This entire segment is fucking loooooong... this entire period of time felt very long to our main characters, too...
I hope you enjoy this long-ass chapter (broken up into littler chapters, of course). It takes place during the months of March-May (maybe June)... this specific chapter mainly deals with March stuff, even though it has a couple April dates.
On to the story...
***
March 25, 1994: Seattle, WA, USA
Today was supposed to be Layne and Demri's first anniversary of marriage. Instead of celebrating, they decide not to do much other than just sombrely sitting around their apartment.
Why would they celebrate, with what they've just been through?
The last few days have been pretty silent.
They've become like strangers, too afraid to say a word for fear that the first thing out of their mouths will be something about Sadie.
How could it not be?
A week ago, they'd been expectant parents.
What were they now?
How was it possible that a normal, insignificant night ended up taking everything away from them? All for something as stupid, as innocent as trying to get a motherfucking chocolate bar off of a high shelf...
People keep stopping by to check on them... they take turns answering the door, always giving people the same response: "Thanks... we're fine. We'll give you a call."
Most nights were tear-filled... Layne often choked it down, trying his best to focus on consoling Demri whenever one of her panic attacks would come on.
He remembers a pretty significant night... two days ago... the 23rd.
He was watching TV; Demri was drifting in and out of sleep beside him... he dared not wake her; she'd had enough trouble sleeping as it was.
There was a commercial that came on- a car commercial, where a couple and their daughter were taking some sort of road trip.
He couldn't stop the emotion rising in his chest, the pain that presented itself in warm streaks down his face... he just broke down.
It felt real at that moment, the reality that he was never going to have what that couple in the commercial had.
They'd lost their baby girl.
They would never get to know her.
They would never know what she looked like, how she sounded, how she felt in their arms...
She was gone. And she would forever leave a void in their lives.
***
March 28th, 1994: Seattle, WA, USA
"We could always try again. We'd do it right."
Layne tries to ignore Demri's words as she mumbles them, half-asleep, probably hoping Layne was listening.
She wasn't wrong: they could, in theory, try again... but definitely not anytime soon.
Wasn't it alright to grieve? To take the time to mourn what they'd lost?
Unfortunately... they wouldn't exactly get the chance to mourn together...
They would, of course, try again... but not for a long, long time.
Fate has a funny way of bringing people together, tearing them apart, and then forcing them back again...
***
April 2, 1994: Seattle, WA, USA
This would be a day Layne would always remember. He keeps thinking that maybe, just maybe, if he had known, he could've stopped the events that would occur only three days later...
YOU ARE READING
Even Now
Fanfiction**Discontinued :( The year is 1993. Heroin addict Layne Staley of Seattle rock band Alice In Chains has just had the fear of God put into him following a bandmate's overdose. When faced with a simple decision, the butterfly effect comes into play...
