Soft (Kleinsen)

No Requiem

At Murphy's house, Larry and Cynthia were sitting in the living room, reading the stack of printed pages of all the emails that Evan brought to them.

Evan stood there, anxiously waiting for some kind of response from the adults.

"These were just some of the emails I found." He blurted out.

There was silence for a couple minutes.

"I mean, I can print out more. I have a lot more, Connor and I emailed all the time."

"It's... Difficult to read these. It doesn't sound like Connor at all," said Cynthia.

Evan realized that he made a terrible mistake. 'I'm sorry. I um... Maybe, I shouldn't have..."

Cynthia shook her head. "No, no. I just... Gosh, I don't remember the last time I heard him laugh. But you do, you would...?"

Evan nodded and shook his head, not knowing what to do. "No, yeah, we would, we laughed all the time."

Cynthia hesitated for a moment. "There are more of these? More emails?"

"More...? Yeah. There are a lot more."

She smiled. "We would love to see them. We would love to see everything." She looked at Larry, who had said nothing. "Wouldn't we?"

He hummed in agreement.

The door creaked open and in came Zoe Murphy. She froze when she saw Evan. "Why are you here?"

Cynthia smiled when she saw her daughter. "Oh Zoe.  Wait until you see what Evan brought us-emails from your brother."

Larry smiled at Zoe plainly. "How was your first day back?"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Terrific! All of a sudden everyone wants to be my friend, I'm the dead kid's sister, didn't you know?" She said, dryly.

"I'm sure they mean well." Assured Cynthia.

Evan took this as a hint to leave. He started to pack up his things. "I should probably go."

"You're not staying for dinner?" Asked the mother.

The boy took his backpack and put the straps onto his shoulder. "Oh, well.. Just, I hadn't planned on it.." He spoke in a nervous tone.

"Then we'll do it another night," spoke Cynthia, not letting the subject go. "I can cook something for you.."

"You don't have to."

"It would be my pleasure. We would love to have you." She looked at Zoe and her husband for affirmation. Neither said anything.

 Larry picked up the tension and motioned to Evan. "Why don't I show you out?"

"Oh, thanks," he stammered.

Once the males left, Cynthia turned to her daughter. "So, how was band today? I bet they're happy to have you back, huh?"

"You really don't have to do this, okay?"

"Do what?" Questioned Cynthia, confused.

"Just because Connor isn't here, trying to punch through my door, screaming at the top of his lungs that he's going to kill me for no reason," Zoe sighed. "That doesn't mean that, all of a sudden, we're the fucking Brady Bunch!"

"We are all grieving in our own way. I know how much you miss your brother." She stood up. "We all do." She set stack of emails on the couch and looked at Zoe. "You can read these when you're ready." Cynthia left the room and headed to Connor's room.

The girl flipped through the letters halfheartedly. She then set them down, instantly dismissive. "Why should I play along with this game of pretending to miss you?" She whispered. "Great son! Wonderful friend! Can you see all those tears?" She muttered, sarcastically.

She let tears stream from her eyes. "You're hilarious if you think I'm singing Requiem tonight.."