The Corner Store

Chapter 37 - The end of it all...

Axel's POV continued:

It had been two months since Spencer's funeral.

Sixty days. One thousand four hundred and forty hours.

It felt like I'd lived every single one of them in slow motion.

The apartment had settled into an unsettling kind of quiet. His presence was gone, but the silence still screamed in its own way. No more loud, stupid laughs, no more arguments over the dumbest things. Spencer's absence hung heavy in the air.

Landon threw himself into his work even more, burying the pain in long hours and late nights.  Cooper hadn't been around either, off at basic training, pretending to escape everything that had happened.

And me? I was just... existing.

Most nights, I found myself sitting out on the balcony, staring at the city lights, feeling the weight of Spencer's last words pressing against my chest. "Tell the others... I wasn't always such a jerk." It felt so damn final, like he was finally trying to make up for everything he couldn't take back. It hit harder than I ever expected.

Sophia came out onto the balcony, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. She sat down next to me, her eyes a little too understanding.

"You're doing it again," she said quietly.

"Doing what?"

"Blaming yourself."

I looked at her, and I could feel the exhaustion in my bones. "How could I not? If I hadn't dragged him into all this, he'd still be here. If I hadn't—"

"Stop." Her voice was soft, but it cut through my guilt. "Spencer made his own choice, Axel. You didn't force him. He was trying to make things right."

I turned my eyes down to my hands. She was right. Spencer had made the choice to stand by me, to fix things in his own way. But it didn't stop the ache.

"I just... keep thinking there was another way," I muttered, my voice thick.

Sophia shifted closer, her hand slipping into mine. "There might have been," she said, her voice steady. "But what happened, happened. We can't change it. All we can do is make sure his death wasn't in vain."

I squeezed her hand, trying to steady myself, trying to make sense of everything. "I won't forget him. We won't."

Sophia smiled, but her eyes were sad. "We won't. He'll always be with us, Axel. In a way, he's still here." She said, pointing at my heart.

I exhaled slowly, feeling the smallest weight lift off me. It wasn't a cure, nothing would ever be, but the ache wasn't as heavy as it had been. Spencer was gone, but his memory didn't have to be. As long as we carried that with us, part of him would always be here.

________________________________________________________________________________

A YEAR LATER...

Sophia's POV:

My hands were shaking, and I couldn't stop them. I sat there on the stage, holding my diploma like it was the only thing keeping me grounded. I still couldn't believe I was actually here, after everything—after the mess, the heartache, the moments where I thought I might not make it through. But somehow, I did. I graduated. With honors, no less.

The past three months at the LAPD crime lab felt like a blur—late nights, long hours, trying to prove to myself that I could do this. And now, here I was, ready to start my job there in two months. I felt a mix of pride and disbelief. All the weight of the past year—everything that happened—felt heavy on my chest, but in the best way possible. It meant I'd survived. I'd made it through.