13. A Funeral, Continued

Jayson:

    “ It was suicide. She couldn’t take it anymore. She just… went crazy.” Vincent’s eyes began to get watery. “ We should’ve seen this coming.”

    My back was resting up against a wall. My head was spinning and my stomach was churning. My vision was slightly blurry, but I managed to stay upright. I nodded my head, feeling too weak to say anything in response, but also having no idea what to say.

    “ Why? Why did this have to happen? You know what happens when you commit suicide, Jayson? You get sent on a one way ride to hell. Yes, hell. Harriet is going to go to hell and there is nothing any of us can do about it! She is gonna burn for eternity, and what can we do?! Nothing! There is nothing we can do! She’s going to hell!”

    “ Vincent,” I mumbled. “ I think we are already in hell.”

    “ You know what? You’re probably right,” Vincent replied, looking out the window. I saw rain sprinkling down from the sky. It hadn’t rain in months. “ Huh,” he said. “ I didn’t know it rained in hell.”

    I smiled. “ Me neither, Vince. Me neither.” And I guess, at that moment, I had just made a new friend.


Caroline:

    We were ambling back to the room. Just Nathan and I. I looked into his dark, gorgeous eyes. They were rimmed red. He was trying to not cry. I only held him closer, wrapping my arms more tightly around his right arm. He was in deep though, and I knew they weren’t my thoughts. I was keeping my mind blank.

    “ You knew, didn’t you? You know why, too. Don’t you?” I whispered.

    “ Huh?” Nathan asked, his voice cracking.

    “ You know why Harriet killed herself. You’ve read her thoughts. Why’d she do it?”

    Nathan sighed a deep sigh. I felt the steam from his breath brush across the top of my head. It was warm, and I was cold.

    “ Yes, I knew.”

    “ Well, can you tell me?” I asked eagerly.

    “ Can we talk about it later? It’d be too much. Now isn’t a good time.”

    “ Tonight then?”

    He smiled, melting at the look in my eyes. “ Sure. Besides, if I told you right now, it’d be too much for your little heart to take. You’ve been through enough, but you deserve to know.”

    I grinned, probably looking like a complete simpleton. “ Good,” I managed to say.

    We made it back to the room, safe. I could’ve sworn I thought I had seen a zombie, but Nathan said my mind was playing tricks on me since he didn’t see anything. Jayson was alive and well with Vincent close by to keep him company. He had refused to go to the funeral, claiming that someone needed to be there if Jayson gained consciousness, but Nathan told me that if Vincent had gone, he would’ve broken down crying. He never told me why, saying he wasn’t quite sure himself. Jayson started talking to Nathan, Seth and I about a dream he had, telling us he thought it may reveal the location of the monsters.

    “ It was weird, almost like I was there. Like I was one of them,” he said.

    “ Dude, I believe you, but how are we gonna get there without being able to defend ourselves?” Seth queried.

    “ Remember the stuff you guys brought from that supply closet? Maybe we could construct some weapons out of them,” I said. Nathan looked at me and smiled, approving my idea. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Jayson shoot a strange look at Nathan. I almost thought it to be jealousy. Was it Jayson? Was Jayson who Nathan was talking about when he had said he “ wasn’t the only one who thought I was beautiful?” Who knows, but I honestly didn’t have time to bother myself with those affairs. We had work to do.