Elevator 14 // Austin Mahone

Chapter 9

**

"Are you ready?" Blake calls from outside of my bedroom door.

I ignored him and looked down at my phone. I'm not as prepared for this as I thought I was. My ginormous room was a mess, I had never bothered to clean it once I got all moved in since I was so depressed.

"No answer?" He asked. "Okay, open the door. You know, even if it isn't official, I'm your guardian, and you kinda need to listen to me. And unless you jumped out of the window, I know you're in there."

"Go away," I mumbled.

"Brin, seriously, let me talk to you about it. I can help you feel better."

"You've done everything you can. I'm not saying you didn't help, but there's nothing more you can do."

"Just... Open the door."

I ignored him and stared at the door handle. I didn't wanna open it. I didn't wanna talk. I didn't want this to be my reality.

Blake knocked again and leaned against the door. "Okay, I get it... He died, you're upset, and you're not ready for this. But you can't miss his funeral."

"Get away from my door."

"This is my house, stupid." He grabbed onto the doorknob and shook it. "Seriously, are you ready?"

"Will I ever be ready for a funeral?" I looked down at my black dress and then looked into the mirror at my puffy eyes. "I'm gonna cry the whole time." I'm going to his funeral. I knew this was coming, I just didn't think it was real.

"It's okay. Everyone cries at funerals. Open the door, Brin."

I covered my eyes with my hands and sniffled. "Why did he have to go? Why did he have to just... He was so special to me, and..." I opened the door and practically fell into his arms. "Blake..."

He hugged me and rubbed my back. "I know... It's rough. We didn't see it coming. It's life."

"All from a disease that stupid goddamn Bradley gave him. So many people cared about him. So many people are gonna be at this funeral. I'm not gonna know most of them."

"Listen to me. No matter what, don't go off on anyone. Keep it cool."

"I learned so much about him in just 4 days. 4 days of being stuck in a stupid fucking elevator. He got out of that thing and died. He died! I completely misjudged him as a person before we got into that elevator. He's actually so caring, smart, amazing. I wish I would've known these things before. Shit..."

"Time to go!" Victoria yelled from the first story of this mansion. She was Blake's assistant.

Blake patted my head like you do to a dog and pulled me along down the stairs. "Be positive. He made it pretty evident you were special to him, he wouldn't wanna see you upset over this. I don't wanna see you upset."

Once we got there, I looked around and saw so many people I didn't know. They were probably a lot of his friends. I restrained from talking, maybe because I couldn't. I separated myself from everyone- Even Blake, who was currently my best friend.

He's actually gone. It's real. This is all real. I saw a picture of him, and I started to cry like my eyes were Niagara Falls.

Someone came and patted me on the back. It wasn't Blake, it was more of a feminine pat. I turned around to see Michele. I didn't wanna talk or even be touched, but she's only ever been nice to me and she only wants me to feel better.