The Diary Left Unsigned

05-21-1995: The Funeral

Before this chapter starts, the dates are of the diary entries, not the date of the story. This, for example, is his last diary entry.
__________________________
Dear Diary,

This might be tHe last thing I Ever write. I hope you'Ll all forgive me; Perhaps some time soon...

Maybe one day, you'll be Able to accept aNd/or process what I've done. I just hope you're all not too affected. I've tried to FOLLOW the words of other people, and push on. But I can't briNg myself to Go on.

But who knows? Maybe we'll meet again somE day? I hope so.

Time: 5:12 a.m.

Goodbye

Signed,

--------------------------------

The funeral was terrible. Though, they're not really meant to be fun. Or happy. Nothing was fun or happy about the death of a child; especially when their life was taken by their own hands. 15-year-old Max Springers was found dead by the lake down in Eureka, even though they lived in Bakersfield. I guess that couldn't stop him from tying a rope to a tree and the other end to his neck...

Now, his three best friends were walking down North Chester, all still dressed in black.

"So... What do we do now?" The blonde boy asked. 17-year-old, 5'9 Jason Reyes, who knew Max since they were 5 and 7. They were best friends ever since. He had shaggy platinum blonde hair, now temporarily jelled back. His olive green eyes now dimmer than usual.

"I don't know. Usually Max made the plans." The other blonde answered, her head hung down. 15-year-old Mikah Jäger, standing at 5'2". She held her head down and let her long, dark red hair cover her dark brown eyes.

"...Why do you think he did it? He didn't ever seem upset." The other boy asked, voice shaking and on the edge of crying again. Max's best friend since diapers, 15-year-old, 5'7" Trystan Addams. His brown hair was messily strewn everywhere, and his chocolate brown eyes were red and puffy from crying. Mikah wrapped her arm around Trystan's shoulders to try and comfort him. Though it didn't work, as he nearly collapsed on the street.

They all stayed beside him as they all calmed him down as best as they could. Once they got up and continued their walk down the street, they watched all the places they used to visit with Max slowly disappear from view as they kept forward. Memories running and spinning through their heads as each and every one of them tried their hardest to maintain composure.

Once they were down Ming, they kept walking until Central; turning left and going through the gate, and entering Jason's house. They all sat on the couch, leaning back as much as possible. Almost drowning themselves in the cushions. Once they finally relaxed, The youngest Reyes sibling ran up to her older brother and held out a book.

"Hi! This is from Max, it was on the porch!" she said as she shoved the book in his hands. They were all surprised, almost shocked.

"What?" Jason asked in disbelief.

"Yeah! The book was on the door with a little sticky note that said "Max's"." She said, still smiling.

"When... When did you find that?"

"Earlier, before you got home!"

Jason looked to Mikah and Trystan, then back to the girl. Mikah stood up and approached the girl.

"Alayna, sweetie that's not possible. Max... Isn't here anymore, and his family was at the funeral."

She put the book down in confusion.

"Then how did the book get here? A ghost?!" She shouted. The small girl felt as if they didn't believe her.

"No, Alayna... But I don't know for sure it could be from Max."

"Yeah, but it was there!"

Mikah was about to say something to her, but Jason stopped her.

"Don't worry, Alayna, I believe you. Thank you for bringing this to me, you can go play now."

She nodded and ran off. Mikah looked up at the blonde next to her.

"You really believe her?"

"Not exactly. But she was getting upset and frustrated."

They nodded and looked at the book in Jason's hands. He peeled the sticky note off, and sure enough, in his loopy cursive were the words "ℳ𝒶𝓍'𝓈 𝒟𝒾𝒶𝓇𝓎" (Max's Diary) They all stared for a minute

"Should... Should we open in?" Mikah asked.

"No." Trystan said quickly. "Even if he's gone, it's still his. It's still his privacy and I refuse to impede on it." He told them.

"Fair point. The least we can do for him is get rid of it.

They all nodded in agreement.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Later that night, while Jason's parents were asleep, they went to the backyard, started a fire, and burned the book. They all held hands until the book was gone and nothing was left. After the fire was put out, they all headed inside, got changed, and went to bed in the living room; sprawled among the couches and the recliner chair the pushed towards the couch.

(𝙰.𝙽. 802 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛.)