Eddie × Gaege - Love Until The End

Chapter 15 - The dreaded -

Gaege's POV

I wake up to hear rustling, and loud yelling. I sit up, and realize it's Mully's voice. This is about the 5th time tonight. And it's only 2am. I roll out of bed, rushing to go help him. The funeral is tomorrow ( technically today, cause it's 'am' now, but still), and Mully has not been able to sleep. He falls asleep quickly, but his mind soon floods with trauma, and emotion as the nightmares drown out his insanity. Eddie hasn't been able to fall asleep, so he's been going through Instagram, looking at Twitter, watching videos, and doing whatever he can to distract himself. I even woke up by Mully just to look over and see him reading. Grant has been sleeping and waking up with me, to help me with Mully.
   I rush to the bedside to wake up Mully again, making him jump. "Hey, hey." I whisper calmly, hearing Grant walk in behind me. Mully is breathing heavy, but is slowly relaxing. This has happened so many times, it doesn't take long to relax; which only means getting up more often. Mully still has a look of panic and distance in his eyes, flashing with trauma, grief, sadness and anger. I reach for his hand, and squeeze it softly. "Breathe in..." I begin. He breathes in unsteadily. "Breathe out." I finish. His breathe is shaky, and he squeezes my hand very hard, but he does as I instruct. "What color comes to mind?" I inspect. Almost immediately he responds. "Red." I nod. It's always red. Sometimes he gets more specific...(if you think about that, you might know what I mean). "What animal?" He kinda stiffens, but responds. "Dog." I nod again. He squeezes my hand again. "Breathe in, and hold." I direct. He does so. After 3 seconds, I tell him to breathe out, as he does.  "Good." I compliment softly. I give him an encouraging smile. I turn to face Grant, and whisper.
   "I think this time we should put the rag on him. His hand is hot and sweaty, and his body needs to cool. We should get him water as well." Grant nods in agreement. "I'm on it." He trails off as he goes downstairs to get water. I go to the bathroom and run cold water on a washcloth. I come back to see Grant slowly helping Mully drink the water. I come up beside him and lay the cloth on his forehead gently. His breathe is now steady and normal. "Should I put music on?" I ask. He nods slowly, so I go into his phone and start a playlist from Spotify; putting the volume down on low. Grant walks out, and I put my hand on Mully's shoulder. "Breathe bud. Focus on the music." I suggest, giving him a soft smile and walking out. I trail back to my room and crawl into bed with Eddie. He's scrolling through Instagram, looking at pictures of new VR games, equipment, and some memes. I cuddle into his chest, pressing myself against him for comfort. I don't think much of anything while helping Mully, but each moment replays through my head when I get back to my room; seeing the look of panic, and sadness on his face. Eddie wraps his free arm around me, pulling me impossibly closer. I feel tears coming to my eyes, but I don't attempt to stop them. I'd like to get them out now if I can before tomorrow. Eddie must feel my breathing along with my tears because he puts his phone down and hugs me completely, comforting my weak, smaller outline. I sink into him more, my entire body breaking down. I still can't believe Josh is gone. I'm never seeing him again. I won't know his voice 20 years from now. I won't get to laugh at our stupidness during VR recordings. I won't get to see his smile from something one of the boys said. He's gone. I feel my eyes get heavy, and drift off, unable to control my sleep state.
   I'm pulled into a black room. It's cold, making me shiver. I'm not floating though, how all those cliché stories explain it. I'm on the ground. I can walk. There's nothing above me, or to the side of me. I look behind me, but am startled by the nothingness and nonexistent presence of a living being. There's nothing.

Grant's POV

   I awake to Eddie shaking my arm softly. "Dawg wake up. We have to get ready." He remarks. I peel my eyes open, not remembering. "Ready for wha-" oh. That's right. "Alright I'm getting up." I groan, rolling out of the guest bed. I walk over to the dresser, and take out a plain black shirt, and some blue jeans. I don't want to wear an uncomfortable suit, and I'm as sure as the skin on my bones that Josh wouldn't at any of our funerals. Thinking of that makes me smile sadly, knowing I'll never find out if he truly would've or not, especially to the fact I'll never get to see it. A tear rolls down my face, but I don't fight it. Today is the day to let it happen. I grab some socks and newer tennis shoes, and walk downstairs. Gaege is helping Mully get his shoes on, and Eddie is making some quick toast with jelly for us. I walk into the kitchen to grab four water bottles. Four. Damn.
   I walk back over towards the door, and stop next to Mully. Gaege is getting his shoes on while we wait for Eddie. Once Eddie walks over, he hands each of us a piece of toast. "Here. We probably won't be in the mood to eat later, so we better eat something now for better measures." He says, sounding a little exhausted. "Who said we were in the mood now?" Gaege chimes in, frowning sadly. I put my hand on Eddie's shoulder, briefly giving a sympathetic squeeze. He looks down, but takes it. I hand everyone a water, and off to the funeral we go.

No one's POV

   The boys pull up, and look at the building. There were so many people. Gaege sighed when they walked inside. "I'm not ready for this." He mutters. The rest nod in agreement, but start walking around, getting the traditional "sorry for your loss" and "he was loved". Eddie was in fact right. No one ate. Everything was blurry to them. This just didn't seem real. Mully had broken down many times at the sight of so many people who knew Josh closely, getting a bear hug anytime Grant seen him. Eddie was holding Gaege's hand most of the time, feeling Gaege squeeze it each time he became tense; most likely hearing people talk about memories with Josh. Grant had sat down multiple times to cry, and take a break from walking, which seemed like a marathon in the state they were in. Gaege often broke down in Eddie's hold, and had soaked Eddie's shirt more than 5 times within 3 hours. The devastating event went on for 5 or 6 hours. Eddie had barely said a word, struggling against the time. Gaege had spoken very few words to people other than the boys, although he'd had emotional conversations with the, now down to four, group. Mully had gone to the balcony on the second floor of the building many times to mourn Josh. He cried and cried, hanging his head with no strength to keep it up. Every so often, he'd lift his head up as if Josh were watching above, talking about how he felt, how much he missed him, choking back a sob or two each time he talked about his favorite memories. They visited the body towards the end, all as a group. Grant held Mully while he sobbed and sobbed at the sight, and Gaege held Eddie as he finally broke, demolishing a wall he kept up for the past 3 weeks. 
   Once they walked past the body, and down to the front doors, all of them broke down. It was too much for them to bare without crying or mourning. Grant was the first to find some composure, making his way out the doors and to the car. The boys watched carefully, worried for their friend. They gave each other glances, all agreeing to follow. Gaege, in the back, got stopped by an older woman, most likely an older relative of Josh.
   "Hello." She started. Gaege just watched her blankly. She gave a sympathetic smile, and continued. "Are you part of the group that Josh was in?" She inquired. Gaege was pained to hear the word 'was', but nodded softly. She, herself, nodded once and opened her mouth to speak, taking a few seconds before speaking. "I'm Josh's aunt. We were close, and he used to tell me what happened outside of your..." She paused and thought...her brows furrowed, confounded. (Confound: to confuse or puzzle) "What is it called?" She questioned. Gaege smiled softly, feeling an arm on his shoulder. Eddie. "We do videos. Recordings, and post them on YouTube." Gaege confirmed. She nodded, and continued. "He always said how he adored doing videos with you guys." She paused. "You're Gaege, correct?" She requested. He nods, wondering why she asked. "He always said that he joked around about how you were immature, or a baby. However, he always said he saw you as a very light, happy, joyful person. Not as immature as you show. He wanted to see how you would change as you got older." She looked down. But he never got the chance to. Gaege stood there, now even more sad. Josh wanted to see how he had changed, and he didn't even make it to see. A tear rolled down his face, making him look down to try and hide it. Eddie, still standing behind Gaege, hugged him from behind. Gaege started to cry silently. He sniffles, and feel more tears roll down. "He admired you..." She trailed off, looking behind Gaege. "All of you." She added. He  looked over his shoulder to see Grant and Mully, noticing now that they had joined Eddie and Gaege. Grant walks up beside Gaege and Eddie on the right, with Mully on the other side. Gaege sighed from exhaustion and a little shock. "He loved all of you. I thought you should know that...from a different perspective." She adds at the end. Gaege nods softly looking down. Eddie mutters quietly. "Thank you. We wish you well ma'am." With that, he takes Gaege's hand, and starts walking out, the boys following. They make it to the car, and as soon as everyone is in and closes the door, Gaege let's out a whimper, and sobs yet again; thinking about the words Josh's Aunt had not so long ago said. He believed in me. Gaege thought. In that moment, with Eddie holding Gaeges hand while he broke down, Grant with Mully in the back, having his hand encouragingly on his shoulder, they all felt Josh. They felt his happiness for them. They felt the peace. That's when they knew...

Everything might just be okay...

So, I finished the funeral chapter. I wasn't sure how deep into emotion I could go, just for the sake of myself, so I did what came to mind. I hope you enjoyed it though. I'm willing to keep going if you guys like this story, but this would also be a good place to stop. I also have an idea for Josh's POV durning the accident and after, throughout the rest of the story as a spirit, but I won't do it if you guys don't want it. Plz let me know what you guys want, or think. :) Bye