Hey There Delilah (Sequel to Not The Same)

Epilogue

"I've never really done this before, so I don't really know what to say." I popped my lips and looked all around me because trying not to cry while looking at all of these sobbing people dressed head to toe in black was nearly impossible. It was morbid and depressing. I wouldn't want my funeral to be like this but then again I wouldn't really wnat people jumping up and down and cheering. I guess, when it comes down to it, the harder people cry, the more you were loved. And god dammit, she was loved. She was loved so much. Finally, I closed my eyes and decided to only focus on the words that I would say. She deserved this to be special, amazing even.

"It's hard to find words to sum up an entire life. It's like writing an incredible story and then leaving someone else to write the very last chapter, so I hope I can do her legacy justice." I let the words flow from my heart, expressing exactly what I was feeling. Or at least as close as I could without completely destroying myself. I wanted to say how I felt not only so that I didn't leave it bottled up inside of me but also because maybe she was here, somewhere in this room. Maybe she could hear every word I was saying. I wanted her to hear, I wanted her to know. I also wanted her to breath but that was a luxury that she just didn't have anymore. 

"I loved her with all of my heart. How could I not?" Even though my voice was continually cracking and stuttering, I applauded myself for holding up so strong. "She's the one who taught me how to love. She's the one who taught me how to live and I'll never, ever forgive myself for being the burden that caused her to die." I allowed myself a moment to look into the casket at the always beautiful, yet cold and frail body. My tears started coming slowly but quickly they were streaming down my face so fast that I couldn't even blink them away because the second I did, there were more. I lost it for about the billionth time in the past three days because no matter what I said or did, she was gone and she wasn't ever coming back. That was a thought that I just couldn't live with.

>Liam's POV<

I watched her body shudder and curve over and I knew I was supposed to go up there. That was my job right? To put an arm on her back and let her cry on my shoulder? But then who'd be there for me? Who would be there to tell me that it would be okay and to ignore the black hole in my chest that seemed to be sucking up all of my happiness? The void was breaking me in half. So I didn't go up there, I just watched her suffer. I could barely support myself, let alone someone else.

Tear after tear fell down her beautiful face. I tried to picture the memories going through her head. All of those days and nights that I missed but might've, could've, in a different life, been apart of. I'd be crying right now; just the same as she because I'd understand. They had held onto each other so tightly for all of those years and one just floated away as easily as a piece of paper. I loved her. I loved them both. 

Believe me when I say that my heart ached. My heart screamed and flipped and cried and died for my Audrey right now. In fact, I couldn't force myself to tear my eyes away from her frail, pale body lying in the white casket and it filled my heart with so much pain that I honestly didn't know how my own heart could still be beating when the other half was lost forever, but let me tell you something else, watching Delilah look into that same casket with an expression of pure love and grief, it destroyed me. While Audrey didn't deserve to die, Delilah most certainly did not deserve to be left here alone on earth with the broken pieces of her life, wondering how to put them back together. It was all because of me. All because of that stupid song that had once been my absolute favorite. I had lost the love of my life because I was selfish and had felt the need to put one of my daughters above the other. In fact, I couldn't recall a moment where I ever really acted like I was Delilah's father. I kept on watching her and thought of how I had made her feel. 

Just like I suspected, a few minutes passed before Delilah pulled herself together. Or at least enough to speak and be understood.

"I can't stop thinking about that one piece. That one little sliver of glass." She wasn't looking at anywhere in particular, just staring off into space. "I had been awake for her last conscious moment and I vaguely remember watching the glass shatter into a million pieces and fall down to the ground." She was picturing it. You could tell by the way she cocked her head to the left side and by the way she spit out her words with disdain. They fluttered shut for a brief moment and one, lone tear silently fell. God, she looked too much like her mother. My own tears dripped to the floor.