I walked slowly back to Cecil and Grey.
“Is he dead?” Cecil asked.
I nodded absently. I crouched down to Max’s body and traced my fingers on his now-cold cheek. The tears of anger were gone, and left only tears of sadness. As I looked around I saw both of the boys quickly wipe away tears as well. We sat and cried for awhile, before we came to the question of what to do with the body.
“We could bury it, cremate it…There’s a lot we could do.” Grey said. We decided to take our decision-making back to the house.
We brought the body back into the house. We weren’t surprised when Natasha and Tanya broke into tears also. Max was everyone’s friend. All of us sat down in the living room, with Max’s body seated firmly in the middle, his head in my lap.
“Now there’s the question of what to do everyone.” Cecil said. “What should we do with the body?”
After a while of suggestions such as cremation, burying him in the backyard, etc, we came up with a solution. We were to give him a simple burial, in a cemetery. Max was never one to go for anything fancy.
After the preparations, we attended his funeral. It was a small affair, but meaningful. After the burial, we remained at his grave for a couple hours, sharing stories about Max. We smiled, laughed, and cried. Finally, when it started to get dark, everyone was ready to leave.
“Are you coming?” Grey asked, crouching beside me.
I shook my head. I wanted to stay a little longer. Grey nodded, and kissed my cheek before leaving. I watched as the car drove away, and once it was out of sight, I turned back to the grave.
“Oh Max,” I whispered. “Why did you have to do that?”
I ran my fingers over the smooth stone of the gravestone. His gravestone was simple, but meant a lot to everyone. Our original idea was to have an angel, but I said no. I didn’t think he’d want an eternal reminder of his differences. As if on cue, storm clouds started to form, and rain poured down. The rain ran down my face, hiding my tears. I sat silently, thinking about Max, until the thunder and lightning started. Grey came back and stood beside me.
“Are you ready to leave now?” He asked.
I nodded and stood up silently. He put his arm around my waist and led me back to the car. The drive back to Cecil’s house seemed longer than usual, and once I got inside, I went to my room. Throwing off my black dress I put on some pajamas, and jumped into bed. Sleep didn’t come easily that night. Thoughts of Max were swirling around in my thoughts, and I still couldn’t believe he was dead. He’s just pretending! I re-assured myself. But as the hours passed, I knew that he was really dead.
I just didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to believe that he was gone. But I had to. I drew my blankets tighter around myself, and squeezed my eyes shut. After another unsuccessful attempt at sleep, I heard my door open. Grey sat down on the edge of my bed.
“Having trouble sleeping?” He asked.
I didn’t even have to nod. He wrapped his arms around me. I liked the comfort. I lay back down, and he lay down beside me, running his hands through my hair.
“Sleep.” He whispered.
I closed my eyes, and Max’s lat words kept circling around. I...I…Love you…G-goodbye… I eventually drifted off, and forgot about the sadness that was bothering me.
