always // treebros soulmate au

chapter eighteen ~ closure, part 1

zoe's idea was to gather up some of connor's most treasured things and bury them somewhere. she told evan that she thought it would give them a sense of closure that the funeral simply didn't, which she figured was due to the fact that there was no body to bury.

"but," she had said to evan over the phone, "a person is not their body. a person can be found in what really mattered to them. this is how we can finally say goodbye to connor."

evan had agreed to the idea with the hope that this would give him a shove in the right direction. he knew connor would want him to live his life to the fullest. he just didn't know how to do that anymore.

they scheduled a date when they would drive out to some spot in new jersey that zoe picked out. when she hung up, evan started thinking about what he would bring to bury and what he wanted to keep for himself. he forced himself to pull open a drawer in his dresser - the one that contained everything that reminded him of connor.

when evan peered in, he was filled with sadness that he was forced to choke down. he made himself become numb enough to look through the items.

what would connor want me to keep?

the engagement ring. evan knew that for certain. he pulled it out, looking at its shimmer and the deep black diamond. it was so special, and he didn't even know why.

out of curiosity, he slipped the black diamond ring onto his finger where his own golden ring was, and he watched in amazement as they somehow formed together before his eyes. the formation didn't look magical, but it was unmistakably one ring. the two diamonds were pieced together like a puzzle, and the band looked like a chain of leaves now. immediately, some hole in evan filled back up by looking at it.

suddenly, words showed up on evan's arm in black calligraphy. i promised you always. they vanished as quickly as they had appeared, leaving evan with confusion and disbelief.

he stared at his arm, but the arm said nothing more.

what the hell?

evan blinked and called zoe immediately.

"you know stuff about soulmates, right?" evan blurted out when zoe answered the phone, too confused to stutter.

"um, yeah, i guess. is something wrong?" zoe answered, caught off guard.

evan explained the rings and the writing, still staring at his arm for any signs of text. when he finished, zoe was in shock.

"wow... i can't believe connor did that. that's amazing. he must've cared about you a lot more than any of us knew..."

"h-huh? zoe, w-what's going on?" evan asked, even more confused than when he had decided to call her.

"evan, listen. there are these rings that you can get for your soulmate - whether for your wedding or for your engagement or for a promise ring. they're very expensive and they take a while to make. but what happens is the ring makers take a lock of your hair and a lock of your soulmate's hair, and they entwine the hair with their respective rings. and you can encode a message into it..."

"z-zoe, this still doesn't m-make any sense," evan said, moving back to sit down on his bed.

"no one really knows how it works. it's suspected to be magic."

"this is starting to s-sound ridiculous."

"take off the ring, evan," zoe instructed.

"huh?"

"just do it."

evan slid the ring off of his finger, and the empty feeling was back. he collapsed onto his mattress and fought back tears that had arose from the sudden absence.

"feeling bad again?" zoe asked.

evan whimpered, the sudden pain too great for words.

"i'm sorry, evan, but this is important. slide it back on."

he slowly put the ring back on, and then the hole was full again. those words reappeared on his arm, and evan suddenly wanted to cry.

"zoe... it's..."

"evan, it only works for soulmates who truly bonded and entwined. and it only works after a soulmate has died. if you had died first, it probably would've said something else for connor."

evan was staring at the ring. "h-how?"

"they say it uses the same magic that flows through our dna to identify us with our soulmates. because they use hair, you know?"

evan didn't respond. he couldn't tear his eyes away from the two diamonds circling each other and how the band captured the light.

"thank you, z-zoe," evan finally whispered.

and zoe, seeming to understand the meaning of the moment to evan, replied with a smile lacing her words. "no problem. i'll leave you be now."

then the voice on the phone was gone, and evan was back to wondering about the ring. maybe this could be his first step to closure.

suddenly, he knew what connor would want him to bury. evan got up, some sort of newfound strength filling his veins, and he continued looking through the box.

***

a/n: i could've made "closure" just one big chapter, but.... *shrugs*

we're nearing the end, you guys! currently i'm planning for either chapter 20 or 21 to be an epilogue of sorts. we'll see how things work out! love you, have a fabulous day :)