Behind The Sea- DEAD POETS SOCIETY STORY

Chapter Nine

The next few days were some of the hardest the entire Skies household went through. Although the Dead Poets were members of the family, they were adjusting and going through this mourning process as well. The most affected out of all of them was Cameron. He never saw so many people so distraught at once.

Neil read Desmond his new playwrights to help her sleep and to help her relax throughout the day. All she could help but worry and freak out about were funeral plans, how she was going to cope at school, and the fact she had to leave her dad during the most vulnerable time in his life. But those playwrights really helped her forget. They helped her drown out the noise and hectic terrors of her personal life.

Todd spent the early mornings with her. Just before the sun would come up on the horizon, they would come out of their bedrooms at the same time. Todd would have the most bodacious bedhead and it would make Desmond chuckle a bit. They'd meet halfway in the hallway and share a quick hug. He'd ask her how she was and she wouldn't respond, not wanting to tell the truth. Then they'd make coffee and go outside, sit on Desmond's porch, and annotate novels. He taught her how to annotate books properly and how to have fun while doing so. He did this in his spare time when he was hiding from his family at home. Desmond's favorite book to annotate with Todd was Evelaigne. Since the two were currently in love, a book about a young woman running off to find her lost lover really brought them an ounce of pure joy.

Knox and her would make breakfast for the whole house and talk about animals. Knox was allergic to cats. They'd make his eyes a bit scratchy and his nose a bit red. Desmond would speak about how she adored cats, especially ones that had one single color. All black cats, all white cats, all gray cats. They were her favorite. Knox would envy her because he found cats beautiful but he simply would not be able to live with one.

Charlie would play her records and they'd review them in front of the rest of the group. They'd bond about the fact that George Harrison was the best member of The Beatles, then they'd funnily argue about how who was better- Simon or Garfunkel.

Meeks would take her outside at night and tell her how to properly find constellations with just the crease of her hand. He made sure to tell her that some day, or one day, navigating by the stars could save her life if she was in a dire situation.

Cameron and her would clean the house. When Desmond had nothing to do, that only left her alone with her brain. That wasn't good for her right now. So she'd start to clean. Every washroom, every staircase, every bed, everything would be cleaned. Cameron would step in and help because he'd just get a bit bored too.

Pitts would just stay with her the entire day. She didn't want him to leave. She just needed him by her side. When Pitts woke up in the morning, he'd go down the stairs very quietly. He could hear Todd and Desmond whispering and didn't want to disturb them. He'd sit at the kitchen counter, reading the newspaper and doing the crosswords, drinking orange juice and waiting for them to return inside. Once they did, he'd pick his head up and smile softly at Desmond. "Good morning, love. You look nice." He'd say gently. She'd sit on his lap and let him wrap her in his arms. He'd continue to solve crosswords and she would occasionally help or make a joke. That's when the rest of the boys would start to wake up. Pitts would set the table for breakfast as Knox and Desmond would cook. Then they'd all settle down and eat. Pitts would occasionally have to feed Desmond because she'd be so spaced out and out of focus. When she saw a piece of fruit in front of her space, she'd snap back to reality, and bite it off the fork. He'd kiss her head and grab her hand tighter. Then they'd typically go back upstairs and put on music, relaxing and trying to forget the first night of Hanukkah.

After that entire fiasco, the kids rarely saw Mr. Skies. Mrs. Skies would go out for the day with her friends. Everytime she left, Desmond would get incredibly emotional. She would just get so angry at her mother. Desmond's father was mourning and couldn't leave his room out of fear of society... but she was going out with her lady friends to play bingo, poker, and to cafe's? Desmond got the impression she wasn't even guilty or sad about Thomas being dead. She got the impression she was sort of like 'eh... we live, and we learn, and we cope.'