the one before me - mr harrigan's phone

8 - dead overnight

❝ I am just a kid, I've never seen the world. ❞

- kids by current joys
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CRAIG'S POV

I woke up to my hands draping down on the side of my bed, the absence of weight next to me. I shot out from my bed and turned to my right, not seeing the figure of Matilda laying down. I quickly got out of bed, stomping down the stairs.

"Matilda?" I called out, my voice cracking from how worried I was.

"I'm right here," She said cheerfully, sitting next to my father on the table, the both of them sharing some tea and bread.

"Good morning, Craig. I didn't know you were friends with Matilda? She said you've been talking for months now! How have you not talked about her, ever?" I stopped halfway down the stairs, looking at Matilda, only for her to avoid eye contact with me. I bit my bottom lip, not knowing what to say yet.

"I just... never got the time to talk to you about her, that's all,"

"So, one day you just ask who she is and boom! You both end up being best friends for life?" My dad said, letting out a loud laugh. I shrugged my shoulders, biting my inner cheek from embarrassment. I sat down beside Matila, her sliding the teapot to me and taking a slice of bread from the plate.

"Oh uh-" I began, before thinking twice. I didn't normally eat breakfast, but I decided to anyway, "Nevermind, thanks," I said, my voice low from just waking up. I took the bread, taking a quick bite which soon turned into giant bites.

"Dude, when did you last eat?" Matilda said, her mouth slightly gaped open. I shrugged my shoulders again, my mouth full of toast, "Your mouth looks like it's about to burst," She said, making me almost choke on the food inside my mouth, having to cover it to avoid the bread from coming out, "I'm being serious!" She laughed out loud.

I eventually swallowed the toast, heading to the mirror and checking on my bruises I was given last night. They weren't as healed, but definitely better than before. Matilda stood up from her chair, tilting my face to look at her. Her eyes trailed around my face, my cheeks heating up from her delicate hands holding onto my jaw.

"At least it's not as bad as yesterday," She chuckled out, giving me a droopy smile. It looked just like my father's, an upside down smile almost. I stared down at her longer, staring right into her midnight eyes. They had a glint of dark blue in it, just like the night sky.

Beep

A vibration was made on the shelf next to us, startling me. I swiped my phone off the shelf, Matilda taking a step back.

U-Boat
yanko is dead

The message wrote.

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We pulled up to the driveway where Kenny lived, the car filled with 5 people. U-boat, Billy, Margie, Matilda and me. All sorts of people were crowded around his residence; his family, medical services, police officers of all sorts. I rolled down the window, Matilda peering from my shoulder. A body covered with a white sheet, strapped to an emergency bed being pulled into the ambulance was what I assumed was his body.

I know it seems pretty obvious, but that was the first time it struck me that everybody, even assholes, have parents, families who miss them, cry for them. I stupidly thought that grief was somehow special to me.

I felt like I was going to puke, I felt so sick to the stomach, I felt as if this was somehow my fault, just like my mother's death. It's that weird kid thing. Like, somehow, my mom's death was my fault. It's always somehow my fault. That I was responsible for it. That I controlled it. And if I controlled it, I could have stopped it. I could feel a tear trickle down my cheek, pursing my lips together as I looked down from the sight of his mother in his father's arms, crying with a napkin in her hand.

"Don't cry," I heard Matilda hum beside me, her hands rubbing my back comfortably. Margie sat next to her, the heartwarming scene making my best friend's heart twirl. She gave me a small smile, her eyebrows giving a sense of sentimentality. Matilda brought my head to her chest once I started crying, my tears starting to uncontrollably flow out like a hose that's knob is jammed. My hands wrapped around her waist, her's wandering to the back of my neck and hair, slowly patting my head. I could feel everyone's eyes glued onto us, but I couldn't care less. She was there for me, and that shows she's a keeper.

But please, please not in a 'friend' way.

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words: 870

A/N:
i dont know what in tarnation possessed me to write the second part of this chapter but holy shit I cried writing that for some reason. anyway, filler chapter because im tired but a very very VERY sweet chapter coming next! i love writing in craig's pov because i like to imagine that's how men perceive love. - Raven