Out Of My League | Percabeth | Completed

Chapter 18

Percy's POV

It had been a week. Annabeth and I had taken samples of four places in a week, we had as much fun as we could, but I don't recall smiling very much in all of them. On the contrary, I was more focused on science than anything.

I woke up to a sunny morning.
Ironic. It should not have been sunny at all. It should have been raining. Tyson's funeral was today. The sky should have been crying with all of us. But if the sky cried every time a person died, there would be no sun, would there? I changed into the black clothes that my mother had picked for me. The clouds hid the sun, much to my pleasure. They weren't dark. It was fine, still. Estelle was wearing a coat over her black shirt, she was wearing black trousers as well. Her short hair, which was basically a pixie cut, was combed well. Her wavy wisps of hair were on one side. Mom walked down wearing a black gown covered with a jacket, and wearing makeup. I checked my own clothes. Was it cold outside?
It was, I stepped out and there was a chill to the air. My phone pinged a few times, I checked. It was only everyone confirming they would be at the funeral to do Tyson's final rites. I felt sick to my stomach.
Tyson was gone.

I walked outside, wearing some formal shoes, which were polished black. I took a few turns and arrived at a flower shop. There were flowers on shelves and a grinning young boy, slightly younger than me was cutting thorns of roses and tying bundles of blue irises.
That's when Annabeth entered. She was holding some money in her hands and was looking around.then she spotted me.

'Hi...'
'Hello...'

We looked away and started to search for appropriate white flowers. I don't recall looking at Annabeth again. I picked up some white flowers and left before Annabeth did. Upon reaching home, Mom had been helping Estelle getting touched up, without make-up, because Estelle would refuse to wear make-up even if it was her eighteenth birthday.

I gave the flowers to Mom, who tied them with a rope. She placed the bundle on the table nearby and looked at us both.

'The car will be here soon, the funeral will be in an hour. The body-' her voice cracked, '- is already at the destination. You can go to your rooms, if you may.'

She walked away curtly, leaving Estelle and me with nothing to do for an hour. None of us smiled at each other. The chill had entered the house, filling the area with melancholy. I tried hard to not meet Estelle's eyes. It was just too painful, her expression would be softer than what it's supposed to be. She was just - Estelle... she wasn't meant to cry or be soft - she was always... very strong.
The sky was now darkening. No, the clouds were darkening. Estelle walked away and shut herself in her room. 

Annabeth's POV

I didn't want to meet Percy's eyes. Today wasn't going to be a nice day. I could almost imagine Sally breaking down as Tyson's final rites were performed. That's why we were going - as friends to Percy and his family.
I quickly met Nico. Whether the other's believed it or not, that kid was taken aback by the death. He was wearing formal black clothes for the occasion.

'Annabeth,' he said looking slightly surprised.
'How are you doing?'
Nico's lip quivered.
'You loved Tyson as a cousin more than you were letting on, Nico.'
'I was, wasn't I?'
I gave him a sad smile.
'I never played with him much-' he said, '- what if he was good guy?'
I had no answer for this.
'Well, thanks a lot, Annabeth.' he said with a sad smile.
'Don't mention it - I just wanted to see how you were doing, you are Percy's cousin, after all - and my friend.' I added at his raised eyebrows, he was clearly saying, Percy's cousin? Percy must be really important if I'm "Percy's cousin". Anything you wanna say, Annabeth?

I said goodbye to Nico and went home: AKA Piper's. She was getting ready for the funeral. She watched me enter through the mirror.

'Get ready, we've got twenty minutes.'
'Oh, right.' I said.
Piper turned to me.
'You had to watch him die,' Piper said, 'that must have been... hard.'
'It was,' I replied.
'People die everyday,' said Piper in a I've-seen-my-mother-die kind of tone. Which was true, her mom, Aphrodite, died of cancer in front of her, 'it's only natural.'
'Yeah.'

I changed and got ready quickly, then I took the wheel and drove Piper and me to the destination. A body was covered with a white cloth, it was Tyson's, obviously. Estelle was looking at it with a blank expression. Percy looked at it with disbelief, like Tyson was alive, and was just sleeping. He was looking at it like Tyson' would jump out any minute laughing like crazy. The truth was he wasn't alive.
I hoped Percy knew that.
Sally was crying in front of it. Nico had arrived a few minutes earlier than us, because he was standing with Estelle, who was now crying, trying to console her. He glanced at me and gave me a small nod. Callie, Leo, Hazel and Frank had stepped out of their car just then. They waved in our direction.

The other guests arrived in a matter of minutes. Half of them carried tissues or napkins which got soaked through in seconds. Percy stepped up on a platform. His expression was fixed with disbelief, fear and anxiety. He looked at me as if to say, Annabeth, I think I've got amnesia.
He took a huge breath and started a speech.

'Tyson was my brother,' he said, starting out simple but to the point. 'He had autism.'
Several woman sniffed at this, and Jennifer, who had been called just because she was Percy's neighbour, twisted her nose in distaste. I wished I could punch her.
'He was a great and loving brother.' Percy continued while giving a pointed glare at Jeniffer. 'Estelle, me and Tyson always played or watched a movie. Despite his autism, he would really try. He knew he was autistic, and he would try to understand things. It was the seventh of July when he died.'
Sally was chewing on her nails and watching Percy with tears in her eyes. the sentences were so short. Yet they had such loving meaning to them.
'The reason Tyson died was-' Percy's voice cracked and the microphone gave a disrespectful amount of beeping feedback.
Percy looked like he wanted to slap the microphone. After the feedback died he continued, '- was that he had a three storey fall - from the roof the the ground.'
Woman gasped.
'He had lost a ton of blood and Estelle tried to keep him safe. She panicked and no one was answering her calls. She did a great job.' he added. Estelle was silently sobbing now, I walked over to her and let her bury her face in my chest, 'If she wasn't there, he would have died much earlier.'
Percy took a pause, as if looking for any objections, Hey! Estelle still didn't do such a great job! He died anyway! nobody did, of course. Estelle really had done a good job.
'He went into coma for weeks after that - on the seventh of last month, he went into cardiac arrest and died. We all love him and-' he looked at a man, a blonde man who I recognized as the doctor who had given Percy some wise words on the deathday. I was surprised he had arrived. A kind doctor, indeed. 'A man once said - as long as their name is said, they are not dead.'

Percy stepped down from the platform and ran over to me, sobbing into my shoulder. My friends wrapped their arms around him in return.

'This is the saddest group hug ever.' Leo said, still his humorous self. We should have thanked him.
Percy gave a sob-laugh and Piper smiled. Nico was crying. Everyone was crying. 

The final rites were performed and everyone cleared out. Only me, our friends and Percy's family remained. We all left the site at the same time, and then it rained. Now the sky was crying with us.

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See you in the next chapter.