NOVEL WEB Chapter 160: Under the Shooting Stars.
"What a beautiful night it is… just like you were…" Ferucci whispered as he lay on the ground, staring at the stars in the clean night, while gunshots were still echoing with screams and shouts.
A moment, a feeling that went through his whole body as he held the grenades, like he was dreaming in a situation like this, like if stress was not bothering him, like the chaos erupting around him was nothing more than a normal day… a day in his life.
He looked more at the sky and he slowly as he tried to sit up… he saw something that caught his attention more than what he needed to, something that pulled him into the memories.
Shooting stars, not one or two but a whole lot of them, going through the sky.
"The promise huh… maybe I broke it now… forgive me Luna, forgive me." He whispered once again and got on his knees and slowly stood up, ducking low, and he could see them, dozens of the guards already there getting ready, grenades and guns in hand with flashlights… they were ready to fight as well as Ferucci himself.
He looked up once again at the sky like he was searching for something, like he was waiting for the answer.
An answer, which was maybe a shooting star for him, going across the sky.
"Next life I will keep my promise…" He whispered with a smile and stood up, taking a few steps slowly, calm, his heart didn't beat as fast as it should be, his whole demeanor was calm, but the adrenaline was wearing off, like it was told to him that pain will eventually come.
But he didn't care for it, no, it wouldn't be him… he was just like how he was always as he stepped to the tree and looked at them, stared them down, but still they hadn't noticed him, they were grouping up not even knowing a monster was watching them over.
"Marco!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, and suddenly all eyes, all flashlights and all the weapons were aimed at him, but not a single shot was fired. They didn't see a weapon, nor did they see the grenades in his hand behind his back. "Let's die together today!" He shouted and suddenly he swung his hands, opening his palms, throwing off the grenades.
The safeties flew off and the grenades flew toward them, toward the group that was on the way to hold them back, the group which now fired all of their weapons toward that person… toward that crazy motherfucker Ferucci, who stood tall, smiling while bullets hit him… a smile on his face which carried the guilt of his past… a smile, a fucking beautiful… as the grenades exploded under the guards' legs, and it threw them away, and in an instant Ferucci killed or wounded all of them.
"C-Can't aim, mother…fuckers…" He said as he leaned to the left, rolling down the hill, while blood flowed from his mouth, blood was pouring from his shoulder, from his head.
But still, Ferucci Bellini still had the smirk on his face as he rolled down, as he was bleeding out… that man didn't break his promise at all. As his body stopped rolling, maybe it was the miracle of the shooting stars, maybe the miracle of life that he stopped, laying on his back, looking up at the same starry skies, at the same shooting stars. But his smile now was long gone, as the world slowly engulfed a darkness he never felt, a cold and unearthly darkness, something pulling him down, something weighing him down.
"Smile more!" A voice… a too familiar voice, a sweet, gentle voice, but it wasn't grabbing him and pulling him up—no… it was hugging him. It felt like it was escorting him in the darkness, giving him warmth…
"Smile? No, that isn't me… I need to look badass!" Another voice, a younger voice, a voice of a guy that would eventually become known for his badass actions, his craziness, his smile.
"Why are you saying dummy things… and I know inside you are a warm little boy…" Again, that sweet voice, the voice which held him even more close, even more warmly… the voice he never forgot in his life, nor ever would.
"I am the definition of rock hard! I only kneel before God himself!" The young and brave voice of Ferucci… what a boy he was.
Then a laugh, not hard, not loud, but enough to melt hearts, enough to feel it came from the bottom… that it was genuine, that it was loving.
"Ferucci." Now it was firmer, but still with the sweetness. "Promise me that you will smile even without me."
"What?!" It was too much for him, so much that he blushed… the Ferucci back then actually blushed. "I already promised you I will engage you!" He blushed even more as he said it.
The answer was again a laugh, the same laugh with warmth. "But you forgot it… and bought the wrong candy ring… I love the red one…"
"I don't care! A ring is a ring! And my mother didn't give me enough money… so that was official!" A hurried voice, that carried the deepness of that ring, even though it was just candy, even though they were just children…
"Look!" She suddenly shouted, pointing her hand up to the moonlit sky. "Shooting stars!"
"Whoa… so beautiful." The young Ferucci whispered, and he was genuinely amazed by it, amazed that he could experience something with someone close to him… someone he loved.
"Promise me!" Her voice was no longer playful but firmer, yet still filled with warmth. "You will smile even without me!"
"Again… I smile only with you and I already said I need to be badass—" The look on her face stopped him saying everything. The look which you know is about something serious, the feeling that struck you deep in the heart.
"Promise me now!" She shouted, this time her voice was hesitant and like it carried some anger.
"But why…?" A question he asked. "What if I can only smile with you?"
"No!" Another shout. "People need to see your smile, how beautiful it is to smile, you dummy! Don't pretend to be someone strong… because I know how hard it is! Smile, live, show the world your happiness!" Her voice was full of power…. some kind of power that you can only experience once in your life and no more… but Ferucci was too young to understand it… they were both too young… "Promise me under the stars!" She held out her pinky finger. "Promise that you will smile!"
He didn't move at first, he didn't know what to do.
"Promise me before it's too late!" she shouted once again, looking up at the sky, at the shooting stars.
"I promise you…"
"Louder!" She shouted but now with a smile on her face.
"I promise you!" Ferucci shouted as their pinkies locked together with warmth, with the stillness of the night… with the moment that would carry on in his life… with the guilt and burden that he wanted to be with her too much, that he screwed up many times, with that candy ring, with no meeting, with not visiting her… the love of his life.
A burden which seemed so fragile and meaningless meant everything to him… the girl of his dreams, the girl of his life, his first love and last.
"Now it also means you will find somebody like me!"
"What?" Ferucci pulled his hand away. "No, you—"
"Yes, you will!" She shouted once again. "Somebody who will care about you, who will love you. I don't care if it is a woman, a man, a friend, or anything. You will find somebody that you will smile at like you smiled at me!"
"Luna, you can't make me promise something like that—"
"Miss Luna, what are you doing here?" An older woman's voice came. "Your surgery is in two days, and you're here with… oh, Ferucci boy, you two flirting or something. Too young for that…"
"No! We are just… friends!" She screamed out, blushing.
"Then, Ferucci, I'll take her away." She grabbed the wheelchair handles as she smiled at him.. "Ohh and the next time you can sneak into the hospital is in a week… and don't jump over the fence, just walk in the back." She said, looking at Ferucci's cut shorts.
"Ohh…"
Luna laughed as she looked back, as the nurse pushed her away. "Ferucci, a promise is a promise for life, or until someone breaks it!" This time her voice was… sad, tearful. "I'm not going to break it! Never!"
He somehow felt it… it reached him deep into the heart. "Me too!" He shouted back. "I will never break it, never will in my life."
Darkness.. the cold darkness… now pulled him deeper, deeper into the abyss, deep down somewhere where there weren't sunrises, weren't laughs and smiles… only where was guilt and sadness, sorrow and agony.
The last memory of Luna's face before she died, the last time he could have told her that he loved her, but he didn't... even though he knew it. This dumb kid knew it very well, that the chance was low… and still didn't say it didn't said it until this point that he—
"I–lo..ve you." Low and quiet, barely even a whisper. "I… lov…e you, Luna."
Ferucci finally said it, under the starlit sky, under the shooting stars… he said it.
And who knows, maybe up in the sky, on one of the stars, she's there, smiling at Ferucci because he kept his promise… and maybe, just maybe… she finally said it too.