❝ we don't live in a fairytale. we live in a tragedy. ❞
icarus made the mistake of flying too close to the sun,
but it was the best mistake he ever made.
- neil does not die in this story -
#1 in #neilperry | 7.24.20.
A/N: While I was writing this chapter, it makes it so difficult not to cry when listening to the song i linked above like — bruh it fits them so well
Don't question the picture above, its for reference and you'll read that later on in the chapter lmfaoo
Also I don't know if you managed to guess that plot twist I did, but uhm I hate myself for being so evil skjdnfnf
Anyways, happy reading!
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NEIL BURST INTO Mr. Keating's quarters without thinking first as he tries to calm his erratic breathing. Honestly, he felt like he wasn't breathing at all. Mr. Keating had a hint as to what Neil was here from the moment he saw Neil was crying.
And his heart shatters.
Neil wanted to ask what he had done to deserve this. What did he do to be so unfortunate. He swears he had followed everything everyone told him to do. Be a good son, a good student. Why did he have to fall in love with someone who would leave him? And just when they were starting to be okay?
"You knew about Presley's condition," Neil inhales sharply. "Didn't you Mr. Keating?" Mr. Keating looks at Neil with a sympathetic expression, but Neil didn't want any of it. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Mr. Keating's full attention was now directed towards Neil. The boy didn't call him Captain, or Mr. K. Neil called him Mr. Keating, and it wasn't a very normal thing. "Because I wanted her to be the one to tell you." He says, shooting Neil a sad smile.
By now, Neil can't stop inhaling and exhaling shakily as he looks up at the ceiling, stopping the tears that threatened to spill. But it was too late. "Why?" His voice cracks, "What did I do that was so wrong? Why do I have to experience all this?" He then turns to look back at Mr. Keating with glossy eyes. "Why does she have to leave me?"
Mr. Keating lets out a sigh, and then gestures for Neil to sit down, but the boy strongly refuses. "People come and go, Neil. They can't stay forever." This just seemed to hurt Neil more as he feels his heart being torn to shreds over and over again. How can he go on knowing all this? How can he possibly live?
"I — I — " Neil lets out a frustrated sigh, "No, Mr. Keating, I can't — " His voice breaks ever so slightly as he whispers, "I can't lose her." At that moment, Mr. Keating saw all of Neil's emotions through his chocolate brown eyes that were full of hurt, and agony, and sorrow.
The boy was in love.
"You see," Mr. Keating starts to say, "You've flown to close too close to the sun, and now yo're drowning, there's no turning back because the sun is slowly burning itself out." The tears were now becoming more and more unstoppable as Mr. Keating made this heart-wrenching correlation. "Neil, all you have to do, is stay with the sun, until it explodes."
