Dead Sea: Lennon's Story- H.S. Fanfic

Healing After Hazel's Death

^^^^^if you want to cry your eyes out forever listen to "As a Child" by Madeline The Person and imagine Hugh Preston and Parker listening to it when they're older to cope with Hazel's death 😭😭

Lennon: 32-33
Nora: 32-33
Hugh: 9-10
Twins: 4-5

This chapter spans the entire year after Hazel's death which is why their ages change 💛

April 24th 2046 (3 days after Hazel's Death)

"Buddy, you need to go to bed,"Lennon whispers, spooning Preston who's pitifully sniffling as he lays on his side, his tiny hand pressed on top of Lennon's that's wrapped around his waist and resting on his tiny tummy. "You're gonna be tired in the morning if you don't go to sleep."

It's these little mundane moments that hurt the most, surprisingly. He can't count the number of times he's curled himself into a kid bed for his boys, laying with them until they fall asleep so that the "monsters" don't get them.

Something about the mundane remaining the same is like a gut punch. His daughter died three days ago and yet here he is, still having to do the mundane tasks of every day life. Because even though his and Nora's lives stopped on April 21st at 11:36, no one else's did. And in the end their little baby girl left behind brothers. Brothers who are still afraid of the dark.

"I don't wanna,"Preston tearfully whines, moving his body backwards to try and snuggle up closer to Lennon, needing to feel his comfort.

The kids may not express their grief the same way as Lennon and Nora, but they are definitely still grieving and make it very clear that they are. Hugh, for example, grieves through speaking and listening. He wants to hear everything that Lennon and Nora have to say about Hazel's diagnosis. He wants to talk through everything they went through. He wants them to explain everything about Hazel's death to him over and over again to try and process it easier.

With Parker they're still trying to decide how he's grieving, but one thing they do know is that he has had way more outbursts in the past three days than he normally does, and they're still trying to decide if that's just because everything around him has been changing so quickly and flipped upside-down, or if it's because he misses Hazel.

Preston grieves through touch. He's in constant need of physical comfort. He wants nothing more than Lennon, Hugh, or Nora holding him at all times.

So while Preston may be attributing his lack of sleep to his fear of monsters under his bed, Lennon knows it's not that. No child who has watched their little sister die right before their eyes is afraid of monsters. Or at least not the mythical creatures that children are often afraid of. No, they're afraid of monsters that appear in different ways but are still very much so monsters.

Monsters that kill baby sisters.

"I know, but you're gonna be so tired tomorrow morning if you don't go to sleep,"Lennon quietly explains, pressing a little kiss to the back of Preston's head, keeping his voice quiet since he can tell by the lack of movement across the room that Parker has already fallen asleep.

He hates to admit it, but really the last place he wants to be right now is snuggling his little boy. He wants to be in his own bed with Nora. He wants to be left alone to be able to think of his little girl. He wants to cuddle her baby blanket that still smells like her. He wants to pretend that it will always smell like her. He wants to cry himself to sleep just as he has for the past three nights.

He doesn't know if he actually falls asleep or just passes out from not getting enough air between his gasping sobs, but he doesn't care either way. Anything to take him out of the hell of a life he's currently living right now is good enough for him.