Lethal. {manxman}

Epilogue.

Oh, killing me softly and I am still falling.

It felt as if the bond we had died.

Crushed to tiny little pieces as each minute went by, the connection through the imaginary line we shared, fading ever so slowly.

The footsteps of people walking down the black aisle, heightening the already dark mood. As I held a bouquet of white flowers, the scent of it wavering my nostrils but it wasn't enough to sooth the pain deep in my heart. "God damn it." I sniffed my tears away as I looked at the dark blue casket sitting on its hedges, the bottom half laced with flowers.

There's a fire starting in my heart.

"Why does it hurt so much?" I clenched my chest, trying to hold on my tears as I looked at Mary, who seemed to have the hardest of us all to accept this death. "My baby..." She wailed, unable to go on. She made eye contact with me and I grabbed her hand, hoping to mend her pain with the remembrance of him in me. "Why did it have to be my son, Eli?" She sobbed, the words of the pastor doing nothing to her broken heart.

Even though you don't mean to hurt me, you keep tearing me apart.

"Why Alessandro?" She whispered, her voice hollow and her cheeks stained with tears, the sign of a unhappy woman, a woman who had just realized a part of her died with the man sitting in the casket. It looked so much like Alessandro and I found myself wanting to throw myself in the casket with him.

I closed my eyes and tried to fight off the pain but god, it hurt so much. It hurt so much to imagine life without him. "I'm sorry Mary...I wish that..I wish..." The words fell from my tongue, something important I should've told Alessandro before it was too late.

I love you.

Mary shook her head. "It's not your fault." She knew the truth of what happened with Alessandro and I. "I don't blame you, sweetheart. I just wish I had a chance to say goodbye." She sighed and I know she wanted to cry her heart out until she was nothing left.

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness.

I honestly thought that when this day had come, I would have already experienced a life with him but now I won't even get the chance to. I won't even give him the chance to tell him I forgive him for everything that he done, even if it was meant to hurt me. I didn't care because I knew how much it mean to Mary if I had just the slightest thought of forgiving him. As the pallbearers came up to gather the casket,

I need you. You need me.

"Is this really the end?" I muttered to myself rather than anyone else. This life wasn't supposed to end for him. He was supposed to be here or at least I thought he was.

I need you to survive.

* * *

"Are you Eli Sawyer Kaylor?" A man in a black suit walked up to me, something like a scrapbook in hand. I wiped my tears away and nodded to the man. "I'm Alexander Parker." He smiled gently at me. "I will be your chauffeur for today." He stated, motioning to a slick black SUV. "Um, what do you mean?" I questioned, confused on this whole ordeal.

"Your father, Dominic Kaylor requested that I take you to his building." He stated and I nodded. My father didn't have any building that I knew of but maybe he was talking about his house or something. "If you don't believe me, here's his number that he called me with earlier today to clarify this." He handed me his smartphone and I recognized my father's number and the texts between them sounded like how my father would talk.