Chapter 22: He Learns About The Day
I was having so much fun this past few days that I forgot what day it was. It was November 17. The death anniversary of the two most important people in my life.
Today was the day I called the worst of the year. My father and my brother shared one last thing in their way out of this world. They died on the same day, 5 years apart.
My mom doesn't do what I do. I stay home and don't go anywhere except for Marcus' grave but my mom is different. She goes to work and leaves early to spend the entire afternoon at the cemetery until it got scary for her and left.
I learned that I shouldn't go at the same time she did because it was just too much for me. It always made me cry how mom talked to his grave, she pretended my father's grave was also there and she would talk to the both of them.
I just went first and then I would give mom her space to talk to the love of her life and her son.
I went downstairs and started to made breakfast. It was already 10am and my stomach was desperate for food. I cooked myself a full English breakfast and in the middle of cooking the sausage the doorbell rang.
I went to the door and opened it. Surprise, it was Seth. "What are you doing here?" I asked and headed back to the kitchen.
"Why are you skipping school?" He asked and sat on the stool while I placed the food in the plate.
"Reasons, you?" I avoided the topic pretty neatly may I say. I sat down next to him and started eating.
"Because you're not there" I blushed at that. "Are you going to tell me those reasons?".
"I'm going to show you later, but right now let me eat" I said and he raised his hands in Surrender until I ate the last piece of my eggs.
"Okay, now let's show you my reasons" I said and stood up. I left the dishes in the sink since I really didn't want to wash dishes right now and left the house into Seth's car.
I gave him directions until we arrived at the cemetery. "What are we doing here?" He asked as we parked.
"Let me show you" we got off the car and I walked between the headstones with ease. I had already memorized the path. Of course they were some new graves but it was still the same.
After a few minutes of walking I arrived at Marcus' grave. It was still the same grave with the same engraving in the same place it had been for 4 years.
'Lovingly remembered,
A wonderful son and brother
Marcus T. Adams
October 8, 2002
November 17, 2011'
"This is your brother, right?" He said as I sat down in the grass. He followed me and sat down beside me.
I kept staring at the headstone but still nodded my head. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened to him?" He asked after a huge silence.
"You want the long story or the short one?" I ask him.
"The long one, we have time" he said with a chuckle and I took a deep breath before starting.
"Well back in England when I was 8 and Marcus was 4, my dad wanted to take me to the park to see this new slides they placed since he knew I loved them. We took his motorcycle, I loved to ride with him. I still remember how whenever we were going to a place I would beg him to take me in his bike. At one time I decided to look behind him and saw when this red car went into our lane and hit the back of our bike. I was lucky, I guess. I flew from the bike and broke my arm but my dad's body got crushed by the bike. But apparently that wasn't what killed him it was the force of his head hitting the pavement. I hadn't realized he gave me the only helmet he had. I never realized. That was November 17, 2006" I said and wiped the tears that slipped my eyes.
"That's the same" He started to say but I knew where he was heading.
"Date as Marcus' death. Yeah it is. Want to hear the rest?" I asked and be nodded.
"Well a few months after he died, my mom couldn't bear living in the same house where my dad spent his whole life in. So we packed our bags, gave the house to my grandmother and moved to Florida. We were fine for 4 years until we started noticing Marcus' condition. He started eating less, he dropped weight incredibly fast. We didn't noticed it at first how he was feeling weak and cold, how he was getting headaches. He never told us, he said he wanted to be brave. But when we did notice it was too late. The cancer had already spread to his liver, testicles and was on it's way to his brain and spinal cord. We were too fucking late. They tried to save him, they did but they just couldn't. Even he gave up, he never said it out loud but I could tell. We celebrated his last birthday hoping it wouldn't be the last but it was. November 17, 2011 we took him to the hospital after we found him but once again it was too late. He died holding our hands. I will never forget that he died with a smile on his face" I sobbed out that last sentence and immediately Seth grabbed me and pulled me into his chest.
We laid there for I don't know how long until Seth broke the silence. "Tell me about him, what was he like?"
I wiped my face before looking at him. His face was very close to mine but I didn't back away. "He was the best person I've known. I like to say that if he ever went to Hogwarts he would have to be a part of the 4 houses because he was brave, loyal, smart and he was always ambitious. He was the most wonderful person I've ever met, even at 8 years old he had a level of maturity about his whole situation. He was actually the one that comforted me through it. Him. The one going through the cancer comforted his sister" I said into his jacket. The tears slipping out of my eyes like a waterfall.
He grabbed my face and separated me from his chest. He held my face in his hands and with his thumb wiped away the tears in my cheeks. "Hey, listen to me. I want you to promise me something" He said and I nodded.
"Every year on November 17, I'll pick you up and we'll go here and we'll talk about this and you can cry on my shoulders until you run out of tears. Because you're not going to be alone in this and I want to learn about your dad and brother as much as I can. Promise?" He explained.
"Promise" I said and he smiled at me, and for the first time since I sat here I smiled back.
We stayed like this for a few seconds before I saw Seth's eyes trail down my face.
He face started leaning closer to mine and my face subconsciously met him halfway.
Our lips met as soon as I lifted my head. We stayed still for a second before he started moving his lips against mine, at first I didn't know what to do since I've never done this before but then I remembered the million books I've read where they have their first kiss and followed what it usually said.
I moved my lips with his rhythm and slipped my hands into his hair and gripped on it. I guess I did something right because he groaned in my mouth but was muffled by our lips.
Softly, he leaned back from me and I followed him. "I'm sorry" He said and I looked at him.
"For what?" Please don't say this kiss. Just don't say it.
"I just thought you needed that. I'm sorry about that" He said. Of course he did.
"It's okay, let's just get back before it gets dark" I said and we went back to the car where he left me at my house before he went to wherever he was heading.
But my mind was still set on that kiss that I will probably have to forget. Firstly, because he was 'sorry'. Secondly, because it was on top of my brother's grave.
Marcus, I'm sorry you had to see that
"The secrets kill people"
-The Walking Dead