See you later

He woke up the next morning and snuck into his room. He spent a good hour just staring at his guitar, his fingers tracing over Tommy's name.

His dad knocked on his door a few minutes later, offering breakfast

"I'm not hungry" Wilbur excused

"I know" Phil said "but you should eat"

"Really, I'm not hungry" Wilbur said

Phil sighed "ok. But uh, I don't think he told you, but Schlatt stopped by our house the day he passed, I don't think he planned on coming back"

The pit in Wilbur's stomach grew "why are you telling me this?"

"He left something, told me to give it to you when you came over" Phil said as Wilbur slowly stood up and opened the door. Phil handed him an envelope and nodded, leaving.

Wilbur couldn't move. He stayed where he was, staring at the envelope in his hand. This was the last thing he had of Schlatt. This envelope was it.

He couldn't open it. If he opened it, then it was over. Schlatt was dead and he couldn't avoid it anymore.

So he stayed there, staring at it, his hand shaking. He heard noises in the background and ignored them until he saw Clay walk up to him

"Sorry" Clay said "I don't mean to bother you"

Wilbur took a deep breath and studied Clay for a moment, noticing that he was wearing some necklace with a ring on it. He shook his head, folding the envelope and tucking it in his back pocket "It's ok. Uh, why are you here though?" He laughed nervously

"Uh" Clay chuckled "I'm gonna leave, actually. I just need to figure things out, you know, and so I'm gonna head up to the woods for a few days, maybe go on a little road trip, see how I'm feeling" Clay said

Wilbur nodded "Sounds great"

Clay shrugged and looked back at him "you could go, if you wanted"

Wilbur shook his head "thanks for the offer, but I'm good." He looked pasted Clay shoulder towards his dad who was sitting on the couch, staring at the blank tv screen "I have stuff here that I need to work on"

Clay nodded "yeah, I understand. I should be going though, so, see you later?"

Wilbur smiled and hugged him "I don't think I'll ever say anything but 'see you later' again"

Clay smiled and nodded as he walked down the stairs. Wilbur watched through the window as he drove away, not looking back.

Wilbur sighed and looked at his dad, who was now cooking. He quickly grabbed his guitar and ran down to his dad.

"Hey" Wilbur said

Phil turned around and smiled "Hi Wil"

"Um, I think I was gonna go home" Wilbur said "if that's ok, of course"

Phil nodded "whatever you need to do"

Wilbur smiled "thanks" as he started to make his way out

"Wait" Phil said. Wilbur turned as Phil walked up to him and hugged him "I love you"

Wilbur's eyes started to tear up as he smiled and hugged back "I love you too"

"Just be safe" Phil said "and come visit every now and then"

Wilbur laughed, tears spilling onto Phil's shoulder "of course"

Phil nodded and let go, patting his back "I'm so proud of you"