Hex

Chapter 17

The next morning, I dug into the back of my closet to find the only black dress I owned. Black was not really my color. I think the only time I wore this dress was to an internship interview back in high school. I chose to put no makeup on since I knew for a fact that if I saw anyone crying, especially Finn, I would lose it too. I left my room and found an empty kitchen. For once, I wasn't the last one ready. I put a bagel in the toaster and waited for my friends to appear.

As soon as my bagel popped, Zane came whizzing by, his tie hanging loose around his neck. He grabbed half of my bagel, with a "Thank you!". He plopped the bagel in his mouth and jogged back to the bathroom. He stood before the mirror and stared intently at his tie, twisting his head side to side like a dog.

"Do you need help?" I called down the hallway. I heard an affirmative answer, though it was heavily muffled by the bagel in his mouth. I rolled my eyes and headed down the hall, my heels clicking the whole way. I stood before him and got to work on his tie when Bishop passed by the bathroom, without looking in.

"Vienna?" He called, "Do you know how to tie-," he stopped when he saw me already tying Zane's. "Ah, figured you would."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, get in line," I said, smiling at the two's incompetence. I finished Zane's and started working on Bishop's. Finn came out of his room and joined the line as well. He reeked of liquor and made eye contact with no one. "Really, none of you know how to tie a tie? This is ridiculous. Gather around." I undid Bishop's half-done tie and showed them step-by-step how to do it. Finn was not amused, but Bishop and Zane 'ooed' and 'ahhed' every step of the way. When everyone's tie was tied, I went back to the kitchen for the other half of my bagel, only to find Bishop finishing off the last bite.

I huffed, narrowing my eyes at him, but before I could bitch him out, Finn walked out into the kitchen. Even Zane fell silent. Valeria walked into the apartment, but felt how tense it was and said nothing. Finn took a bottle of Jack out of the cabinet, chugged a bunch of it, then slammed it onto the counter. He didn't say anything or look at any of us, he just silently left the apartment, slamming the door behind him. We all hurried after him. We didn't catch up with him until we reached the subway station. Our ride to Queens was silent and somber. Zane tried a few times to start conversations, but each time he was met with weak smiles from Bishop, Valeria, and me and absolute nothingness from Finn.

We emerged back above ground and walked a short distance to the church the funeral was being held at. We walked in and grabbed seats in the pews. Zane went about halfway in and sat down, followed by me, then Bishop, then Valeria, and then Finn on the end. In hindsight, it may not have been our best idea to put Finn closest to the aisle, but it's called hindsight for a reason.

There weren't many people, just Bishop's family seated behind us and a couple of other families from their neighborhood. From what I understood, it sounded like Bishop's family and donations were paying for the service. I looked, but I didn't see Finn's dad, which I was happy about. The coffin was closed in the front, with a picture of Finn's mom next to it on a stand. It looked to be taken when she was around thirty, and she displayed a dazzling smile. She had curly blonde hair and blue eyes, starkly different from Finn's, but they seemed to have similar bone structures. Finn kept his head down the whole time, never looking at the priest speaking in the front.

Everything was going well for a while. The priest was speaking beautifully, and I was starting to tear up. I could hear Bishop's mom sniffling behind us. When one of my tears did eventually fall, Bishop put his hand on my thigh for support. It was an average funeral for a while, until about halfway through, when Finn's dad stumbled in. He walked right up to the front, pushing the priest away from the microphone. Finally, Finn looked up.