Tears Thick Enough To Stain

Seven

The defibrillators worked for the shortest amount of time, forcing a heartbeat into the wilted body of the teen. But soon enough, his body rejected it and Josh was declared dead thirty six minutes after Matt had found him. Matt was in the ambulance with him, watching him, hoping and praying despite the fact he wasn’t even religious. If there was a god then he could save Josh. But as soon as he heard that long, flat beep from the machine, he knew it was completely over. Someone held him back from rushing over.

The next time Matt saw Josh was at the funeral. His parents had asked for the casket to be open, and it made Matt noxious to see his best friend lying lifeless in a box. Someone had put makeup on his face to colour the grey skin underneath. But it was wrong, it was all wrong, it didn’t look right. He was shoved into a tux, a fucking tux, and Matt could have laughed at how stupid the idea was. That tux was hanging in his closet for the longest time. It was his prom tux. He and Matt had planned on going together, but the prom was three weeks away so they used it for his funeral instead. Matt sighed. Josh paid for this all. His parents had no choice, there was over four thousand dollars shoved into that envelope and every last penny went into making this funeral as proper as it should have been.