STORIES OF BROKEN MIRRORS

"Hello, Dante… You're still here," the man greeted.

The other turned his head to meet him, nodded, and replied.

"Hello, Félix."

"I knew I'd find you around here," Félix said, scratching his head. He sat next to Dante and sighed calmly.

"Yes, well, so did I. Although I wasn't sure if already..."

"I-I didn't know either," he interrupted. There was an awkward silence for several seconds until Dante continued.

"I didn't really want to see you..."

"Don't be like that. I'm tired of it."

"Tired of what?" Dante asked, puzzled.

"Of what you always do. You know it."

"Now you're demanding things from me!? You lost that right a long time ago... And you know it," Dante responded, emphasizing both "you's."

Félix stopped talking; Dante was right. Both sighed, stopped talking for a while, and contemplated the landscape around them. The world had changed a lot since the last time they saw each other. The trees, once green and full of life, were now a color they had never seen and couldn't be easily described. Their surroundings were the same, they seemed like ghosts, they were there and at the same time, they weren't.

"I didn't come here to fight," Dante commented.

"Then what for?"

"I was alone... I wanted to talk to someone... How have you been?"

"Bad," Félix replied.

"You've been bad your whole life; but, how have you been?"

"I-I don't know... My brother died recently."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry..." Dante replied.

"You know it's not true, you never got along with my brother... I never got along with my brother," Félix said, looking at the grass where he was sitting. It seemed dead, but it wasn't; like everything else, it was clear it wanted to survive.

"I also visited a McDonald's on the way here. They gave me a free Big Mac!" Félix exclaimed happily.

"A free Big Mac? Since when do they give out food?"

"I don't know, but I took two."

"So they didn't just give you one, but two. Why didn't you say that from the start?"

"It was to surprise you," he said, pulling out two Big Macs.

"I'm on a diet."

"Go to hell and eat the Big Mac."

"Alright, alright..."

Dante took the burger and bit into it. It tasted good. Not as good as in previous years, but it could have tasted worse.

"It's... Fine," Dante said while looking at the burger.

"Yeah, it's not great. Sorry, I thought it would taste better."

"Don't apologize for that... You should apologize for other things."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, maybe the last message you sent me."

Félix exhaled embarrassedly, scratching his head at the same time.

"You remember it, don't you? The last thing I read from you."

"Yes..."

"I thought things couldn't get worse in my life... And you can say I was selfish, but I think you were ten times worse."

Félix looked at Dante, puzzled.

"You're not selfish anymore?"

"No...! A little... Maybe more than I should be."

Dante squinted his eyes, still hurt by what had happened.

"Why did you do it?"

"I... Uh..."

"Why did you wait so long?"

Félix didn't speak for a few seconds that felt like an eternity.

"When... Mom died, I promised myself never to lie to anyone again."

"I honestly would have preferred that lie to continue than to know what you truly felt..."

"Do you not feel it anymore?"

Dante clenched his hand on the grass.

"When I saw the message, I didn't know what to think. I was... Happy, but furious at the same time. I had told you what I felt months before; so, why did you wait so long?"

"I was afraid."

"Of your dad? Your brother? Of whom?"

"Of everyone... I was always afraid. I was terrified! I didn't want it to be true!" Félix paused, looked at Dante, and continued, "I didn't know how I was going to solve it, so I decided the best thing was not to face the whole world."

"You weren't going to do it alone."

"I guess not... But two people can't fight against a larger number."

"Maybe not; however, it was worth trying... I would have tried, but now it's too late. Everyone is dead now," Dante stopped talking for a moment as he looked at his friend with sadness, then continued, "If you had told me you loved me, maybe things would be very different now. Everyone is dead, so it would be perfect for the two of us. No one would bother us anymore, and we would be... Happy."

"I know..."

"The world is strange. Strange accidents happen... God can one day decide to end it all... Or we can simply die because a guy was drunk and decided to drive in that state... You should have told me before all this happened."

"We can still be happy! Please, Dante, I know I made a mistake, but we can fix it together!" Félix asserted, taking Dante's hands.

Dante wanted to say yes. "To hell with everything!" he wanted to express. He still loved the other man with all his soul. Unfortunately, he shook his head, removed his hands from Félix's, and replied.

"No. It's too late... You hurt me, Félix... I don't think it's easy to simply forgive you... I'm sorry."

Dante stopped looking at Félix and directed his eyes to the world around them. There were all kinds of indescribable beings in front of them. The end of times had begun a few months ago. It was only a matter of time before everything they both knew ceased to exist. It was very late, too late!

"Goodbye..." Dante got up from where he was sitting and walked away.

"Goodbye..." Félix watched Dante walk away, never to see him again.

It was too late for both of them.