Okay so early morning post that might be a bit sad and a bit long. Sooo... Enjoy my answer to the prompt?

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Cal’s front right tooth was missing and unfortunately Olly’s wasn’t. The two of them had such strange ways of bonding and this was one of them. If one of their teeth had fallen out, the other would try as fast as possible to knock that tooth out to match the other. The most infamous time of this happened when Cal, Olly, and Wolfie, Cal’s fox stuffed animal, had gone to their secret hideout in the junkyard which later became a place where Cal and his gaggle of friends hung out. A part of the hideout and the forgotten junkyard was this old boat that hung at a forty five degree angle overlooking the rest of the junkyard. Cal had lost one of his teeth in the back of his mouth and Olly wanted to lose it too so they could match as they always did. Problem was, Olly’s tooth was barely even wiggly. Cal and Olly, and Captain Wolfie of course, thought long and hard about what to do about the situation. In the end, Cal and Olly slowly dragged the motor of an old car onto the boat, tied a string to the motor and the tooth, and got ready to push the motor over the edge of the railing. Whether Olly’s balance was just that poor or whether the weight of the motor was too much, Olly tipped over the edge of the boat as he and Cal pushed the motor off the railing. Cal started sobbing uncontrollably into Wolfie because he thought he had killed his best friend until he heard Olly laughing from the ground. The reason Olly was laughing so much was because their awful plan somehow worked and was fun to him. Cal felt terrible and apologized the whole way home.

Cal and Olly had both grown back in that tooth, but now, Cal was missing his front right tooth and he hated how he knew Olly probably hadn’t lost his front right tooth yet. Olly was trapped by the mean adults that guarded the hospital and wouldn’t let Olly leave. Olly had to stay in the hospital after Cal finally got Olly to meet Cal’s other friends like Peppy, Rosa, Matt, Ben, and Jackson since those were the only five of his group he knew at the time. When Cal was introducing Olly to them, Olly fell to the ground, crying that his legs wouldn’t work and that he couldn’t get up. At first Cal thought Olly was only kidding, but the rest blurred together as Olly’s older brother rushed him to the hospital.

Cal was tempted to start eating the chocolate chip cookies that filled the bag in his right hand, but he was saving them for Olly. Olly always loved his cookies anyways so if Cal ate them that would just be mean. Cal ran his tongue along the gap between his teeth as he walked up the stairs, too nervous to take the elevator. He had a handmade ‘get well soon’ card made from red colored paper, glitter, and dying markers that he held in his left hand and that Cal would have put macaroni on it if it weren’t for the fact that his dead-beat dad yelled at him for wasting food like that. Cal stopped when he got to the second floor. He wasn’t sure what room Olly was in, but if he looked in all of them, surely he could find Olly, right? Click click click! The sound of his aglets that belonged to his untied shoelaces tapping on the floor filled the almost empty hallway. It was sad that no nurse or doctor even worried why a nine year old would be wandering the hallways of the white, droll hospital. Since Cal was still on the shorter side at the time, he had to go on his tiptoes to look into the tiny window of each small hospital room. It took Cal a long while to find Olly’s door.

Olly’s room was the one at the far left end. Room 257 on floor two.

Cal peered into the room, barely able to see into the compact room through the tiny window. Sitting on a white pale bed with his hands laying on either side of him was Olly and sitting in chairs next to him was his crying mother and brother with a blank expression, Carlos. Cal dropped the cookie bag and the card on the floor next to the door before pressing his hands on either side of the glass and his face to it. Olly didn’t move an inch. His skin was pale and somehow lighter than Cal’s skin which was odd seeing as his skin was almost darker than that of his mom and his brother. His dark hair was covering his face and Cal couldn’t see his eyes. Cal couldn’t see him smile either. All of a sudden-

Uh oh.

Carlos stood up, his eyes locked on Cal as he was still peeking through the window. Cal froze. Carlos wasn’t necessarily mean, but he was scary at times and held a more ominous presence than even Jackson when angered or Leroy whenever. Carlos walked to the door. Normally, Cal would have backed up to the other side of the hallway, gulping slightly as he pulled his hat down over his face. But he couldn’t. Cal needed to see Olly. Cal needed to see him. Carlos was now standing in front of him. There was a long silence as Cal was tempted to hide under his hat or tear his gaze away. But he couldn’t. Cal stared Carlos dead in the eyes and didn’t move.

“Cal,” Carlos spoke in an unusually quiet and gentle tone. “Olly is...”

“I want to see my friend,” Cal interrupted, his hands balling into fists at his sides.

“Cal you can’t-”

“I want to see Olly!” Cal’s voice was steadily climbing in volume. Cal tried to walk around Carlos, but he raised his arms up and stopped Cal from going further. Cal could see, on the other side of Carlos, Olly’s mom looking up, tears still traveling from her eyes, as she looked at Cal with dull and silent eyes. Cal glared back up at Carlos. “Let me see him!!”

“Cal wait-”

“Why can’t you just let me see him??” Cal tried desperately to shove his way through Carlos, tears building up in his eyes.

“Cal listen-”

“Let. Me. Through!!” Cal was practically screaming at this point as he started to punch and kick at Carlos as he just stared down at Cal with an unreadable expression. Cal became desperate, hoping to deny what he already knew as he saw the heart rate monitor and Olly’s mom looking away to struggle to hide her tears. “Olly, I brought you cookies!! Please come and get them! I-I made your favorite!!! The ones with extra sugar an-and-and extra-lots of- choco-chocolate chips…!” Olly’s body lay lifeless as he made no sign of movement. “Ple-Please wake up! I-I-I made a card as well! It has glitter…! I couldn’t get macaroni but- but...”

“Cal, please listen,” Carlos said. Carlos was speaking in a soft whisper as Cal stopped and looked up at him. Tears were streaming down Carlos’s face. Carlos never cried.

“Olly is dead.”

Olly is dead?

“No! No, no, no!!” Cal yelled at him, punching and shoving Carlos’s chest. The man didn’t even flinch.”You’re lying! You’re lying!!” Cal looked past Carlos again and the seven and a quarter year old kid who was always wearing a big smile except for now. “Olly, I-I’m go-gonna get you outta he-hi-here okay! We’re gonna- We’ll-” Cal started sobbing uncontrollably into Carlos’s chest, punching him weakly to the point that a wet paper towel would have hurt more. “You’re so me-mean… A horrible la-li-liar..” Carlos picked Cal up and sat on the floor to the right of the door, right by the cookies and the card he had brought, and held Cal close to his chest. Cal gripped his shirt and sobbed into him as Carlos just sat there silently.

“I-I want- I want... to see... my friend...” Cal spoke through sobs and small hiccups as he buried his face in Carlos’s chest.

“Me too buddy.” Carlos let out a shaky sigh as he forced back tears. “Me too.”