𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 ✯ eddie munson

11| 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐁𝐘𝐄, 𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐘

"Max, hey, are you okay?" Cerise asked in a motherly tone.

"I'm fine, just drive." Max's voice was faltering and Cerise knew she saw something. Something that eerily seemed to concern Cerise as well.

✰*ੈ✩➶༄✰

"Turn here," Max softly directed Steve. He silently obliged and turned into the cemetery.

Cerise's eyes widened. She was all too familiar with this cemetery as she visited it every single day for a month last year. She hasn't visited his grave in a while and Cerise pressed those thoughts aside, wanting to be here for Max and not for her own desires.

The car came to an abrupt stop and Max got out without hesitance, but what seemed to perk Cerise's curiosity was how the strawberry blonde teen simply stood there.

"Aren't you going to go visit him?" Cerise asked in a gentle tone, genuinely curious as to why Max was staring at her.

"I know how much you need to speak to him too," Max murmured, a diminutive smile lightly forming on her lips. Cerise was in awe of the girl, her stepping out of the car and wasting no seconds in embracing Max in a tight affectionate hug.

"You're an amazing sister," Cerise murmured in Max's ear. The girl smiled at the older teen and watched her walk off as she visited the grave of her ex-boyfriend.

Cerise shuddered at the sight of Billy's grave, something she never got used to. From the last memory she could pick out of her head, the last time Cerise visited his grave, she was in a terrible state, her body being poisoned with drugs and alcohol.

Sitting down on the ground, Cerise weaved her fingers through the fine feathery emerald blades of grass, inhaling the scent of the dewy nature surrounding her body. She traced Billy's engraved name on his tombstone, a miserable smile deeply filled with sadness coming across her face.

"Hey, Biscuit," Cerise grinned, reminiscing on the nickname she gave to Billy. "I'm here again."

Cerise stayed silent. Nothing but the sounds of howling winds thunderously booming in her ears. She fidgeted with the necklace on her neck, looking back at Billy's grave.

"I'm so sorry, Billy," Cerise started, tears betraying her as they trailed down her cheeks. "I wasn't there to help you that day."

Cerise was reminiscing the Fourth of July last year, the disheartening memories of how Cerise was merely inches away from Billy the moment he was mutilated by the Mind Flayer.

"It should've been me instead. You didn't deserve this." Wiping away the stray tears, Cerise sniffed, inhaling an uneven breath.

"Um, I met someone," Cerise laughed, imagining the sight of Billy's jealousy coursing in his eyes if he were actually here with her right now. "Eddie...he treats me well. You've always said you wanted me to be happy, and Eddie gives me that comfort."

She paused and Cerise knew the words that she wanted to spit out, were going to change her life forever.

"But because I know you want me to be happy, means that this is the day I have to let you go," Cerise choked on a sob. She placed her forehead in her hands, letting the tears puddle in her palm. Cerise's shaky hands gained the courage to unclasp the tarnished necklace on her neck as she dug a small hole next to Billy's grave and buried her necklace with him.

Her legs felt like jello when she stood up on her feet. Cerise brushed off her hands that were powdered with earth's dusty petrichor. Kissing her index and middle finger, Cerise placed a kiss on Billy's grave, looking at it for the last time in a very long time.