George collapsed on his bed on the night of July sixth and sighed heavily, what he had seen between John and Paul that morning weighing down on his mind.
He stood up and through off his shoes, shirt, and pants and threw on his pajama shirt and pants. He went down the hall to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, then returned to his room, turned off the lamp, crawled beneath the covers.
Closing his eyes and sighing heavily once more, George tried to shake away everything that was bothering him. He certainly had a lot to think about. The fact that Paul, one of his best friends, had been beaten by his father who knows how many times before and George had no clue. Paul and his brother moving in with John. His two best friends in the whole world were most likely dating.
He shook the thoughts away viciously and squeezed his eyes shut, desperate for sleep to come and take him away.
Nine days later, Paul now doing much better, John and Paul got up, got dressed, and headed out for a walk. They stopped in the backyard where Mimi and Julia - John's mother - were lounging in lounge chairs and Mike was sitting in the grass reading a book.
"We're going for a walk," John informed the two women.
"Be back in time for lunch," Mimi said.
"Or they could come round to my house for lunch," Julia suggested. "What do you say, boys? That is, if it's alright with you, Mimi."
"Fine by me," Mimi said.
"Sounds fun," Paul nodded. "John?"
"We'll be there at noon," John stated.
Then, the two of them set off at a decent pace though still somewhat slow seeing as Paul's back had been torn up pretty badly and he was still in quite a bit of pain, especially now that he was being weaned off of the pain medications.
They walked on the pavement holding hands, fingers laced together tightly. It was a great day. A brilliant day. A fantastic day!!
Until noon when they went to have lunch with Julia and she wasn't there....
And they waited....
And waited....
And waited....
And waited....
And waited....
And waited....
Then at two in the afternoon, Bobby - Julia's husband, John's step dad, and the father of Julia's two daughters and John's half sisters - answered the phone. It was a call from Mimi who was phoning from the hospital........
........Julia was dead.
Paul sat beside John on the sitting room of Julia's and Bobby's house three days later. Mike was in the room and he walked over to John.
"Everything is going to be alright, John." Said the twelve year old. "She wouldn't want you to be sad and depressed. She'd want you to go on with your life, because that's what life does. Overall, life goes on, even when one life stops." And without another word, he turned on his heel and left the room.
Paul shook his head and couldn't hide a small chuckle. "That's what I said to him when our mum died," he stated. "Word for word."
John merely nodded slowly.
"I'm here for you," Paul said. "You know that, don't you?"
"Of course I do, Paulie." John slung an arm across Paul's shoulders. "You're..." He sighed heavily. "You're my best mate."
From the next room over - the kitchen - sounds of a guitar being strummed could be heard. John looked up suddenly and bolted toward the kitchen, Paul at his heel.
George was sitting on the kitchen table lightly strumming a melancholy tune and humming along.
"THIS ISN'T FUCKING BAND PRACTICE!!" John shouted angrily.
"John, calm down!" Stuart yelled.
Paul glared at Stuart. 'The idiot,' he sighed inwardly.
"JOHN, NOT EVERYONE MOPES ABOUT AT A FUNERAL!!" George bellowed and every head in the room turned to him.
George. Never. Shouted.
"You - "
"No, John!" George snapped. "People play music at funerals! And when people die! Get over it! Not everyone handles death by sulking and being a dick!! Some people use their anger and frustration instead of shoving it all at people around them!!"
In an instant, John had lunged at him and the two were rolling around on the tile floor, scratching at one another's faces and pulling at each other's hair.
"KNOCK IT OFF!!" Paul roared.
Paul, Stuart, Pete, and a few other people who went to school with John pried John and George apart.
John straighter up and stormed out of the kitchen, out of the house. Paul ran after him. "John!" He shouted. "Wait up!"
George stared after them, remembering what he had seen just over a week earlier and he sighed heavily. If they got caught, they'd be in major trouble. So he couldn't tell anyone.
"Dear Lord, boy, your nose is bleeding!" Mimi entered the kitchen. "What in the name of heaven happened in here?"
"Nothing, ma'am." George shook his head. "No need to worry about it. We handled everything."
Mimi sighed.
Out in the front yard, John stormed toward the gate.
"John!" Paul yelled. "JOHN!!"
He whipped around. "WHAT?!" He shouted angrily.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?!"
"HE - HE JUST - HE WAS - HE - "
Paul frowned. "John, it's not your fault."
"WHAT IF WE HADN'T GONE FOR A WALK?!" John roared. "WHAT IF WE HAD STAYED HERE WITH MIMI AND MY MUM!! SHE WOULD HAVE HAD LUNCH THERE!! WE ALL WOULD! AND SHE WOULD BE ALIVE! SHE WOULD BE ALIVE, PAUL!!!"
"YOU CANNOT CONTROL LIFE AND DEATH!" Paul bellowed. "YOU HAVE TO KEEP GOING, JOHN!"
"THERE MUST BE A REASON - "
"I SEARCHED FOR MONTHS TO FIND SOME DEEPER MEANING WHEN MY MUM DIED AND ALL I KNEW WAS MY FATHER BEING A DICK SO DO NOT COMPLAIN TO ME ABOUT THIS, JOHN LENNON!! I KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO LOSE BOTH YOUR PARENTS WITHIN LESS THAN A WEEK OF EACH OTHER IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE!!"
"I CAN BARELY REMEMBER MY FATHER!!"
"I WISH I COULD'T REMEMBER MY FATHER! I WISH I COULD WIPE HIM OUT OF MY LIFE BUT I CAN'T!! IT'S NOT MY DECISION! SO I KEEP MOVING AND LIVING BECAUSE THAT IS LIFE!!!"
"WELL, I'M SICK OF LIFE!!"
Paul sighed and shook his head. "There's no need to be sick of life, John. Life is good. But only if you make it so."
John slowly looked over at Paul and walked toward him before he wrapped his arms tightly around the younger boy and buried his face in the crook of his neck. "I - I was just getting to know her," he began to sob.
"I know," Paul hugged him tightly, starting to tear up. "I know."
"She's never coming back!!" John sobbed.
"No," Paul let the tears fall. "No she's not."
The stood there for a long whole, embracing in the front yard, rocking back and forth.
Eventually, they went back inside and went to the kitchen where Pete and Stuart were talking and George was tending to his bloody nose.
"I'm a dick," John walked over to George. "I'm sorry, Georgie."
"Nah," George shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Just forget it ever happened."
John gave half a smile.
"Everything is going to be alright," Stuart slung an arm across John's shoulders.
Paul glared enviously at Stuart. He had been jealous of Stuart for a while, now. He wasn't sure why, he just was! John and Stuart were such close friends and Paul just....he didn't even know.
George noticed this and watched Paul suspiciously. He didn't know what to do with the information he had. Should he keep it a secret? Obviously he wasn't going to tell anyone, but should he tell John and Paul that he knew about..."them"?