Our Time Will Come - An After Story

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TW - (This chapter contains sensitive material relating to possible death)

Emery

My blood runs cold at the pained expression on my boy's face. I have no idea what kind of bombshell the hospital have just dropped on Charlie, but I'm not sure that I want to know. His complexion is as white as a sheet and it appears that his breath has been stolen from him as his eyes fill up with tears.

"Charlie!" I shake him, but he stays silent and stands still. I begin to panic as I struggle to get him to speak to me. I curse, when his phone drops from his hand, onto the hard, concrete floor and he doesn't even pick it up. "Charlie you're scaring me, what is it?" I raise my voice as my heart begins to pound out of my chest. "My - my parents. They.." he stutters and the anticipation is killing me. "I have to get sick" he mutters, before sprinting off to an unknown place. Shit. His parents are what? This cannot be good.

"Charlie!" I pick up his phone and attempt to chase after him, but he's too fast and I lose him. I begin to cry in sheer panic, at what could have possibly happened and how Charlie might react. "Emery. What the fuck happened? My father appears out of nowhere. "I.. I don't know! The hospital called him .. they said something about his parents and all the colour drained from his face, then he just.. ran!" My voice is shaky and I'm talking ridiculously fast due to the adrenaline that is coursing through my veins.

"Shit" my dad bites his bottom lip, realising the severity of the situation and what may have happened. "You have to help me find him! Please dad!" I beg. "Of course, Of course! Come on" he rushes down the steps of the restaurant, without giving mom and Auden so much as an explanation of where we are going .

We scurry down the path that Charlie headed towards. It's narrow and long, but jam packed with slow walkers and Charlie is nowhere to be seen. "Charlie!" I call his name through the busy crowd of people. My dad grows impatient and grabs my hand, before barging though the crowd of obnoxious New Yorkers, much to their annoyance. "Oh piss off" he barks at a middle aged man who flips us off on the way past. "Charlie!" My dad roars once more. I stop as we reach a much less busy, side street. We head down it to escape the chaos, but last in the hopes that Charlie may have gone this way.

"Emery, look" my dad points to a figure of a young man who is slumped against a tall, brick wall. We rush to get closer to the figure and I feel like I can finally breathe again as I realise that it's him, my boy. His eyes are blood shot red and he looks absolutely ghastly, but he's here. I attempt to catch my breath as I approach him. "Charlie, we've been-"

"They're dead" he talks over me with the straightest face and my heart skips a beat at his revelation. "Wh.. what? Who?" A single tear drop falls from one eye. I'm not sure that I want to hear the rest, but it's pretty obvious. "My parents.. are fucking dead" his bottom lip trembles and he can barely string a sentence together. They're what? They can't be. They arrive back from vacation, today. How could this happen so suddenly? I can't describe the pain in my chest, caused by seeing my favourite person in such a state, he just looks so fragile and vulnerable.

I feel an overwhelming sense of guilt, for wanting a cuddle from my dad right now, when I should be the one comforting Charlie. He's the one who's just been told the worst news of his life. I turn to glance at my father and he is sticking out like a sore thumb, not knowing what to say or how to react.

I drop to Charlie's side, knowing that there's no way I can numb his pain, but I pull him into my chest and run a hand through his thick, blonde hair in the hopes to comfort him. "How?" Is the only word I can muster to say. I feel to be in as much shock as Charlie right now, though I highly doubt that I am.

"I don't know.. the hospital said they were in a fatal car crash on the way back from the airport, I - I didn't listen to the rest" his voice is so staggered that I can barely understand what he is saying. I mean, it's understandable that Charlie didn't want to know the devastating details of the ever so sudden death, just hearing about it is traumatic enough.

"No!" I gasp, while squeezing him a little tighter. I'm suddenly desperate for water as my chest grows tight and my throat, dry. I feel like air is no longer good for my lungs. I cant comprehend the depth of my boyfriend's pain as I attempt to help him up from the floor, his legs are shaking like Jelly as he grabs ahold of me to steady himself. My heart is shattering into a thousand tiny pieces for this boy. He is in a total state of shock and there's nothing i can do to help.

"I'm so, so sorry Charlie" I pour my heart out, pulling him closer into my embrace. I can feel his chest, dramatically heaving up and down against me, as he sobs into my arms.

Hardin

Fuck. This poor kid has become an orphan in the space of a day. He's in absolute pieces and I have no clue what to say or do that could possibly numb his pain. I feel the urge to protect my daughter from this horrible, horrible situation. She's far too young to experience such pain. I feel the urge to hug her and never let go, but I know that she needs to be there for Charlie right now and I have every faith, that she will support him through this, the best she can. It's just the person she is.

It's the things that you Least expect to happen, that hit you the hardest. The reaction to death, can be as violent as death itself. Shock throws an ice cold potion over your senses, but your stomach still has knots and your skin still stings, as if the grim reaper might come for you next. That's what is fucked up.

He was so fucking excited for his mum and dad to return home, eager to finally spend time with them after they vowed to spend it with him,
and then something as fucked up as this happens. How does someone so young cope with such a tragedy? My mind wanders off to a place that I'm not fond of, but I snap out of my trance when Tessa calls my phone.