Inside(Newtmas fanfic)

Too late

"Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory."

She's dead.

Alby kept repeating the words in his head, trying to lose it's meaning, but it seemed impossible.

Fucking hell, Laurel is dead. The only person he had ever loved in the entire world was buried under the ground. He wasn't crying anymore, he couldn't, the tears weren't falling anymore. Instead he just felt this sadness filling the emptiness inside him. He wanted to scream. The sadness was so much worse than crying.

Even though he was supposed to stay three more days, Alby had decided to leave. Staying would only make things worse. Besides, there was nothing he could do there anymore. She wasn't there or anywhere to be found. All that was left was a dead body in an abandoned town. Just in case, he kept Laurel's sister's, Kayla, number. Before leaving, he had talked to her to clear things up. Period. That was it. That town was just another memory for him.

As soon as he got home he found his mother laying on the couch, asleep. It was nine am, the morning sun shone outside. It's a new day... And she's still dead. Alby covered his mother with a blanket. She always worked hard and took the latest extra shifts to sustain both of them. That woke her up.

"Alby, you're back." She smiled, sitting up. "How was the trip?"

"It was good." He lied. "But now I should probably go back to my studies, I missed a day and probably a lot of homework."

"Yeah, okay. Don't work too hard." His mom said, getting up and heading to the kitchen.

"You too." Alby went upstairs and sat on his bed.

Dead, he tried again without success. Laurel is fucking dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. She's not coming back. For some reason, it only made him feel sadder, but no tears came out. What the fuck is wrong with me? Cry, you fucking useless piece of shit.

His phone buzzed, interrupting his unsuccessful attempt to cry. It was a text from Minho.

M: Yo, when are you coming back?

A: I'm here already.

M: Did you find her?

A: No.

He lied. Actually, it wasn't exactly a lie, he hadn't found her, only what was left of her. God, that's terrible.

M: Man, I'm sorry, that sucks.

A: Yeah.

M: Want to come over and get stoned?

He thought about it for a second. It wasn't a good time to go out. Alby just wanted to stay there and die in a hole. He felt like shit. Losing Laurel felt even worse than losing his father. The only difference was that he loved Laurel, but as for his father, he just wanted him to shoot himself for ever leaving his mother and him. However, getting stoned would definitely make him forget about her for a second, and that was better than anything else.

A: Sure. I'm omw.

The boy got up and headed to Minho's house, repeating the same words in his head and trying to forget the meaning of them, failing once again.

...

Thomas woke up in Jorge's apartment. He was laying on the couch. He looked around the living room only to find out he was by himself. Then he heard some voices coming from what was seemed to be Jorge's small kitchen. It was actually just a tiny counter with a microwave, a small refrigerator and an old stove. He used to use the sink of his bathroom to wash the dishes. Thomas got up and immediately felt pain spreading through his neck. That's what you get when you fall asleep on the couch.