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Chapter 22: Showing Up Is Hard To Do

I vaguely remember the day I found out about Mr Tanner's death. Dylan's mom called our house one afternoon. My parents and I went over to the Tanner house to send our condolences. We sat in their living room as we grieved. He had been gone for two days.

"I can't believe this, Lauren," Mom said. "I just can't believe it. A heart attack?"

"That's what the doctors said," Mrs Tanner replied, wiping her eyes with a tissue. "They did all they could to revive him."

Annie was sitting next to her mother on the couch across from us, holding her close as she tried to suppress her tears.

My nine-year old mind couldn't fully wrap itself around the idea that someone I knew was now gone. He'd been to my house and driven me to school. Our families had gone camping together, and now he was just... gone.

I looked over at Dylan, who wasn't saying anything. He sat on the floor of the living room in a daze, staring off into space.

"I'm sorry about your dad," I said to him.

He didn't reply. He ran up the stairs to his room and didn't return, thus beginning his vow of silence. Shortly afterwards, the rest of us left downstairs could hear he faint sound of strumming coming from his room.

About a week after the funeral, he came back to school and started talking to me again. He smiled and we laughed, but I could tell that he would never truly be the same.

For a long time, Dylan and his guitar were inseparable. He would play it at any chance he could get. The first song he ever wrote was about his dad. It took him about three weeks before he allowed me to hear it.

I watched him as he softly plucked the strings, his eyes closed. When he did open he focused on the placing his fingers correctly on the fretboard. His lyrics were so sad, but there was a hopeful tone to them. I could feel every emotion he was trying to portray pouring out from his soul. I was moved.

That, for me, was the first time I truly acknowledged Dylan's talent. 

***

Before I knew it, it was the day of Xander's party. Everything was so well organised; Xander had seriously pulled out all the stops. Of course I'd helped out a little, but I hadn't realised just how much effort had gone into it. Well, it was all for a good cause.

The party was held in a hall space in the town's civic centre. Hanging from the ceiling was a huge banner with the words "WELCOME BACK XANDER" spread out all across it in bold lettering. In the front of the room was a small stage where Dylan would be performing later on. For the time being, however, a DJ was occupying the space and bouncing some remixes.

The whole place was like a mini carnival. There were many stalls set up with various chance games to play. His mom had put up a stand against the side wall of the room to sell her cookies. Some teens were huddled around the various arcade game stations set up to play. All of the money made was going to charity.

It was quite a large turnout for a random Saturday afternoon party. Xander had invited some friends from his high school, so I didn't really know any of them. Nadia was there as well. Their relationship was going smoothly, Xander had told me.

There were a lot of things that I was hoping for that weekend, but mostly I was just looking forward to getting to see Dylan again. Regardless of what was going on with him, he's my best friend and it had been way too long since he'd last spent a whole weekend in Parkland.

"Is Dylan here yet?" Xander asked, walking up to me. I was standing near the pool table in the corner, watching a rather intense game taking place between two guys. I couldn't tell who was winning.