A kindness is not a weakness
*Huff Huff*
'Ho no, I'm already late,' Charlie jogged quickly on the footpath towards the school.
Everyone in the way could tell the boy in school uniform was late to school.
Few people felt cheerful looking at his unnecessary worry because they knew he would miss nothing important. Few felt he was rude to run on the footpath and few just ignored it by going on with their lives.
As he ran he saw an old lady struggling to carry her trash and he felt. 'Ho no!' Feeling again.
He stopped his running and took the trash from the old lady. "Granny, I will throw the trash, you go back home."
"Ho my, thank you, young lad." She felt relieved as he took away the trash by giving him a pleasant smile on a pleasant morning.
He ran with trash and threw it in the dustbin as he ran continuously. 'Sigh, I am too kind for my own good.'
He was a high concious kid, which means he pays attention to his feelings, thoughts and limitations. Normally, most people never pay attention to such things.
*Ting tong ding*
He heard the school bell ring as he was still 2 streets away from the school street. It worried him even more.
***
He entered the classroom in a force with his breath heavy but the teacher was not there yet.
'Wha...' He felt disappointed for stupidly running with his might. 'So the homeroom teacher is not here yet.' He went and sat in his chair.
This is Charlie, a kind boy who would always help people in need.
***
*Ting tong ding*
Everyone took out their lunch boxes but one girl went to the teacher's desk and took the books, which were more than she could handle.
So Charlie didn't open his lunch box and stepped to her. "Class rep, let me help."
"Charlie, you are always helping me, at this rate, I might take it as my right to get your help."
"Either way this is too much to hold properly," he said, "let me help this one time then."
"You said the same thing last time."
"Well, this will be the last of the last."
She giggled because she knew he would help out again. "Well then, let's quickly submit these and come back for lunch."
Looking at Charlie, one boy in a friend group asked his friends, "Isn't Charlie too kind? He is easy to push around; it must be tough for him."
"Tough, you came to our class this year, so you don't know about it," said another boy and called Charlie, "Charlie, can you bring orange juice from the vend mech?"
Charlie smiled pleasantly as if accepting and said, "Go and bring it yourself. It's healthy to move as much as possible." He walked away with the class rep.
"See, no one can push him around. He knows how to help."
As Charlie walked in the corridor, he peeked into the next classroom through the door as he walked and slowed down.
He gave a glance at a beautiful girl and looked in front again shyly, then he looked through the window for another glance and looked away again. He was very happy to see her.
'Yseult is talking to her friends. Today we have combined gym class, I can see her in gym clothes. I wish I could see her in her normal clothes too. Maybe I can see when I go on a date with her but I have to propose to her to do that, sigh, when will I get the courage to propose to her?
At this rate, someone might...'
"Charlie, Charlie." The class rep called him repeatedly and he finally heard her.
"Huh? Yes, what is it?"
"You almost bumped into him," she said by indicating the boy they passed already, "why are you dazing off."
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something."
***
*ting tong ding*
The evening bell rang and everyone got ready to leave while a boy came to Charlie.
"Charlie." He called casually.
Charlie was confused as he usually would be cheerful when he spoke to him.
"I am going to propose to my crush," he said.
Charlie felt happy for him. "Really, you never said that you have a crush, who is the lucky girl?"
"Shu! Why are you being loud?" He looked around and came to Charlie's ear and said, "It's Yseult from our next class."
*Crack*
Charlie's heart cracked at the moment as the words passed to his brain. His face turned down instinctively and the friend got suspicious.
"What happened?"
Charlie realized and suddenly became cheerful again. "Nothing. It's just that she is average, so I was a little disappointed but I will support you, my friend."
The friend looked at Charlie weirdly as he closely inspected Charlie's eyes. "Why are you hiding it?"
Charlie started to sweat as he tried to cover his panicked face to his best. He was worried that his friend might have found out about his feelings. "What...what are you saying? I didn't hide anything."
"Suspicious." His friend glared at him with a whisper. "You should go and check up on your eyes. It's not healthy to push through with bad sight. It will only get worse."
"Ha ahh! hahahaha. You meant that."
His friend looked at him weirdly for his dumb behavior. "What else did you think?"
"Nothing. I was talking about the new game I started playing."
"What? Did you start a new game without me? You traitor! You are sentenced to 10 hours grinding for me this Sunday."
"Forgive me comrade but shouldn't you go on a date with young lady Yseult this Sunday?"
His friend just realized that and felt embarrassed. "Well, ahem. I will reduce your sentence to 2 hours on Saturday night then."
"Much obliged."
"That aside, please come with me." The friend requested. "I am scared to propose to her."
"What?" Charlie was already heard broken and he was holding on a cliff by a thread but this was pushing his limit. "What will she think if you take me to propose to her?"
"I am not asking you to come with me, just hide and watch me. If she rejects, I can quickly fall on you for emotional support."
Charlie tilted back with little disgust. "No need to change gender preference just for a small rejection."
His friend got mad. "Stop joking, she might go away."
"I don't think she will reject you," Charlie said with a down face but with a smile. "You are cool, your grades are always in the top 10, you are athletic and all too."
"But still..."
"Just go." Charlie aggressively pushed him.
"Ok, man, no need to be so serious all of a sudden."
***
It all went through Charlie's eyes. His friend called Yseult to his side and proposed to her. Despite his down talk on himself in front of Charlie, he gave a well-constructed proposal.
"I never dated before," she said and continued, "so I am not sure what it means to be a couple but I don't want to get touchy after I accept. I want you to respect my boundaries."
"So you agree?" He asked eagerly and she nodded.
As a matter of fact, Charlie knew his friend never had contact with her and he could tell she didn't know him until he proposed to her. She agreed to him because he was the first to propose to her.
His friend and she walked away leaving him behind. He came out of hiding in a depressed state.
'If I had proposed to her, she would have accepted me.
No, what am I thinking? If I think like this that means I am coveting her. How ugly! I shouldn't do that. She belongs to my friend, that's it.'
But it was not as simple as he thought. As he walked, he passed a woman trying to use a vending machine while carrying a baby. Usually, he would hold the baby for her but he ignored it and walked by.
It was very hard on him despite convincing himself that he didn't need her. 'Ah, now I understand why men fall into despair when they don't get the girl they love. I know it will recover but it's killing me now.'
*Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*
A truck blew a longhorn due to break failure, at the same moment, two gangsters looking men in their 30s were walking in front of him.
The man walking on the roadside was Nicolas and the man walking at the side of the building was Thomas.
As Charlie looked in front due to the continuous horn sound, he noticed Thomas pushing Nicolas into the road. It was a guaranteed murder as the truck was coming.
Nicolas was shocked to see his best friend push him like that and he also understood he was envious of him all this time. Even if he survived the crash, he would surely kill him in the hospital.
But in the nick of time, Charlie caught Nicolas's hand but Nicolas took advantage of that by trying to save himself while pulling Charlie onto the road. Charlie understood Nicolas did it on purpose to save himself even at the cost of his life.
However, Thomas kicked Nicolas's leg and both Nicolas and Charlie were hit by the fast truck.
Nicolas hit a tree and the truck smashed into him and tree, completely killing him on the spot while Charlie hit a speeding car and died without any time for a flashback in his memories.