Within These Walls

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Continuing through the graveyard, doing his best to ignore the subtly movement of everything around him and the noises coming from the darkness, Louis finally found a familiar marker, and took a turn off the path.

With his phone still in his hand, Louis turned the light on and used it to guide him across the grass, making sure not to walk on top of any of the graves.

After close to a minute of walking, Louis came to a stop, his phone's light shining down on the two gravestones before him, and he felt a shiver run down his spine as his eyes scanned over the words etched into them.

Amanda Stan

"Time won't wash away the love I've known"

Beloved mother and wife

1967 - 2010

Robert Stan

Loving husband, father, and son

1971 - 2010

Louis read the words over and over again wishing with all his heart he didn't have. He would have given anything to be able to see his parents again. To be able to talk to them; to hear them tell him everything was going to be alright.

Despite how cold he knew it would be, Louis sat down on the ground in front of his parent's graves, crossing his legs as he did so. The grass beneath him felt frozen and icy, though, he didn't care too much. All of his attention was on the gravestones in front of him.

"Hi." His voice was weak, and in the light of his phone he could see his breath dissipate effortless in front of him. "I don't really know what I'm doing here."

Louis let his words sit in the air for a moment as he drew in breath, trying to find the comfort he had felt when he came to this spot with Isaac, though it was nowhere to be found.

"I thought I might feel better coming here again. Tonight's been... harder. I just don't know what to do."

Louis wasn't even sure he believed in the afterlife. So, talking to his parent as though the slightest chance they could hear him was something he never thought he would do. Then again, Louis also never thought he would be experiencing another loss. So, if there was anything he could do to try and help him cope; he would try it. Even if it seemed outlandish to him.

Like talking to his deceased parents.

"I feel like I'm being a bad person. Everyone in my life has been great. Doing everything they can for me and I just... keep pushing them away. I just... I feel the more I care about people. The more it hurts. The more I let people in; the worse it's going to be if they leave."

Louis could feel a few tears roll down his cheeks as he spoke, and he moved quickly to wipe them away. His hands shook slightly as his words drifted into the nothingness of the night, causing his light to sway. It felt as though something was coiling around his stomach, squeezing it, and causing it to twist and turn inside him.

"I could really use you guys right now. It feels like I keep making mistakes."

Falling silent again, Louis hung his head, letting his arm falling limply onto his knee and his phone slip from his hand, which landed face down. The light from it now shining into the air and at nothing in particular, illuminating very little around Louis.