Tears of Blood (wlw)

lighthouse

DEVYN POV

I can't believe that I was there. I can't believe I looked at my dead best friend in a casket. We all sit around a bonfire on the beach by Brianna's house. In Orien, there's a belief to bury the body as soon as possible. So after all the procedures were done, Brianna's funeral was held. It felt like a dream- a nightmare. All of us couldn't even muster the strength to say anything without crying. Now I watched how devastated we all looked. I take off my black blazer and unbutton some of my black shirt.

"I can't believe it. One minute she's there... and then.. she's gone." Sierra breaks the silence.

"I miss her." Gabe adds.

"Me too." I miss her a lot.

"You know I didn't know her as well as all of you. But from the time we spent together, I knew her to be a great person. She always knew what to say. She was funny...." Isabella declares.

"She was kind.You know I met her on my first day at Arden. I was feeling nervous and she was the first person to give me a sense of comfort. She sat next to me and complimented my eyes. She didn't ask how or why I ended up there. She just.. talked." Andrea says.

"Dev, can I talk to you?" Ash says abruptly. Everyone looks up at the two of us. He sits across from me with Andrea leaning in on him. She sits upright holding her bad arm. Ashton gets up and plants a kiss on her forehead, then he walks toward my car.

"We'll be right back." I say while exchanging a confused glare with Sierra. I jog over to him.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Can we go on a drive, like old times?"

"Yeah, of course." Locating my car keys from my pocket, I usher him into the car. Ash and I used to go on drives whenever he felt anxious or wanted to get away. Sometimes he'd spill what was on his mind and sometimes we'd just drive in silence. I missed doing that with him.

"How are you holding up?" I ask as I turn onto the road.

"I feel like my whole world has just flipped upside down." He looks down at his hands.

"I know me too."

"Do you remember when we all used to make mud pies?" He starts to laugh.

"Yeah and I used to make piles just to throw them on you two." We both laugh and then it's silence for a few minutes. I think we both understand how the other is feeling so we don't need to say much.

"Turn here." He says.

"For?"

"You'll see." I turn onto a narrow street until he tells me to stop in front of a small shop.

"I'll be right back." He rushes into the shop and before I know it, he's back with two bags. He throws them into the backseats.

"What's in those?"

"Booze."

"I-"

"Stop. I'm grieving. Please." He pleads.

"Fine."

We hit the road again to drive back to our friends. He reaches back to grab a bottle and starts to drink out of it.

"Maybe don't drink in the car." I suggest.

"You're my designated driver." He chugs some more and it become concerning. Another wave of silence hits us as he drinks in silence.

"When did everything just go to shit?"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I don't know.Maybe it's the fact that I'm failing in school. Or maybe that my parents are getting a divorce, maybe because I feel like my girlfriend doesn't even want to be with me, and maybe just maybe because a huge aircraft just crashed into the fucking building we were in killing one of my best friends." Half of his words start to come out slurred.