Avery hated funerals.
Well, everyone hated funerals. But Avery particularly hated them. She didn't like the all black attire. She didn't like that sounds of sniffles as people cry.
And she fucking hated that people always presume that bring food was the best way to comfort a mourning person.
A hand reached out to grab hers and Avery turned to look at Nami. She offered a smile but Avery didn't have the energy to give one back.
Avery turned her head and glanced at Timothy's wife as she comforted her youngest daughter and Avery quickly brought her eyes down.
"Are you in your head again?" Someone whispered in her ear and Avery turned to Ian and nodded.
Ian had spent twelve minutes on the floor of the art studio, practically chocking on his breath with a bullet in his shoulder. Avery was busy giving Timothy CPR and Ian didn't want to be a priority by saying he could barely breath with the pain he was in.
He wasn't the number one priority. Timothy was. And Avery was. So he just kept on breathing of her.
And for Annabelle.
"He's going to be okay, Baby. The doctors say he should be waking up any day now." Ian reassured and Avery leaves back in her hospital chair.
Ian has needed surgery when he got to the hospital. Timothy also needed surgery. But his were a lot more severe. And a lot more critical.
Timothy has suffered head trauma from the physical assault that Jack had caused prior to Avery and Ian's arrival. Tim also needed surgery to get his bullet removed. Except his was in his chest and it was much more critical.
Ian stayed strong and he didn't think about himself.
He thought about Avery and Annabelle.
"That was before he had the seizure," Avery said under her breath to prevent Tim's wife from hearing.
"Now we know nothing."
"That's not true," he shook his head and Avery lifted her eyes to look at his.
"Can you just sit there?" Avery asked before her eyes glanced at the brace around his arm. She stared at it long enough for Ian to notice.
"You know, I'm okay right?" He asked in a soft voice and Avery lifted her eyes and looked at him in shock.
"What?"
"Lucky guy, remember?" He said, repeating the words that the doctor had said to him a week ago.
"Oh yes, the lucky guy who could've died in an instant if the bullet had hit him a fraction of a hair down. Really fucking lucky, Ian." Avery snapped before standing up and leaving the room.
Nami and Ian shared a look before she let out a small sigh and nodded before following Avery out of the room. Ian remained in his spot.
"You're not going to be okay for a long while." Timothy's wife said from the corner of the room. Ian lifted his eyes and looked her in the eyes for the first time today.
Her daughter was finally asleep in her arms and she rocked her back and forth.
"At least not to her," she said with a soft frown.
"What do you mean?" Ian asked before sitting upright.
"She put you in danger," she sighed. "She didn't mean to, but it happened and you got hurt."
"It's going to take her a long time to forgive herself and not see you as Humpty Dumpty." She said softly and Ian frowned.
He got up from his spot and moved two seats away from her instead of flavored the waiting room.
"Nicole, Avery did not put me in danger. Nor did she put Timothy in danger." Ian said softly. "A bad situation occurred and we were affected."
"I know," Nicole nodded before blinking rapidly.
"I know Avery had absolutely nothing to do with this. And I know that she thinks I hate her. But I really don't. Quite frankly, that girl may as well be daughter to me. There's no part of me that could hate her." She said and Ian nodded.
"But I can't comfort her right now." She shook her head. "I have my actual daughter and myself to comfort." She said softly before bending down to place a kiss on her sleeping daughter's head.
"I understand." Ian nodded. "But would you accept our comfort?" He asked.
"We're not leaving here until after Tim opens his eyes." Ian told her and her mouth shaped into a fine line.
"I was going to order food and have my younger brother drop it off. Get something to eat for you and Gianna. It'll be from Pina Vista so it costs nothing." Ian tries and Nicole began shaking her head.
"Timothy would kick my ass if he found out I wasn't taking care of you." Ian have the last push.
"It might be enough to wake him up if he though we weren't cared for." She attempted at a smile and Ian grinned in satisfaction.
"You can order whatever, but Gigi doesn't eat anything Tim doesn't make besides chicken tenders and fries so order those for her please." She informed and Ian's smile widened.
"My daughter is the exact same way," Ian nodded before reaching for his phone to call Eli.
[•]
Nami searched three floors before she found Avery again.
She was on the fourth floor hospital chapel. There was no one else in the room so Nami quickly spited her blonde curls int the middle of the pews.
Nami looked up at the mosaic cross in the center of the front of the room and frown before making her way to Avery.
Avery isn't really a believer.
Nami quietly sat down next to her friend without questioning.
They sat in silence for a long time. Almost to the point of discomfort before Avery opened her mouth.
"I don't get how people devote their lives to Him." Avery muttered. Nami turned her head with a frown but Avery's head remained forward.
Staring at the mosaic cross.
"Although I fucking hate clay and ceramics in general. I typically like the things I create." Avery blinked. Eyes still forward.
Nami frowned in confusion, trying to make a connection to Avery's previous statement.
"Remember when I made the fat mermaid in my ceramics class?" Avery asked, finally looking at Nami and Nami nodded.
"Small tits?" Avery asked and Nami nodded with a small smile.
"Fat Gladys," they both said in unison and Avery nodded before facing forward again.
One time sophomore year, Avery had gotten a little too high before her Ceramics 101 class and she made a little mermaid out of clay. It was completely disproportioned and she forgot to carve a face onto it. But Avery was proud of it and called it one of her proudest and funniest works.
"You were obsessed with that thing."
"Until I broke it." Avery sighed before turning to face the mosaic cross again.
She broke Gladys on accident last year. She had been reaching for something on her bookshelf and Gladys took a fall and shattered.
"She lived a good life." Nami shrugged.
"I think I'm Gladys," Avery said softly and Nami frowned at her.
"I'm Gladys, and God's apparently the potter that accidentally fucked up my life."
"That's not true," Nami shook her head. "I don't know much about God or whatever but I don't think he would mess up your life."
"Are you sure about that?" Avery asked before turning to face the mosaic cross again.
"BECAUSE MY LIFE FEELS PRETTY FUCKED UP RIGHT NOW." Avery screamed, scaring Nami with the drastic change in volume.
"Hey, I don't know much about God but I don't think he likes people scream fuck at him." Nami said with wide eyes.
"I DON'T GET IT!" Avery screamed again.
She abruptly stood up from her seat and glared at the mosaic cross.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO?" She screamed again and Nami cringed at the cursed word again.
"I HAD LOVING PARENTS THAT LOVED ME AND YOU STRIPPED ME AWAY OF THAT!"
"I COULD'VE HAD MANY OTHER FAMILIES THAT COULD'VE LOVED AND I NEVER GOT ONE!"
"I DONT EVEN HAVE THE PROPER CAPACITY TO LOVE A MAN THAT WOULD GIVE ME THE WORLD!"
The tears that were running down her face as she screamed were hot and the lump in her throat was painful.
"AND NOW THE ONLY PERSON THATS BEEN WITH ME FROM THE BEGINNING IS DyiNG!" Avery's voice cracked and she choked on a sob.
"Don't fucking take Tim away from me!" She sobbed at the mosaic cross.
"I stopped asking you for things a long ass time ago when you didn't answer. Please! Don't take Tim away from me!"
Nami breathed in for a moment before standing up and grabbed Avery by the shoulder and pulled her into a hug.
Avery collapsed into Nami and Nami brought the two of them to sit back down.
Avery hadn't cried a single tear during this past week.
Not when Ian was writhing in pain on the art studio floor. Not when Timothy's pulse was to weak to read on the wrist. Not when she had to ride in the ambulance with Timothy. Not even when she had to explain the whole situation to Tim's wife, Nicole.
She had convinced herself that she needed to be strong. That she was the reason for all of this and that she shouldn't dare cry about it.
But now the anger, frustration and fear that were in her chest was to much for her to carry. She wanted to stop blaming herself. And she couldn't think of anyone else to blame but God.
"When is my happiness going to start?" Avery choked out and Nami squeezed her tighter to soothe her.
Calm down.
Avery's head suddenly lifted up and she searched around the room before glaring at Nami.
"Don't tell me to calm down," Avery scoffed in confusion. Why would she say that?
"What?" Nami asked.
Avery was confused because someone had clearly told her to calm down. Nami was the only one in the room but it did not sound like Nami.
It sounded like Martha Rue. The one caretaker that she had that believed that everything in life she was ever given was a gift from God. Including the hard parts.
Martha lived her faith well and she showed Avery how to take care and love herself.
Avery had hated every moment of it.
"You didn't say anything?" Avery asked and Nami shook her head no.
Look forward.
Avery scanned the room again, eyes frantic before she fixated her eyes on the mosaic cross again.
The sun was setting outside on the big window on the left. But at that moment, a small ray of light shone on the cross and all of its colors shone through, filling the room with multi colored lights.
It was breathtaking.
Before Avery could take her next breath, the door of the small chapel slammed open and Avery turned to the commotion, at Ian who was staring at them with wide eyes.
"Tim's awake." He breathed out and Avery's heart skipped a beat.
She turned to face the mosaic cross and the beautiful lights again, but when she turned around, there wasn't any light filling the room, just a plain mosaic cross, hanging from the ceiling at the front.
"What the fuck?" She said bewildered.
Okayyyy when I said to annoy me to write I didn't me harass me 🥺.
It took me a while to write this because I didn't know how to portray the aftermath of something like this.
Also I've been really sick and I've been playing catch up with schoolwork.
Don't expect a chapter next week because midterms are tough.
Thank you for your support ♥️♥️♥️.
Comment
Vote
Share
Coming up: I truly don't know.
In the last chapter I forgot to show you who I think Jack Levenson look like.
I think the soft smile that he has goes well with the psychotic energy that Jack has.
Here's him younger for a more "accurate" Jack