No Strings Attached? // Roman Godfrey

Funeral.

"You sure you don't wanna come to the party?" Roman asked you, as he put on his coat and grabbed his car keys.

You were laying on the couch, watching a movie and nodded your head. "Yeah I'm sure. I don't feel too well, so it's better if I stay here."

"I can stay here if you want." he offered.

"Roman." you said as you turned your head and looked ta him. "No strings attached, remember. You do your thing and I do mine. "

You saw him slightly smirking at you. "Alright, I know. Take care."

"You too, have fun!" you yelled as he opened the door and went off.

You hadn't been feeling well for most of the day, and you had no clue what it was. It was an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach, like you were going to be really sick. Except you weren't. So you tried to calm yourself, your body and mind down by watching cheesy romantic movies.

About an hour later, you almost doze off.  You weren't in the mood to fall asleep, so you got up and walked to the kitchen to make yourself some tea.

As the water just started boiling, you felt a sharp pain in your head. You immediately knew something was wrong, because this didn't feel like a headache at all. You fell on the floor on your knees, reaching for your head that felt like it was on fire.

"Something's wrong." you mumbled to yourself. "Something's wrong with Destiny."

You had no idea how long you had been sitting on the floor, mumbling to yourself, but you startled when the doorbell rang.

The pain in your head had faded a little bit, so you got up and rushed to the door to open it. There you saw Peter, looking down to the ground and with tears running over his cheeks.

"Lynda just called me." he mumbled as he sniffed.

"Something happened to her, right?" you quietly said. "Tell me Peter."

He sniffed again, wiped away the tears from his cheeks and wrapped his arms around you. "She got in a car accident. She didn't survive."

---

It was a rainy day, the day of the funeral. And it was a bittersweet smile you had on your face, because you knew how much Destiny loved the rain and she had always said that if she died, she hoped it would rain on the day of her funeral.

There wasn't anything left of her body. There wasn't a lot of family left. So Lynda had asked you if it was okay to do some kind of 'personal/family' ceremony, in stead of a 'normal' funeral. You had told her that Destiny would have liked that, because she wasn't one for normal things anyways.

So everyone had gathered at Lynda and Peter's place for a small get together. As soon as the rain had stopped, Peter and Roman had made a big fire, so everyone could sit around it and tell stories and memories you had of Destiny.

Shelley, Letha and Alison didn't know her that well, but you were still grateful that they came here to say goodbye to her. Peter didn't leave your side for a second, and you knew Roman wanted to stay close as well. But ever since you had decided for yourself that you were better off being somewhat distant to him, he had given you the space. Even though he had no clue why.

"I remember going trick-or-treating when we were little." Peter said, as he took a sip of his beer. "Destiny, Eva and I. All dressed up. I think we always used to be zombies."

You let out a small chuckled. "Yeah we were. And Destiny's gifts were developed quite early, so she always scared people with predictions they didn't want to hear."

Peter put his arm around you and chuckled as well. "Yes! And the people in town were genuinely scared of her so they gave her a lot of candy in exchange for her to leave their house immediately."

Your chuckle changed into a sob and you buried your face into Peter's chest as you started crying. He firmly wrapped his arms around you and held you for a long moment.

"I felt it." you mumbled to Peter, making sure no one else would hear it. "I felt that she was in trouble and I didn't do anything."

"Hey, that's not on you." he tried to comfort you. "None of us could have done anything. She was too far from us."

"I still somewhat feel her." you quietly said. "I don't know how, but I do."

"Lynda told me some of our people feel the presence of spirits or ghosts, or whatever they are." Peter said with a small smile. "Maybe you can too."

"But I've never had that before." you said, as you were getting a little scared by it.

Peter took one of your hands in his and gave it a kiss. "Does her presence feel okay?"

You nodded. "Yeah, it's comforting."

"Then I think you'll be fine." he smiled. "And if not, let me know!"

"Will do." you quietly said, resting your head on his shoulder.

---

"You okay, Eva?" Roman asked you as soon as you got into his car.

You gave him a small nod. "I'm alright. Could you maybe drive me to Destiny's place?"

He smiled at you. "Yeah of course."

You arrived there pretty quickly and you hurried to her apartment, as if you were expecting her to just be there. Everything was still as she had left it. The last time you had seen it, it was a mess due to the zombie upirs. But she had been able to fix up the place pretty well.

As you walked into her room, you felt a gust of comfort going through your body. You looked at Destiny's stuff and picked a few items that you wanted to take with you.

Your gaze fell on her bed, you didn't hesitate a second and lay yourself on it.

"I'm going to stay here tonight." you said, knowing that Roman had followed you to the room. You got up a little bit, resting your bodyweight on your elbows as you looked at him.

"No problem." he replied, getting his car keys out of his pocket.

"You can take my room, if you want." you suggested. "I mean, I would feel better if you stayed close tonight."

He put his keys back into his pocket. "Let me know if you need me, okay?"

You got up and walked up to him. You got on your tiptoes to peck his cheek. "I will, thank you Roman."

"No worries, pumpkin." he replied with a small smile.