24: Vic

                                    

                                          
**Vic's POV**

                          
I kissed Kellin deeply, with more passion than desperation; because I was determined that this wouldn't be the last one. 
                          
I could hear the now familiar sounds of death itself creeping up behind me, but I decided to ignore it. Nothing was going to ruin this moment. Even if it wasn't, I had to treat it like it was the last. 
                          
Very slowly, I ended the kiss, keeping my lips grazed lightly against Kellin's. His eyes fluttered open, a dazed and sad look in them. "I'll find a way." I whispered softly to him before I felt myself being pulled away and pushed back into my living body. 
                          
I sighed, unstrapping myself from the contraption and put it back into the box. I kept the key in my pocket though, just in case. I then made my way out of the basement and called my best friend Jaime, telling him to meet me at a café in town a few hours later.
                          
If Kellin could do research, then I could do some of my own too, and arrange a few things while I was at it. 
                          
The library was my first stop. I went through numerous books about death, the afterlife and what not... but nothing that provided me of any answers. Eventually, in my pile of sketchy books about the supernatural, I found one of Kellin's books. 
                          
"The autobiography of a freak?" I murmured questioningly. 
                          
Was this an autobiography on himself?
                          
He never told me he wrote one. But either way, I didn't have time to read it right now. I was already running late to meet up with Jaime. 
                          
I put the books back, except for Kellin's one, and brought that to the librarian's front desk. She took it from me with a kind smile and started typing away on her computer.
                          
"Oh gosh, I didn't know we still had this book." She pointed out; staring at her screen before letting her eyes fall onto the blue-green book in front of her. I had to say, the cover kind of reminded me of Kellin's eyes. 
                          
"That boy's death was such a tragedy." She then murmured as she continued typing away. She asked for my library card and I quietly gave it to her. 
                          
"What do you mean, a tragedy?" I eventually asked. I mean, sure it was sad and no one knew how he died, but I wouldn't call that a tragedy.
                          
The librarian then finished typing, having registered the book as being rented, and handed me back my card together with the book. She then lowered her glasses down to the tip of her nose as she looked at me.
                          
"Kellin was a nice boy. Not very social, but always friendly. He used to come in here a lot before he died. They say he had been dead for nearly a week when they found him. And they only found him because the local paper wanted to interview him. Can you imagine, not a single soul had been looking for him that entire week? Such a tragedy." She explained, shaking her head with pity. 
                          
I felt so bad for Kellin. I always thought he might've been overreacting a little when he said that nobody cared about him, but this sure showed it. 
                          
"Well, have a nice day, mister Fuentes." The librarian then said, pulling me from my thoughts. I nodded and gave her a half smile before leaving. 
                          
I took the bus into town and made my way into the café, where Jaime was already drinking a beer and munching on a bowl of nuts. I joined him, ordering myself a beer too.
                          
"Hey man, what's up? This sounded urgent." Jaime asked me with narrowed eyes.
                          
Yeah man, I might die soon, so I thought hey let's spend some time with my best friend before I can't anymore. Yeah, no, I couldn't exactly say that. "Just felt like having a beer, didn't you?" I told him instead.
                          
"I always feel like having beer." He then pointed out with a chuckle. Although I could still sense the suspicion in his voice. "So how's Casper?" 
                          
Great yeah, I think we totally had a thing going, until we found out that I have death chasing my ass. Yeah, no, also not something I was going to tell Jaime. Which kinda sucked because we used to tell each other everything. 
                          
He'd surely get me locked up though if I told him about fucking around with death, developing feelings for a dead guy and having make-out sessions with him as a ghost. When I put it like that, I did indeed sound insane. 
                          
"His name is Kellin." I grumbled. "But he's fine, I think. I wouldn't really know." I tried shrugging it off like that, but I had honestly no idea how good my acting game was. 
                          
I wrapped my fingers around the neck of my beer bottle and took a few big gulps before setting it back down on the bar. 
                          
"How do you deal with long distance relationships? I mean, those never work, do they?" I eventually asked, trying to sort of steer the conversation elsewhere. Kellin told me to treat whatever this was as a long distance relationship thing, right? 
                          
Jaime chuckled lightly. "Someone's got himself a boyfriend." He sang teasingly. "Where does he live, Australia, New Zealand, some other lost island on the other side of the world?" 
                          
I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Something like that." 
                          
"Well, my opinion is, communication is key. Distance or not, as long as you communicate and are honest with each other, it shouldn't be a problem. Love goes beyond the physical stuff, ya know? And meanwhile, you just do whatever you can to actually be together." Jaime preached cheerfully. 
                          
...do whatever you can to actually be together.
                          
"Thanks, Hime-time." I murmured with a smile. 
                          
That was it though, I had to do whatever I possibly could to be with Kellin. 
                          
"So tell me about him, what's he like?" 
                          
I chuckled awkwardly, trying to convince him that it was a hypothetical question. But he knew me better than that. 
                          
I sighed and smiled once I thought about Kellin and pictured him before me. "He's different... funny, cute, talented, passionate... God he's so attractive too. He has these amazing blue-green eyes and this adorable messy dark hair. He dresses like he's ready to attend someone's funeral but it's totally sexy on him." 
                          
Jaime started snickering, which ended my dreamy daze. "Oh you got it bad, Vic." 
                          
I did. 
                          
And a little too bad perhaps.