The Way That Gravity Pulls (Creek FanFic)

Chapter 1: The Funeral

My dad's funeral was small and quiet. The atmosphere felt cold and still. I wanted nothing more than to just get up and go home.

Despite being known as an "emotional wreck" by almost everyone I knew, I wasn't freaking
out, twitching, shaking, or even crying. In fact, up until then, I hadn't shed a single tear since my dad had died. I was told that I was acting "extremely out of character," and I had to agree. Normally I'd cry over the smallest things, but for the first time ever, I just couldn't feel anything. I was told that I was "just in shock" and that it would eventually hit me all at once. But when?

My dad owned the only coffee shop in town so I prepared myself for the funeral home to be packed with fellow South Park residents. He seemed to know a lot of friendly faces even though he had very few close friends because he never really had the time for them. He was always working. But, to my surprise, the only people who had actually showed up were some of my family who had flown out to Colorado, and the occasional neighbor or two coming by to pay their respects and to check up on my mom.

My mom...
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That Tuesday played repeatedly like a broken record in the back of my mind.

When mom had texted me from the hospital that night, it was around 7 o'clock. She went on to tell me that I shouldn't stay up extremely late stressing out, but I did exactly the opposite. I drank about six cups of coffee and basically ran laps around my house like some sort of maniac. No matter how desperately hard I had tried, I couldn't sit still. (Not that I could ever do that to begin with.)

It wasn't until almost midnight when she finally came back home. I heard her car pull into the driveway so I quickly ran upstairs and into my room. I hopped in bed and covered my head with the comforter. I closed my eyes and prepared myself to fake snore in case she were to come in and find me "dickin' around." (I was already grounded for back talking a couple of days beforehand, and I didn't want to make it worse by letting her know that I was still wide awake on a school night. But, given the circumstances of the situation with my dad, I knew that she obviously couldn't have been that mad at me for being as concerned as I was.)

I could hear the keys jingle inside of the doorknob, followed by the hinges creaking as she soundlessly stepped inside. I held my breath, waiting on the clicking of a closed door, but then there was nothing but silence. Complete and utter silence.

Oh god. Something happened.

Now I suddenly didn't care anymore if she had caught me awake, because before I knew it, my legs were swinging off of the side of my bed and my feet were leading me downstairs. A little part of me was hoping for my dad to be standing there right beside my mom, but just as I had suspected, she was alone.

She was lingering in the doorframe with her head hanging down low, staring at the floor like she was lost in some sort of trance.

"Mom?" I called out.

She glanced up at me with the most tired, sad eyes that had ever met mine, and then let out a small but faint whine before letting her purse and jacket slip out of her hands. She then dropped to her knees and gasped violently for air. I sprung off of the bottom step and ran to her. I crouched down and cupped my chubby hands around her clenched jawline as she groaned through her teeth and shook her head like an animal.

"Mom, mom! Where's dad? Hey! Look at m-me!"

Please no. Please God no.

Before I could let out another word, she wrapped her arms around my torso and hugged me so hard that I almost rolled backwards onto my back. I couldn't breathe.