Frank's POV
Ryan died sometime in the night. I felt awful for sleeping through it, but when I woke up the next morning, Brendon was already digging a grave. We all stood in silence as his body, wrapped in a sheet, was rolled into the shallow grave. We covered it with dirt, nailing two boards together to make a cross shaped grave marker.
"He wasn't even religious," said Brendon, turning away from the place where his boyfriend was buried. "I'm gonna go pick some flowers," he muttered, walking toward the edge of the property.
Gerard and I watched him go, but we began to worry when he walked right past the patch of wildflowers and into the woods.
"What is he doing?" I asked Gerard. He didn't answer me, but broke into a run toward the spot where Brendon had disappeared into the woods. I ran to catch up to him, noticing that neither of us had any weapons except for my small pocket knife.
We found Brendon after searching the woods for a few minutes. He was face to face with a growler caught in a thornbush.
"Dude, get away from it!" Gerard yelled. "What are you doing?"
"I'm picking flowers," said Brendon calmly, still staring at the snarling monster who was trying its hardest to sink its teeth into him.
"Bren, listen to me. That thing's gonna kill you"
"Do you think it's true when people say you'll see the people you love in heaven after you die?"
"I don't know," said Gerard, slowly and carefully walking toward Brendon, ready to grab him and pull him back if he made any moves toward the growler. "No one knows, but let's not find out yet, okay?"
Brendon didn't answer him.
"Brendon, listen to me," I said, switching open the knife in my pocket. "Do you think Ryan would want you to do this?" At the mention of Ryan's name, Brendon slowly turned to look at me. "You loved him, and he's gone, and yeah, that sucks, but you need to try your hardest to stay alive for him."
Tears started to form in Brendon's eyes.
"You only live forever in the lights you make," I continued. "He made your eyes light up whenever you were together. Don't let that light die, because if it dies, he does too."
Brendon just stared at me, until the growler broke free from the thornbush. It launched itself at Brendon, pinning him to the ground. He managed to hold it away from him, but he didn't have a weapon on him, and he wasn't strong enough to force it off him.
I took out my pocket knife and sunk it into the growler's skull. It went limp, collapsing onto Brendon. He pushed the corpse off of him, shakily getting to his feet.
"Thanks," he said.
"No problem."
We walked out of the woods and back to the house, Frank and I trailing a little bit behind Brendon.
"How did you think to say that?" Gerard asked quietly so Brendon couldn't hear.
"I don't know. I guess I knew what he needed to hear because I've been through the same thing," I said before I thought about it. I mentally kicked myself. I hadn't wanted to tell him that, ever.
He was silent for a few minutes. "Do you want to talk about it?" He finally asked.
I just shook my head. I wasn't ready to face the possibility that he could find out what I did and not want me anymore. He didn't press any further, just putting his arm around me and walking back to the house with me.
