silence falls || ✔️

chapter fourteen - it's over, tommy.

or, the end of everything; the final act.

//major tw: su*c*de, sh, blood, ov*rd*se//
(read at your own risk- seriously.)

         Tommy's brain shut down. He kept repetitively snapping by his left ear, and still heard nothing. Without the hearing aid, he could hear it just slightly, and with it he could hear clearly. Now, he heard nothing. His chest felt full, like it was going to explode, burning with rage. 'No. No. No. This can't be real. It can't be. It has to be a dream. Wake up Tommy. Wake the fuck up you dumbass.'
       But he didn't wake up. He didn't jolt upright out of bed and put his hearing aid in. He didn't toss and turn until he slowly opened his eyes. Instead, he stood there in the bathroom, his eyes brimming with tears. He repeated the phrase that there's no way in hell this could be real over and over until he felt physically sick, his stomach doing backflips. 'No. Fucking. Way.' He bit his cheek and took a deep breath. 'This isn't the end of everything. It's just one ear, right?' He thought as he wiped the tears off of his face. He left the bathroom and went straight to find Wilbur. 'You have to tell him.'
And he was going to.
Until Wilbur wasn't in the house.
Or in the backyard.
       He ran around, looking for Wilbur in a blind panic, his eyes wide, body buzzing. "Wilbur?" He called as quietly as he could, but the panic had taken over. "Wilbur?!" He called again, barreling through the back door for the second time. Nothing. No one. He was alone.
Again.
       He bolted upstairs one last time to see if Wilbur was in his room, and much to his dismay, he found a note. A small paper square with Tommy's name written in beautiful, neat penmanship. Wilbur's. His body locked up and the breath caught in his throat. 'No. No fucking way.' His brain replayed his father's note- the meaning would be the same. He knew it. And so, despite the way he wanted to cry, he forced himself forward to grab the note, albeit shakily. While trying to open it, he tore it a bit, and cursed under his breath.

Tommy,

It's been a long run. By the time you're reading this, I'll be gone. You have food. Weapons. Water. Keep yourself alive, yeah? Do what I couldn't. If you find me, bury me next to Techno. Okay? I love you, Tommy.

Wilbur

      Now this. This was the end of everything for Tommy. He tried to even his breathing, and instead, crashed to the floor. His stomach lurched, and he let out a cry. Dad. Mom. Techno. Wilbur. Tommy. It had been all five of them at one point. And now, it was just one. Just Tommy. All alone in this big, bad, disease ridden world. Just Tommy, with failing hearing. Just Tommy, the baby. The last one alive. The last one to make it. The last one to see out this god damned world's end; all alone. He didn't have mom to hold him, or dad to give him a clap on the back, or Techno to tell him a shitty dad joke, or Wil to be his therapist. He had no one.
       He laid on the floor, burying his head in his hands, suppressing screams of agony. Is this what it felt like to be completely, truly, utterly alone? To have no one? He shrunk further into himself, biting the skin of his arm to keep the screams from exploding out of him. In a year's time, he had lost everyone. In a year's time, he'd killed two family members. Such big mistakes for such a short life. 'What the fuck did I do so wrong? Why did everyone have to... leave me? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Whatever I did, I'm sorry. I just loved you guys.' He thought, sobs finally escaping him. The blood from his arm leaked into his mouth, and he let go. Out loud, he cried, "I just loved you. I just wanted to be enough. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry!!!" He sobbed uncontrollably, digging his nails into his arms. He sobbed until he lost his breath, his voice. He laid there on the floor, his knees curled up to his chest, face soaked with tears.
"I'm sorry for being such a burden to you, Wil." He whispered, his heart in pieces. The Golden Child had always strived to be less of a burden, and eventually ended up being the biggest one in the end. Not even Wilbur- gentle-minded, loving Wilbur- could handle him. What had he done so wrong? Why was it always he who was left behind? His parents. His brothers. Gone. To Tommy, it was all his fault. He'd failed all of them. His breath hitched as he went to stand, his legs wobbly. His head was pounding so hard he could barely see straight- and he still couldn't hear. 'This a real life fucking nightmare.' He thought, sighing as he pulled himself to his full height. Tears still escaped his eyes as he shakily made his way down the stairs and out the back door. Much to his dismay, there was no Wilbur. It really set in- he was completely alone. There was no one there to tend to the garden. No one there to make dinner for him.
No one.
That is, until he heard the back gate rattle. He snapped his head to look and caught sight of a very bloody, very pale Wilbur. Once through the gate, he crashed against the grass, and Tommy's eyes went wide. He bolted up to run to him, nearly tripping over his own feet, cursing under his breath. "Wilbur? WILBUR?!" He repeated, grabbing his brother and pulling him further into the yard, slamming the gate shut. "Wil- Wil, listen to me, okay? It's me! It's Tommy. Hey, hang on a second, okay? I'll-" Wilbur cut him off, shushing him.
"Tommy. It's over. My time is done here- but yours isn't- okay?" Tommy shook his head. "No. No it's fucking not. You hang on, alright? I'm gonna go get the med supplies, and- and we'll patch you up, and-" Wilbur coughed, and Tommy went silent. He didn't realize how... damaged... Wilbur was. The blood on him wasn't a small amount. It doused his sleeves. "What did you do, Wilbur... What the fuck have you done." When Wilbur gave him a small smile, he nearly broke down. "I came back. So you could bury me with Techno. So he's not alone anymore."
Tommy lost his cool. "You really fucking think that leaving him alone is worse than leaving me alone?! I'm alive, Wil! He isn't!" Wilbur gave him a drowsy smile. "You're- better... off without me, though." His words were slurring. Tommy immediately started to work- pulling off the blood soaked trench coat, throwing it to the side, revealing just what Wilbur had done. God, there was so much blood. So much that Tommy began to choke, stepping away from his brother. He ran inside to grab gauze, a needle, and sutures. He stumbled back out the door to see Wilbur crawling to the rosebush, laying back in the grass. The younger rushed over to him, trying to apply pressure to the reopened wounds on his brother's arms- but there were too many.
Too many for Tommy to stitch in time. Too many to wrap. He did his best, getting a small number of the deeper wounds covered; but to no avail. His breath caught in his throat when Wilbur stopped him. "That's enough, mate. It's over." He slurred, putting his very shaky, weak hand on Tommy's bloodied one. His dark eyes met the blonde's lighter ones and he gave a reassuring smile. "It's okay to let go now. You can let go." Tommy shook his head vigorously. "No. No, I can't. Because then I'll be alone." Wilbur smiled softly, his eyes losing focus. "You didn't need us, man. We.... we needed y-.. you." The younger started to panic again. "No. I need you, Wil. I need you to be here. I need you, and I needed Techno, and I needed mom and dad. You can't just leave me here!"
But there was no more Wilbur. The backyard was silent aside from the chirps of birds and wind rustling the leaves of the trees. Tommy stared down in shock. "No. No. No. NO! Wilbur- Wil, man, wake up. Come on. Please. Wil. WAKE. UP." Tommy lightly smacked the side of his brother's face. Nothing. He smacked a little harder. Silence. He started to sob, once again. Now, he was alone. Really, truly, utterly alone; and there was no changing it.
No Mom.
No Dad.
No Techno.
No Wil.
Just Tommy.
Just freshly eighteen years old, with no driver's license, no bills to pay, no home to move away from, no family left, and no hearing in his left ear. No normal childhood. Just a fucking disease that wiped out everyone he loved in one way or another; all within the span of twelve months. Twelve short months, and everything was over. It's done.
And as much as Tommy wanted to fix it, he couldn't. You can't bring people back from the dead like that.
Tommy knows that.
Wilbur knew that.
Techno knew that.
So, he honored his brother how he knew best. He buried him on the other side of the rosebush the next day, opposite Techno. Just three months after the eldest's own passing. Three months' time. Three months of silence, fear, loneliness- but nothing quite mirrored the pain Tommy felt now. Wilbur wasn't standing next to him, holding his hand. There was no one to catch him when he fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. No one was there to rub his back and tell him it would be okay, and that he wasn't alone. No one was there for him.
Just himself.
When he looked at his brothers' graves, he felt an ache in his chest so strong, he could have sworn at least five heartstrings snapped. One for each family member... and one for himself. He made his way back inside and rummaged through the drawer to check his phone. Two months it had been since he'd last touched it. He unlocked it and went to his messages, looking through his father's thread. The last message he'd sent two months ago- left on delivered. He gave it one more go.
T: Dad. Wil and Techno are both gone. If you're out there.... Please come find me.
He sent it. He stared at his phone for two hours, waiting. Praying. He knew there would be no answer, but hey. It doesn't hurt to have a little bit of hope, right? He fell asleep staring at his phone, his eyes burning from crying. He fell asleep praying that his dad would answer him, praying that he'd wake up and it would all be a dream.