let his soul disappear again. Bjorn panicked and ran out of the room calling for doctors.
However, it was too late. By the time the doctors had arrived Lejon's soul had already moved on. Bjorn watched over the dead body of his lover kissed him lightly on the lips. He took out his phone and made a call.
"Hello Andrea, you know our private evening classes. I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel them. Lejon and I won't be entering that dance competition together."
"Oh, I'm sorry Bjorn, why's that. Did you to split up?" Andrea asked. Bjorn took in a deep raggedy breath.
"He was in a car accident. He... he..." A lump caught in Bjorn's throat. "He didn't make it" Tears rolled down the bears eyes.
"Oh my god Bjorn I'm so sorry. Will you be alright?"
"No..." Bjorn hung up and cried, letting the tears fall on his lover, a handsome golden lion,whose name was Lejon.