My Rival's Suicide!! pt2

Suddenly feeling nauseous and sick to his stomach, Squilliam fled from his rival's bedroom forgetting all about his umbrella as he's throwing open the front door to Squidward's house. Trembling, Squilliam unlocked his boat in a mad haste and came close to hitting his head as he climbs inside. A crack of louder thunder startled Squilliam who sped back to his mansion, clutching the steering wheel with one hand and his stomach with the other. Once Squilliam pulled back into his garage and parks his boat, he immediately rushed inside his mansion, ignoring every single question that was asked as he ran down the hallways and upstairs to the shelter of his bedroom.

Shutting himself in his bedroom, Squilliam retreats to his bed and hid in the soft, silky canopy surrounding his bed. There he simply sits in pure, dead silence with the only sounds being his heavy breathing as he's shivering and clinging to all four legs. Squidward. His classmate from highschool, his archrival from then on, now dead. Laying on his bed in a bloody mess, that image was deeply embedded in Squilliam's mind, that scene alone would haunt his nightmares. Nausea took hold of him and the unibrowed octopus soon left the safety of his canopy, rushing into his bathroom he begins throwing up and having an empty stomach didn't make it any better on him.

Once he was sure he was okay, Squilliam then washes his face then takes a small cup of water to drink while returning to his bed moaning, even with that nausea gone Squilliam just couldn't being himself to sleep. As all he could think about, was Squidward, and the horrible way he had died. Why? Why had Squidward done this to himself? Was It...could it had been what had happened at the concert he saw earlier? Had it been because the crowd had all booed him off the stage? Squilliam started blanky into space, thinking it over and taking it all in. No, surely that couldn't had been it. Squidward had been booed of the stage, more times then he could count, but he would just be aggravated. His rival had never been one for giving up, whatever challenge he threw at him Squidward had never backed down. Even if he had been shunned, Squidward would swear that he'll prove himself time and time again, so what made this different from those other times?

Blinking, Squilliam gazed down at his bed sheets, recalling what he had watched before leaving his house. All he could remember though was the crowd booing his rival, everything after this was all a blank. But, was that really why he had...? No...nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, as far as he could recall. So deep in his thoughts, the millionaire was startled by a sudden flash of lightning lighting up his darken bedroom. Something suddenly crosses Squilliam's mind, could all this have been, his own fault? Had what he said to Squidward, before the concert, led to his possible suicide? Thunder rumble ominously, as if to echo his very thoughts, Squilliam is then struck with a great deal of grief. Tears well up in his eyes, he wipes them with a shaky tentacle. 'sniff' "Sq-Squiddy I-I'm sorry."

The millionaire whimpers as he placed his hands on his face, a knock is then heard at his door. Squilliam ignored it, a minute later his door is opened and his housekeeper steps into the room. "Squilliam?" Lowering his tentacles, Squilliam peeks out from behind his canopy before pulling it fully back when seeing  Squilissa approach his bed, where he wipes his tears away for a second time. "Sir? What's wrong?"

"It-It's Squidward, I went to visit him earlier and he-he's-
"What happened to him? Is he hurt?"
"No-no It's worse he's- 'whimpers'-de-de-dead! Squidward's Dead!" 

"Dead?!" Pulling the canopy back more, the millionaire offers Squilissa a set on his bed, which the shell-shocked cephalopod accepts. "Ye-yes I-I saw the concert on Tv, went to his place an-and found him laying on his bed de-dead, from what I could tell he-he took his own life!" Squilliam's housekeeper let out a quiet gasp. "You mean-?" the wealthy octopus simply nodded, the unpleasant memory still fresh in his mind, the scene was just unsettling especially when finding him with one lifeless eye that just stared blankly at nothing. "The concert didn't go over so well, ole Squiddy had ended up being booted off the stage."

"That's terrible! Those people should be ashamed of themsel-!" She paused when noticing her master flinch out of the corner of her eye. "Squilliam?"

"They're not all to blame, I share that blame to." Squilissa turned to face Squilliam just as his head droops, he then begun shaking. "I-I met with Squidward just an hour before the concert an I-'sniff'-I had told him not to bother preforming, that he was going to fail because he-he-'chokes back a sob'-he just sucks at playing Clarinet!" As tears begin to slide down her master's face, Squilissa went and grabs some tissues and hands them to Squilliam whose tear-stained face broke her heart. "Even-even when knowing that he was to fail, I thought he'd live through his failure an-...The wealthy octopus paused to blow his nose..-demand another go, preform in concert another day. Bu-but now he-won't ever play Clarinet again, and that's because-...Squilliam stops for only a minute to discard the used tissue in the trash, Squilissa hands him a fresh one as he set back down on the bed...-because I..I drove him to..to-!"

"No, sir!" Squilissa cuts her master off, gazing deep into his amber eyes, wiping tears from them. "I don't want you saying things like that! You're not to blame for th-"

"But I-" 

"It Isn't your fault! There are some things in this world that we have no control over. Squidward knows you would've stopped him if you had been there."
Squilliam let out a soft sign. "I appreciate what you're doing, but..I still share the blame either way. Even If I had not been there in the crowd, even If I wasn't booing him to, I had still taken part. Maybe If I hadn't seen Squidward before the event, maybe If I had not been so tempted to bring him down then maybe, just maybe he'd still be alive. "The housekeeper drapes an arm around Squilliam as he lowers his head again, she set closer to him as he begun to cry softly. "He'd still be al-alive." Squilliam muttered quietly under his breath, after a few minutes have past, Squilliam slowly lifts his head. "I...can't believe that...I'll never see him again, or hear his voice, and It's all because of-"

"Have you called the police yet?" The unibrowed octopus glanced at his housekeeper, accepting another tissue handed to him. "No, ma-maybe I'll call them early tomorrow morning. I-I just don't know If I have It in me at the moment. This Is to much for me to take in right now." They carry on talking for most of the night as, Squilliam didn't think he could possibly sleep which Squilissa, though tired, tries her best to hide her sleepiness from her master and stayed up. Squilliam however had caught glimpses of her yawning out of the corner of his eye, after blowing his nose for the forth time, he sent her off to bed. Reassuring her that he'd be alright, that he just needed to deal with this all on his own. Really, after what he had seen at Squidward's house, the unibrowed octopus didn't want to be alone at all. But he wasn't gonna keep his housekeeper awake when she had Important duties to tend to, besides he wasn't a scared little child anymore. Squilliam remembered how Squilissa had treated him as if he was her own son, which as of today, had never change.

This more, happier memory is able to force a chuckle from the millionaire, though it had not been enough to distract him from Squidward. Already knowing that he'd be unable to really get any shut eye, Squilliam found himself standing out on his balcony, letting out a sigh as he stared in the direction of his rival's house. "Oh Squidward" a gentle breeze then picked up, carrying with it a very pleasant aroma, sort of a musky smell, Squilliam breathes in the fresh clean air through his mouth. "Why did you do It?" Speaking to nobody in particular, Squilliam tilted his head up to, where he wanted to believe Squidward would be now. "I mean...You had your whole Life Ahead Of You! Why Would You Do Something So-So Cowardly Squidward Q. Tentacles?!! Why?!!" Squilliam found himself yelling up at the heavens, suddenly angry, which doesn't linger around for more then two seconds. Taking another deep breath, the millionaire lowers his head. "Of course, It shouldn't be you I'm angry at Squiddy, sure you disappointed me by going through with this. But I'm more angry with myself. Forgive me, ole chum, forgive me."

Squilliam was done shedding tears by this point, the few left over were wiped clean before moving away from the balcony back to his bedroom. His bed was the first to meet his gaze, he yawned, but shaking his head he turned away. Squilliam drags his feet over to his dresser, towards a fancy jewel-encrusted picture frame. Curling his tentacle around the frame Squilliam gazed sorrowfully at the picture within, an old photo of him and his rival back when they were in highschool. The wealthy octopus gave a brief chuckle when seeing his younger self giving a younger Squidward bunny ears while he's happily smiling, the memory was a joyish one, at the sametime it brought back the pain he felt. "Those were the days, eh Squiddy?" Carrying the picture over to his nightstand, Squilliam yawned as he set on his bed.

Memories flooded back as he's staring at the picture of his old friend. "I wish 'sigh' I honestly wish that I could take all of what happened to us back! It may not have always seemed like it, but Squiddy, I've Always wanted to repair our friendship. My pride though, just always got in the way." Yawning again, Squilliam gently places the picture on his nightstand, he yawns again. "It's to late to fix what had long since been broken, the only thing I can do for you Squiddy old pal is make sure you're put to rest." Leaning over the wealthy octopus picked up his alarm clock, which read two O-clock, and begun setting it while he kept yawning. "First thing in the morning, I Promise! I'll arrange everything!"

Finally, after spending most of the night fighting sleep, Squilliam is forced to surrender. It would seem like he had yawned about five times already, pulling back the covers the millionaire adjusts the pillow before climbing into bed and, leaving his canopy only partly opened so he could still see the old picture of him and Squidward. Squilliam had a restless sleep that night, as everyone of his dreams were filled with memories of their old highschool days. He's filled with pain while watching his younger self talk with a younger Squidward out in the hallways, holding back tears as he watches himself tease Squidward during lunch and in class. His eyes well up with tears when he watched his archrival, his old friend, wave goodbye to his younger self before he leaves the school grounds. Where he simply, fades out of thin air. "Squidward No Come Back!" He then heard a faint voice in his ear. 'Squilliam' The wealthy octopus spun around two times looking for the source of the voice whom he believed to be Squidward's voice. "Sq-Squiddy?! Squiddy?!" Everything suddenly grew dark around him, Squilliam became scared. "Squidward Where Are You!!" Squilliam awakes in an instant, upon catching sight of the picture frame on the nightstand, he leans over slowly, shivering while gently lifting it up. Taking one last glance at the picture, Squilliam wrapped his arms around the frame held to his chest as fresh tears stream down his face.