𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐫, 𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐫 | 𝐉𝐉 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤

EPILOGUE

JJ Maybank

Funerals fucking suck at the best of times.

Everyone's moping, in competition to look the most miserable, dressed in their best black clothes that then become that shirt you wore to your great Uncle's funeral, and now it feels weird to wear to a party.

But, when you know the departed, that's the worst of times comes into effect.

Effect, affect, who the fuck knows?

Mabel would. But she isn't here, is she?

All people do is come up to you and tell you that they loved you, they'd want you to be happy, they'd want you to xyz. Well, they are dead and no longer get to make choices for me.

Of course, the above scenario only occurs if the deceased was a good person, or at worst, a morally grey person. When the dead person was an abusive drunk who terrorised his own child, no one says any of that shit. No one even shows up.

Luke Maybank doesn't deserve a funeral, so he isn't getting one.

No shirts will be tainted in his honour, no lies will be spread that he was merely misunderstood, no one will spend a single fucking second of their day celebrating his life. In my opinion, he got way too fucking much of it.

"Derek, don't you fucking dare," I manage to scare the shit out of my dog. Sue me for not wanting the stupidest dog ever to eat my father's ashes. "How did you even get in there? I swear if I need to take you to the vet again, I'm gonna be pissed," I marvel. Said stupid dog managed to eat through the cardboard box the crematorium put my father in, and the first plastic bag.

Today wasn't supposed to go like this. It was supposed to be productive, but instead, I had to pay someone to burn my dad to a crisp.

Robbie said it was against the law to do it myself, he also said he'd dob me in and refuse to represent me. Fucking snitch.

"You're a good girl, BokHee," I pick up the shaking Chihuahua. She's about sixty thousand years old and down all but one of her teeth. I still think she'll outlive me. "We're home now. You can lay– holy shit."

Derek, the most energetic dog I have ever met, leaps out of the car when he sees what's got me stopped in my fucking tracks.

"My McDreamy! Oh, I missed you, bubba!" My wife sits down on the patio I made in the summer after she mentioned she wanted one. The dog jumps at her, covering her in kisses, she tries to dodge—making me even more thankful he didn't get a mouthful of my father. "Why is there cardboard in your mouth, you little freak?" Her laugh soothes my soul.

I don't do well without her, sue me. 

When you've been with someone longer than you've been without them, where you end and they start melds together.

"You just gonna stand there are stare, buddy?" Mabel gets to her feet, laughing at my reaction. She's not supposed to be here for another week. "At least give me BokHee, I gotta say hi to my baby."

Derek starts spinning in circles, something he does when he's especially excited. Fucking weirdo. He's quite frankly more obsessed with Mabel than I am, which I didn't know was possible. He looked for her for hours when she first left, something I didn't think he'd be smart enough to do.