Deteriorate

Epilogue.

"We gather here today in remembrance of Scott Richard Hoying. Scott was a gracious man with a big heart. He showed his heart through his music and his love for others."

I walk up to the podium at the signal of the preacher.

"Scott was my very best friend. We weren't just lovers, we were soulmates. I always knew there was just something about this boy that made me love him. We met when we were ten years old at community theatre. He was Charlie and I was Willy Wonka."

I smile as the memory runs through my mind.

"We instantly knew that we would hit it off. We hung out every day and finally made it "official" when we were 16. He asked me to prom. It was the best experience of my entire life. He then graduated and I was stuck in school for another year. We decided to audition for The Sing Off when I was 19. We made it and won together. Then, we moved to LA, and it went from there. The day I thought my world fell apart was when the doctors first said the word "cancer". I thought our lives were over. The best day of my life was when all the treatments were over. The doctors had told me to watch out for how he looked and how he was feeling on the outside, when really, I should've been worried about the inside."

I reach into my pocket and take out the broken ring. "The next time I was going to be in a church was going to be for our wedding... not for his funeral."

I look at the people sitting in the front row.

I step off the podium and walk over to them, handing each of them a piece of the ring.

"We all lost a friend, a son, a boyfriend, a brother, an uncle- but each of these people gained life."

"Josh, 18 years old, liver. Samantha, 15, kidney. Alex, 17 years old, lungs. Claire, 22, heart, and Avi, 27, kidney."

Avi absolutely loses it as I hand him a piece of the ring.

I make my way back up to the podium and signal for the rest of the band to come up.

We leave a spot in the middle and hum our pitches for the last time.

"You, you light up in the dark
You're the glow in a priceless work of art
I see, I see your shining star
You're the light through my window from afar

And don't you forget
The only thing that matters is your heartbeat going strong
Oh, don't you forget
That nothing else can matter 'cause you know where I belong

Oh, take me there
Won't you take me there?
Won't you take me home?
Oh, take me there
Won't you take me there?
Won't you take me home?

We, we light up the sky
Heaven knows there's no such thing as goodbye
'Cause love, love can never die
We'll forever be burning, you and I

And don't you forget
The only thing that matters is our heartbeats going strong
Oh, don't you forget
That nothing else can matter 'cause we know where I belong

Oh, take me there
Won't you take me there?
Won't you take me home?
Oh, take me there
Won't you take me there?
Won't you take me home?

Oh, take me there
Won't you take me there?
Won't you take me home?
Oh, take me there
Won't you take me there?
Won't you take me home?"

I'm overcome with emotion as I finish singing for the very last time.

We all walk off of the stage without a word.

**

I pack up the last of my things and head out to my car.

I drive silently to the school.

My mom walks me inside to my room.

"I'm proud of you." She says as I put my stuff on the bed.

I've been accepted into college.

UCLA. I really don't know how, maybe because I was a singer.

"Thanks." I say and take a look around.

"I know it's not what you wanted..." she trails off.

I take her hand. "I'm gonna be okay. I know what I want to do and I'm going to do it."

She smiles and pulls me into a hug. "Scott's proud of you."

I nod.

"Well, I'd better get going. My flight's soon."

"Would you like me to come to the airport?" I ask.

She shrugs. "We can go somewhere else first."

**

I sit down in front of the headstone.

"I don't want to make this cheesy. I miss you. I miss you and it hurts like hell. I really wish you were here... I'm gonna be a music teacher soon. I really hope you're having fun with your family. Can you tell my grandpa hi? I miss him. Even though you helped a bunch of people, I wish there was something I could've said that would make you stay. I wish we were on our Starbucks run right now. I wish we were going to be uploading a Superfruit video this Tuesday. I wish we were going on a world tour this year. I wish that we were gonna get back on that bus for another six months. I wish that you'd get mad at me for leaving my Starbucks cups everywhere. I wish we were at the doctor right now getting your port removed the right way."

I wipe away the tears falling down my face.

"Goodbye, Charlie. Goodbye, the hot one from Pentatonix. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, my love."

I kiss his headstone and lay down his in-ears.

"So you can always hear the music."