Almost Normal (Editing)

Chapter Twenty Two

JADE'S POV

Once again it was my mother to the rescue. She charmed one of the policemen to let me out and drop the charges. Well... look elsewhere anyway. She then cornered the priest and convinced him to change his story slightly to make me look less like a killer. I wasn't sure what call she got first. Her son being dead or her daughter accused of his murder. Either way she was devastated. And angry. Ever since that day at the police station my mother and I have little to say to each other. I knew that if I hadn't gone to that stupid church then Andrew might still be alive, married, but alive.

The next few months were like a blur. There was a short funeral where we met my dad's fiancee and my future half sibling. Andrews' friends stopped now and then to pay their respects, but never stayed long. My friends tried getting me out of the house, but I hardly left my bedroom. My mother on the other hand started dating her divorce lawyer as soon as the divorce went through. They spent their time dressing up and going out to dinner or on long trips. She spent most of her time at his place leaving me to fend for myself.

I was in my room like usual laying in bed when my mother made her rare appearance in my doorway. I looked up and saw that she had a pile of flat cardboard boxes and a suitcase.

"There's enough food in the fridge to last you a week. I should be back before then. While I'm gone if you can go through Andrew's things and decide what to give away and what to keep." She said coldly.

"No. I refuse to let him be reduced to a couple boxes that will sit in the attic collecting dust over the years. He's a person!" I blurted out sitting up.

"Jade I am so tired of having to pass by his empty room. I feel so dead inside because of what happened." She said tearing up.

"Well maybe if you were a better parent then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation."

"You think I don't know that?!" She yelled tears now rolling down her face. "I lost my son... and the worst part is that I could've lost you too." She said falling to the ground crying.

I sat there watching her cry and that's when I noticed how broken she was. She looked so frail and you could see some grey starting to grow from the top of her head. I walked over and joined her rubbing her back as she cried.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too." She said starting to calm down a bit.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly.

She nodded as a car honked outside. My mom pulled herself together wiping her eyes and picked up her suitcase heading out the door. Once she was gone I picked up the empty boxes and took them and cross the hall to Andrew's room. I stood there in the dark before turning on the lights. Surrounded by memories of him everywhere.

"I can't do this." I said to myself and turned around to walk out.

I was going to head back into my room when there was a knock at the door. Curiously I walk downstairs and open it to find Andrew's best friend Patrick standing there with a large pan of lasagna.

"My mom wanted me to drop this over." He said holding it out for me.

"Oh. Thanks." I took it our fingertips brushing against each other.

We stood there for a moment in awkward silence and I could feel the sun slowly starting to burn my exposed skin.

"Well thank you for the food. I should be getting back to packing Andrew's things." I said.

"Do you want some help?" He asked quickly making my heart jump.

"Sure!" I said probably a little too eagerly.

I let him in and let him go upstairs first whole I put the lasagna into the kitchen where it'll probably sit and rot away. I went upstairs and saw that Patrick was standing there as hopeless as I was earlier.

"Lot of memories in here..." I said behind him.

He nodded and sat on the bed patting the spot next to him. I took a seat next to him and we sat there looking around in silence. He looked up at the ceiling and laughed.

"You see all these small holes in the ceiling? We used to toss our pens and pencils up there and see how long it'll stay." He said.

"Did any of them stay for long?" I asked.

He shook his head and replied, "Longest was like five seconds."

We both sat there staring up at the tiny holes and faint marks of a pencil or pen. I could imagine him and Andrew thinking of ways to pass the time instead of doing homework. I could almost hear his laughter like he was in the room with us.

Patrick cleared his throat and got up and I got up also. We started putting stuff in boxes, clothes and shoes went in a box to be donated and the rest for storage. Once we were finished we were standing in a bare room. It was like Andrew was never here at all. He was now reduced to a few boxes.

"Thank you." I said before adding, "for not asking if I'm okay and stuff because I am! I'm perfectly... fine."

"You know I know what it's like to lose someone close to you." He said. "And I get that you want your space, but what helped me get through it was therapy. Just having someone to talk to and get me through the stages of grief made it easier."

"Well can I just skip to the last part?" I asked.

He laughed and tore off a small piece of cardboard writing on it.

"If that was possible. I definitly would've gotten over this a lot faster." He said handing the piece of of cardboard. "Call me when you get to the last step. Acceptance." He said before leaving.

I stood there for the longest time staring at the piece of cardboard with a stupid smile on my face. I felt myself blushing and I was glad he was gone. Once I was sure he was gone I bit my bottom lip and put his number in my pocket and went downstairs.