The morning was crisp and clear. The morning fog hung low over the dew covered grass, and the song of a morning dove filled the air.
Nathan gazed outside his bedroom window, lost in thought.
His wooden bedroom door creaked open. "Nathan, are you okay?"
His sister stood in the doorway. Her usually untamed blonde locks were put into a neat up-do, and her usual jeans and sneakers were replaced by a black dress and flats. A black tie was clutched in her hands.
Nathan just glanced at her before looking back out the window.
The bed dipped beside him. "Nathan... If you want to talk, I'm here."
Nathan regarded his fourteen-year old sister. She looked older with her hair pulled back from her face, and her blue eyes searched his with worry.
"I- I don't think I can do this, Sage. I really don't."
The younger sister's hands grabbed onto his. "I know. I know. But she would want you to go." She wrapped her arms around him tightly before getting up off the bed. "Just think about it." She laid the black tie next to him and shut the door behind her.
Nathan picked up the tie and smoothed it out before placing it back to the side. He ran hand through his messy hair and down his face. A sigh echoed throughout the room.
Nathan was empty- about as empty as his room looked. Everything that reminded him of her was gone. Face down picture frames littered every available flat surface. The wall next to his bed was empty and bare, the pictures and movie tickets and band posters that once hung there shoved underneath the bed. Even the bed was striped bare of it's blankets and sheets.
He looked down at his clasped hands and then the tie. Could he do it? Would she really want him to go? The answer was simple.
Guilt lodged itself in his throat. He could do this, right?
Mustering his energy, he pushed himself off his bed and to the closet. Inside lay the suit that she picked out for him. Little could she have known what he would wear it for. But he would wear it. Just this once. For her.
|<>|
The sun had risen above the mountain tops, burning away the last wisps of morning fog and dew.
Nathan fidgeted with the cuffs of his suit jacket as he made his way across the graveyard with his family.
Sage was quiet for once, not once looking up from her feet. His grandma was fiercely fighting against tears, and his grandpa held onto her hand tight. His dad was home from his latest business trip, looking the same as always in his slacks and button-down shirt.
"You okay, son?" he asked.
"Yeah," Nathan swallowed back the desire to tell the truth. "I'll be fine."
Sage silently made her way to Nathan's side and gripped his hand tightly. They continued walking that way toward the crowd of people in black.
"Chin up," she whispered as they approached. She squeezed his hand before slipping away.
All around him were pitying faces. Everyone pitied the boy who lost his girl. Closest to the hole in the ground were her family and friends, and there on the side was an empty spot for him.
He stood in the space. To his left was her mother. Her eyes were red and puffy from days on end of crying. She wiped her eyes with a lace handkerchief, gave him a watery smile, and burst into tears.
To his right was Olivia, one of her closest friends. She was staring blankly at the hole in the ground. Her face lacked all emotion, and her dirty blonde hair hung around her face in a protective curtain.
The air was still. Only the sounds of her mother's sobs and sniffles could be heard.
Nathan's eyes avoided looking at the casket in the ground. Although there was nothing inside, the thought that her body could be there, buried underneath layers of crushing dirt, bothered him. Instead his eyes landed on her tombstone.
There, carved into the cool marble, was her name. The full reality of it crushed him. It felt as if he got plowed over by a steamroller. She was dead. There was no denying it now.
She was never coming back.
A single hot tear escaped the corner of his eye. Hurriedly, he brushed it away. He refused to cry. He had enough pity as it was.
"We are gathered here today under sorrowful circumstances." Her uncle stood next to the tombstone, one of his work-worn hands on the smooth surface. "We have lost someone close to us, someone we all care deeply about." Tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes.
Her mother let out a choked sob, faintly reminding Nathan of an animal in pain. Because she was in pain. They all were. Losing someone like her was like someone deciding to rip out your lungs. You were left breathless, struggling to breathe when you just lost everything.
Her uncle wiped his eyes. "I don't think there's a single person in this town who doesn't feel the loss. Evelyn was someone who threw herself into everything she did. She always gave one hundred percent." He let out a breath of air before continuing. "But most importantly, she loved one hundred percent."
Nathan looked around. Silent tears fell down Olivia's face as she continued to stare at the ground. Her mom was now in the arms of her grandpa.
"We'll get through this. Somehow we will," he whispered to her.
Sage was collapsed on the ground. Her shoes were lost somewhere, her bare feet tucked under her body.
Across from him stood Aeron. His eyes were bloodshot and trained on the casket. He absentmindedly rubbed circles inside his palm.
"She loved without holding anything back. Who else would've come to my house in the middle of the night to help me with my car trouble? Who was the very first one to start a fundraiser when the Daniels lost their house in a fire? Who's the one who fiercely protected her family?
If anything positive can come from her death, let it be this: love deeply. Give your all. Do everything full throttle." He broke down then. His body crumpled in on itself and sobs racked his body.
White roses were being passed out among the mourners. A hand offered a rose to Nathan, and he numbly grabbed it. There was a sharp prick on his forefinger. He inspected it. A drop of crimson welled from the prick, a splash of color in his now dull and bleak world.
It didn't hurt. No. It was a cruel reminder that she was gone, and he was still alive and breathing.
There was a deep ache inside of him. He was still stuck here on Earth, and she was... gone.
A hand rested on his arm.
Nathan glanced over to his right.
"I think you should say something," Name said. Her eyes were wide and pleading. "She'd want you to."
Without thinking, Nathan stepped forward. All eyes fixed on him.
"Uh-," he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand while the other gripped the rose tightly. The thorns were digging into his flesh, but he didn't let go. "Evelyn is... Evelyn was someone you could never forget." He cleared his throat. "And she... She was-" Something lodged itself in his throat, making it hard to swallow. He glanced up to find something, anything to help him go on.
He looked at his friend, Aeron, who regarded him with somber eyes. Something behind his shoulder caught Nathan's attention.
There, standing behind the crowd in blood-stained clothes, stood her. Evelyn. The girl he fell in love with. And the girl who should be dead.
His eyes were wide with horror, and his mouth opened but nothing came out. 'Was he hallucinating?'
"Nathan? You don't have to continue," a voice said.
He snapped out of his trance. "I'm- I- I'm sorry."
Without looking back, Nathan shouldered his way through the people. As soon as he stepped out of the mass of people, he took off running.
"Nathan! Nathan!"
Voices called after him, but he wouldn't stop. He couldn't.
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I don't know about you, but this chapter just.... hit my feels. How 'bout you? Comment below who you think her murderer is ;)
Sophia ^_^