Tonight The World Dies

Chapter 7: Avery

In honour of the six year anniversary of Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan's passing this week on Monday 28th, I dedicate this chapter to him.

I miss you, Rev; rock in peace, my friend. 🤘🏻😇

~@batcountry_6661

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Reading normally calmed me, but not tonight. My mind was focused on other things...other things such as Brian being downstairs going through a box of Jimmy's things. I kept fidgeting: I wanted to be down there, I wanted to know what he was doing, how he was feeling...but I couldn't. I had to respect what he wanted.

I turned my attention back to my book and tried to read the page that I was on for the fourth time. The words rushed across my eyes, but only half of them sunk it. After reading it through again and nothing sinking in, I let out a frustrated sigh and leant over to grab my iPod from my bedside drawer. But as I did, I heard the sound of glass smashing echo up from downstairs.

My head immediately snapped round to stare the top of the staircase. Pinkly had shot up from where she'd been sleeping on the end of the bed, barking as her little legs frantically took her toward the top of the stairs.

"Pinkly! No!" I called, getting up as fast as I could to grab the small dog before she ran downstairs. If Brian had dropped his wine glass, I didn't want her running down there and getting shards of glass stuck in her feet. A trip to the vets at this time of night was not something I wished to do.

I grabbed Pinkly, and stood at the top of the stairs, looking down uneasily. I couldn't see the living room, but I was hoping to see Brian walk past and him tell me everything is fine and that he just broke the wine glass.

But, he didn't walk past.

Instead, I heard the sound of glass smashing once again followed by the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting drywall and Brian cursing under his breath.

"Shit." I exclaimed, instantly putting Pinkly down and commanding her to stay. Despite being a manic little dog, Pinkly did as she was told, and stayed at the top of the stairs, watching me as I quickly ran down them.

As soon as I reached the bottom, I turned right to head down the hallway but came to a sudden stop as I noticed smashed glass in front of me, sitting in a pool of wine that had sprayed itself up the walls and all across the floor. I had no shoes on, and only had a pair of flimsy socks to protect my feet, so I made sure not to step in any shards of glass as I made my way past the spillage. Brian was over near the television, his shoulder slumped and head bowed as he took in heavy breaths, his fists clenched. The box on the table was open, and several items lay spread across the table, whilst (I noticed) a picture-frame lay face-down on the floor.

"Brian?" I called, slowly making my way toward him, making sure that I didn't stand on any sharp pieces of glass.

Brian didn't answer me, he just kept his head low. I eyed him over as I walked toward him, noticing that he had bleeding knuckles.

"Brian, honey?" I called again, but this time more softly since I was within touching distance. My arm came out and I touched his; his muscles taut. "Brian, what happened?" I asked soothingly, bending over slightly to get a look at his face. He had his eyes closed, and his jaw was clamped shut.

A long moment went by before Brian took in a sharp breath and opened his eyes. They instantly filled with tears as he looked up to me and said, "I can't do this." He bawled, his knees giving away underneath him. Without even thinking, I lunged forward and grabbed him, keeping him upright. His hands immediately wrapped around me, squeezing me tight as he buried his face into the crook of my collarbone. My hands wrapped back around him, holding him tightly to me. I didn't want to let him go. I could only imagine how he was feeling. One of my hands came up to begin lethargically running through his soft, brown hair as I gently rested my forehead on top of his. I closed my eyes and took in slow, deep breaths, not wanting to lose control myself. It broke my heart to see Brian like this, and what broke it even more was that I knew there was nothing I could do expect be there for him.