Blood in the Water

Chapter 7

I went out and brought dress clothes for my mothers funeral, some brown slacks and a white polo. I have to admit, I look good in this outfit, like even sexy. I invited my friends and Mike to the funeral if they wanted to come, they don't have to. They all said they would come to support me and my dad, even though they've only known me for a couple weeks. 

The funeral was an open casket in the local church. Everyone could go up to the casket before the ceremony to say their final goodbyes before it was closed forever. My father and I go up first and take our time. My dad is already starting to cry, as he's telling my dead mother that he will also be the only girl he loves. It's so sad, but I'm not gonna cry here in front of everyone. 

"I'll see you soon, Momma." I whisper to her and kiss her on the cheek for the last time. I turn around and head to our seats by my friends. I notice Griff on my way back and he seems to almost be happy, happy to see my dad miserable, I ignore it and focus on the ceremony. I can feel tears starting to forming in my eyes but I quickly wipe them away. I feel Mike rub my shoulder gently and I nod. 

Soon we are heading to the graveyard for the burial, by this point almost everyone is crying. Griff seems to just be enjoying himself, seeing  everyone sad, maybe he is sad but he is certainly hiding it well. I place my arm around my dad as she's being lowered into the ground, the sobs coming from him are going to haunt me forever. The afterparty was going to be at a local dining hall for a couple hours to honor my mother's death. The tables at the place were circle, covered in a light blue tablecloth with roughly ten chairs at each table. Along the east wall, food covered the rectangular tables, all her favorites along with drinks. In the center of each table sat a combination of purple lilacs and greens. I sit at one of the tables with my friends and father and grab some food to eat. 

"It was a pretty ceremony," I say to comfort my father. 

"Yeah it was. Very pretty." Heaven says. 

All my dad can do is nod, its gonna be a while before he's back to his normal self. I look over at Griff, it's killing me that he doesn't feel at all horrible about this. All this time he's been smiling and joking, when people are grieving and miserable. I get up from the table and walk into the bathroom to try and calm myself down before I do something irrational. I splash cold water on my face. 

Calm down, don't make anything worse than it is.

I head back to our table and sit down with my hands on my thighs. Mike picks up and my behavior and taps me on the shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asks me. 

"No, I'm actually not." I get up angrily and walk over to Griff and slap him. The whole room gasps and it grasps my dad's attention.

"Max, what the hell?" Griff asks in shock. 

"You did this. You caused her to die," I exclaim.

"What? How could I have possible done this, I barely known her." He shoots back at me. 

"That is such a lie! You were screwing around with her, behind my dad's back!" Charlie and Mike come over to make sure I don't start anything. 

"Never, you're being stupid! I would never do that to your father, you're mother died of a heart attack, Max! Stop trying to blame other people." He stands up in front of me. 

"You are such a liar. I came home one day and CAUGHT you! She even told me after you left, you can't talk yourself out of this one, you filthy pig!" He shoves me backward onto the table behind and tackles me. He tries to punch me in my face but I grab his wrists and bring up my feet to kick him off of me and it shockingly works to my advantage. I want to kill him but Charlie and Mike grab my arms and pull me back and out the building. 

"Dude, what was that?" Charlie asks and looks over me to make sure I'm okay.

"Everything I said in there was true. It was eating me alive that he was getting away with it. That's properly why she had the heart attack, the guilt was eating her alive."

"That doesn't mean you go and accuse him at the funeral, Max!" Mike exclaims.

"Why not?! You know what, I don't care. Tell my dad I'm going home, I'm walking home and I'll see him later."

"Max, wait-" Mike starts.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow." I leave after that statement and head home. 

I get up into my room and completely break down. I do the works, I screamed, cried, punched things. I sit on the floor with my knees hugged to my chest and rock back and forth trying to calm myself down; tears streaming down my face. I get up after a while and grab my pillow to scream into it, I start punching it too. 

"I didn't know a guy like you showed emotion." Mike says and startles me. 

"How much did you see?" I sniffle out. 

"Enough, come here." He opens his arms out to me and wraps them around my torso to attempt to comfort me. He lets me cry on his shoulder for a while and he tells me my dad is in his room sleeping. I let go of him after a while and feel like I'm going to pass out on the floor. 

"Here, let's get you on the bed so if you do pass out, it'll be less painful." He walks with me to my bed and lays me down, he sits next to me. He gets up to leave but I grab his hand. 

"Can...can you stay with me tonight?" I mutter. He nods and lays next to me on my bed. 

After a couple minutes, we are both asleep, his arm around my shoulders.