eternal flame - s. harrington

Chapter 11: Denial & Anger

The world was quiet. Nothing made sense.

I stood in the living room, which had been completely trashed, the alphabets were painted on the wall, christmas lights were hung around.

My eyes filled with tears after my dad told us they found Will's body in the quarry. I couldn't believe it. I refused to believe it.

Will had drowned. He was gone.

I looked at my mom, who stared into nothingness, obviously in shock. Jonathan was crying next to me with his forehead pressed against the wall.

"Joyce?", my father said gently, "Joyce? Do you understand what I'm saying?"
– "No.", my mom replied, "Whoever you found... It's not my boy. It's not Will."
"Joyce—"
"No, you don't understand. I talked to him, a half hour ago.", her voice trembled as she grabbed a bunch of christmas lights and showed them to my dad, "He was talking... With these."

"Talking?", my dad asked. "Uh-huh. One blink for yes, two for no. And, and then I made this—", she stammered as she pointed at the wall with the alphabets on it, "So he could talk to me. 'Cause, he... He was hiding, from that... thing."

"The thing that came out of the wall?", my dad asked calmly, "The thing that chased you?"

My mom nodded, "Yeah.", she said as tears rolled down her cheecks. "Mom, come on... Please.", Jonathan cried, "You've gotta stop this."

"No! It's–... It's after him! He's in danger, we have to find him!", my mother raised her voice. "What exactly was this thing?", my dad asked, "It was some kind of animal, you said?"

"No, it was... It was almost... human, but it wasn't. It had these long arms and... it didn't have a face–", my mom rambled as Jonathan broke down and ran into his room. I covered my mouth with my hand and cried as I listened to my mom.

I couldn't take it anymore, either. I ran into my room and locked the door behind me, leaning against it before collapsing on the floor, burying my face in my palms and sobbing into them.

I heard my parents talking in the living room.

"Joyce, listen to me. Listen to me. After Sara... I saw her too, and I heard her. I didn't know what was real. And then I figured out that it was in my mind. And I had to pack all that away. Otherwise, I was gonna fall down a hole... That I couldn't get out of.", my dad said to my mom.
– "No... You're talking about grief. This is different.", my mom replied.
"I'm just saying that you—"
– "I know what you're saying, Hop. I swear to you, I know what I saw. And I'm not crazy."
"I'm not saying that you're crazy."
– "No... You are. And I understand, but... God, I... I need you to believe me. Please... Please."

I couldn't take it anymore. I got up and ran into my bed, covering my ears with one pillow as I sobbed in the other, crying myself to sleep...

The next morning I woke up with the puffiest eyes known to any human. I almost didn't recognize myself when I looked into the mirror.

Jonathan woke up Mom, who was asleep on the couch with an axe in her lap. The three of us got in my car, and I drove us to the coroner's office, where my dad was waiting for us.

"Hey, Dad.", I greeted him quietly. "Hey, kid.", he said and wrapped me up in a hug.

Mom, Jonathan and I walked into the room where Will's body was. All three of us stood against the wall, looking through the window as the coroner lifted the sheet, revealing my dead brother.

Jonathan coughed and immediately ran out of the room. I closed my eyes and turned away.

"He has a birthmark on his right arm, can you show that to me, please?", Mom asked the coroner. I kept my eyes closed and leaned against the wall.

"That's not him...", I heard my mother say and I turned to look at her in confusion. "That's not him.", she repeated and grabbed my arm, "Let's go, Grace.", she said and dragged me out of the room.

"Wait, ma'am, you need to sign this first!", the coroner called out to my mom, holding a pen and some document in his hands as he followed us out of the room. "No!", my mom yelled.

"Ma'am! Ma'am, I need you to sign!", the coroner shouted as my mom and I barged into the waiting room. My mom turned around to look at the coroner, freeing my arm from her grip, "I don't know what you think that thing is in there, but that is not my son!", she yelled.

"Joyce, wait a second—", Dad began.
– "No!", my mom said and exited the building.

Jonathan and I grabbed our stuff and ran after her. We got into my car and I started driving slowly beside her as Jonathan opened the window.

"Mom, will you get in?", he said, peeking his head out the window. "No, I need to think. Just go home, you guys.", she said.

"Mom, please get in the car!", I said and she shook her head, so I pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the car, and went after my mom.

Jonathan was right behind me as I ran up to my mom and grabbed her arm. She turned around, "Just go home, you two!", she ordered. Jonathan shook his head, "No, this is not an okay time for you to shut down!", he said.

"Shut down?", Mom scoffed.

"Mom, we have to deal with this! We have to deal with the funeral!", Jonathan shouted as tears formed into his eyes. I noticed people starting to stare at us, so I decided to chime in, but couldn't, before my mom started speaking, "The funeral?! For... for who? For that thing back there?!"

"Mom, will you just get in the car so we can all go home and talk about this?", I asked, trying to get her to calm down, but she ignored me and Jonathan spoke again, "Okay, let me get this straight. That's not Will's body, because he's in the lights, right? And there's a monster in the wall? Do you even hear yourself?"

"Jonathan, you're not helping—", I said.

"I know it sounds crazy! I sound crazy, you think I don't know that?! It is crazy! But I heard him, he talked to me! Will is... calling to me!", Mom shouted as more and more people started to stare at us, "And he's out there, and he's alone, and he's scared and I... I don't care if anyone believes me, I am not gonna stop looking for him until I find him and bring him home! I am going to bring him home!"

Mom turned around and walked away. "Yeah, well, while you're talking to the lights, the rest of us are having a funeral for Will!", Jonathan shouted at our mom, "We're not letting him stay in that freezer another day!"

I turned to look at my brother, "That went well.", I said in a sarcastic tone as I turned around to walk back to my car when I noticed people still staring at us. "If you need entertainment, just buy cable, for goodness sake!", I yelled at the people staring at us and ran to my car.

I took a deep breath as I sat down on the driver's seat. Jonathan entered the car also, and sat on the passenger seat. I turned to look at him.

"What a mess.", I commented on the situation. "Yeah.", he sniffled.

"You think Mom's gonna be okay?", he asked.
– "Yes.", I assured my brother, "She's strong."