All That Remains

23. Jaelynn

Two Months Later

The air was heavy with the scent of rain.

Dark clouds hung in the sky, ominous and foreboding, casting shadows across the earth. Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightening crackled on the horizon, illuminating the sky for a few seconds. Jae looked to her left, where Elias walked in stony silence beside her.

The last two months had aged him. Gone was the innocent boy she had met, replaced by this hardened version of him, one who knew grief and pain first hand. Killing his father had changed him irrevocably, despite the fact that Emmanuel had technically already been dead when it happened.

Elias spent every day in sullen silence, only speaking when spoken to and only smiling when Eden was around, though that was more for show than anything. His nights had been filled with bad dreams and he clung to Jae in the darkness, often screaming out in his sleep even as she tried to soothe him.

He was tormented by the events of that fateful week, haunted by his past in a way that Jae knew all too well. Except, his pain was multiplied by a thousand, his regret combined with the grief of losing the only parent he had left.

Jae wasn't sure how to help him. His light had been what pulled her out of the darkness, and she wished she could do the same for him. But it wasn't that easy. Time does not heal all wounds, and Elias's were barely scabbing over.

They reached the open field, two makeshift crosses stood out in the distance. Jae's heart clenched as she prepared for the pain that would inevitably follow this visit. Elias's pace quickened, as though he was eager to get to their destination.

She let him go ahead, keeping an eye on their surroundings. It had been a bad idea for them to come here. But, Jae had wanted to Eli to have this moment with his father, the same way she had visited her parent's on the day she had first met him.

He reached the crosses, falling to his knees in front of the one on the left. Unlike the makeshift graves that Jae had prepared for her parent's neither of these had mounds of dirt beneath them. There were no bodies buried there.

After Elias had killed Emmanuel, they had agreed that it would be best to burn his body. Tyrell had been the one to suggest that they do the same for Keenan as well, just in case. Tyrell and Tobias had carried him, placing him with Emmanuel on the bonfire that had already been built. This time, they ensured it was lit properly as they watched the flames engulf the bodies of the two men.

They had burned Lorenzo separately, not wanting his remains to be mixed with people they actually cared about.

Despite their initial resistance, they had ended up staying at the hospital for two more days while they waited for the fire to die down and the ashes to cool. Eden had been inconsolable during that time. Though they had kept her away from the fires as well as the sight of Eli killing Emmanuel, she had to be told of her father's demise and, understandably, had not taken the news well.

Elias and Jae had each collected a jar of Keenan and Emmanuel's remains, keeping them as they travelled, each day searching for a new safe place to stay. Their search for Delta had been frustrating and fruitless. A few weeks ago, they had come across this open field, deciding it was as good a place as any to scatter the remains of the people that they cared about.

Jae had made the crosses as a way to commemorate both Keenan and Emmanuel. Despite Emmanuel's betrayal, it was clear that Elias had loved his father deeply. Jae liked to believe that if he had lived, the father and son would have worked out their differences. Though, given the fact that Elias had found Eden just before Lorenzo was about to slice into her skull, this seemed like wishful thinking.