FicWad

Just a quick note, I put this under Sci-Fi because none of the other genres seemed to work. If you have a different idea about what genre I should use, just let me know. I was thinking angst, but I'm not really sure.
__________________________________________________________________________
“Hey, Robert.” A soft voice broke the silence that I had just welcomed. I didn’t care to look up. “Robert.” The voice was sharper this time, insistent. But, Ray could be like that at times. My eyes were stuck on a picture that sat on my desk. It was a picture as old as time, and it brought back so many memories. Including the most tragic of them all.

“Robert, it’s not the end of the world.” Henry said. He was always so...optimistic. At times it was a good quality. But at times like now, it really wasn’t.

“Robert, say something, anything.” Ray pleaded with me. I didn’t say anything, I just took the picture and I held it carefully in my hands. It was a picture of me and my previous, now late, co-worker Joffrey Brown. We had known each other for about four to five years.

He was killed by a creature that long ago should’ve been extinct. A powerful, deadly creature. It could’ve been prevented, that was the thing that angered me the most. It didn’t have to happen. He didn’t have to die.

“I could’ve saved him.” I muttered quietly.

“Say again?” Henry asked. I was usually a bit more quiet, unless it got too loud and it didn’t have to be, then I would have to silence everything down.

“I could’ve saved him.” I repeated, a bit louder. I glanced up at Henry and Ray, who both had shocked looks on their faces.

“You did everything you could.” Henry tried to assure me. I shook my head.
“
No, I could’ve saved him. He didn’t have to die.” I said, feeling more hopeless by the second.

“Every man, woman, and child doesn’t have to die. It’s usually by someone’s mistakes that they die.” Ray pointed out. I glared at him.

“Yes, and he died by my mistake.” I said, a bit angry.

“That’s not how I meant it.” Ray groaned and began rubbing his forehead.

“Have you told Hammond yet?” Henry asked.

“He knows, and I’m going to talk to him about it later.” I replied casually, though in my mind, I was punishing my boss for creating such a deadly creature.

“If Joffrey were alive, would he want you to be doing this to yourself?” Ray asked me. I gave him a questioning look.

“Doing what to myself?” I asked.

“Beating yourself up for his death. He knew you tried, and he knew it wasn’t your fault.” Ray explained. I took a deep breath.

“He trusted me to save him, and I failed.” I shot back.

“You did your best. That’s all he ever asked of you.” Henry snapped. I raised a brow at Henry. It wasn’t like him to snap at anybody.

“That’s all everybody says Henry. I did my best, but my best wasn’t good enough.” I said, setting the picture down on my desk.

“If Joffrey were alive right now, but severely injured, would he be blaming you for doing your best, even if he still got injured?” Ray asked me. I paused for second.

“No. If anything, he’d blame Mr. Hammond.” I replied honestly.

“Exactly. Feel any better?” Ray asked me. There was a long pause.

“A bit.” I shrugged.

“That’s better than nothing.” Henry offered a smile. “I know what would cheer you up.” Henry said, glancing at his watch.
“Beating Hammond into a pulp?” I suggested. Ray chuckled and Henry gave me an unamused look.

“No. We can go check on the trike that Gerry’s been working on.” Henry suggested.

“That trike has been a big pain the neck.” I replied.

“True, but how else do you cheer up?” He asked.

“By cheering up someone else. Come on, let’s go.” Ray stood up and walked out of the bedroom. Henry watched me, seeing if I would go or not.

“Very well.” I got up and left Henry following.

The pain of losing Joffrey would subside, eventually, but I would always remember him.