One broken Tooth n Two Broken Hearts

Then whatever we lived through, we lived through together; his tear filled eyes meant more to me than mine.We shared everything from cakes to smiles through broken hearts to broken teeth. So when Alan 's front tooth began to shake, our little hearts shook too. He showed it to me the first thing in the morning at school. I shared his foreboding sense of loss and I think for both it was the first brush with a sense of loss in life. Through the class hours I made sure the tooth remained there till Sister Mxxxx reprimanded how awful of me it was to put my hand inside his mouth but to him and me all that mattered then was  stalling a forthcoming loss. Like every classroom did ours too housed bullies. This year it was a 'she' bully named Bxxxxx. She was a baby vampire wanting to disturb our bliss world, mine and Alan's.

Having sensed our emotional turmoil over a tooth, she invited us for a game . And just when Alan scaled a desk, the baby vampire pushed him hard from behind. I watched my precious companion fall headlong and then it rolled across the floor and fell at my quivering feet. Bxxxx  left us(Alan, me and the broken tooth) with a triumphant smile. Alan and me watched in mute horror at the white tool that lay before us and then he declared,"Home." We walked towards his home, my right hand holding his lost tooth and he holding to my left. We didn't speak a word, it was the saddest moment for him and me. Walking down I remember he was a real gentleman, he didn't speak a word against the baby vampire but he was thoroughly distraught and he didn't want me to look at his toothless frown. When we reached his home another shock waited for us. A strict aunt of his in a very bad mood received us and she cruelly reprimanded him for having played and lost the tooth. Alan till then stoic burst into tears and flopped on the doorstep. I flopped beside him, held him in my little arms and with each sob that racked through him, I felt my little heart rack away too.

I was used to seeing a crying Alan since I was two years but to see a sobbing one was new and too painful for our world of bliss.  And then I think Alan pushed me away, I think that was the day he noticed the cruelty of the world first. I was on my knees and I could not withstand to see the bitterness in his eyes. I knew he was feeling helpless in an indifferent world but he wanted me to go away. Overcome with the grief of his loss more than the first need to be alone, I walked away without looking back. It was after I reached the end of the street I noticed I was still clutching his little white tooth in my palm. I looked at it and there on that lonely street, I held it close to my heart and felt the first wave of  alone ness step into 'our' world of bliss. The incident was not just about being toothless in grief, I think Alan and me went through a lot of 'ess'... alone ness, helpless ness and expression less.