Labyrinth | ✓

t h i r t y - t h i r d ♂

A/N: Video above is Seb and his theme song.

***

Smile.

The moment Asher recognized both Seb and I from afar, I could barely notice the wide smile that lazily slithered upon his lips. His face brightened up as he trod towards us, while his eyes, bearing resemblance to the earth's soil, expressed delight. As the breeze hit through him, his earrings slightly bounced in mid-air along with some strands of his hair. Seb was probably judging Asher mentally, as he was dressed in a very casual manner.

I didn't know why, but it felt so odd being around him now. The Asher that I knew was never this friendly and welcoming to me; he would always give me a cold, criticizing look. Well, I knew Rena had confronted him, but I never knew he would have a change of heart. Second of all, the fact that he dyed his hair from brown to bright orange was the least of my expectations.

Well, I did say that people changed over time... so why should I be so surprised...? I lowered my head. While Seb greeted and slapped Asher in the back, I simply nodded and gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

"You came here last week, didn't you?" He asked. "You were with the girls as well."

"Yeah, we did, but Ed wanted to see her again, so I accompany him." Seb answered for me, to which I was glad of. Asher then turned around to stare at one particular grave in the distance, and this paled the brightness reflected on his face. He clenched the bouquet tight in his hands, before turning back at us and gave us a single-sided smile.

"Wait for a moment, I'm going to go to my grandma." He announced.

"Well, go ahead." Seb tried convincing him. "No one's stopping you, man."

He nodded silently but gave my friend a soft punch on the shoulder. He spun his heels around and set off, leaving the both of us alone.

"Now, shall we greet our friend, Ed?" While Asher was out to seek his relative, Seb's head abruptly shifted to face me. I tried to say something, but nothing came out of my lips, so I threw him a sign of approval. We simultaneously turned our bodies around to the spot, where Lynn was barely six feet under our feet. The flowers that we had left had disappeared; they probably wilted and the cleaners discarded them.

By just looking at the headstone, my heart immediately felt dense. The gloomy air surrounding me seem to weigh down on my shoulders, and seemed to thicken by each second. The cemetery, itself, was covered with the blanket of sorrows, but the one around Lynn's grave seemed as if it was choking me to death.

"Ed..."

I recalled her distressed call back in my dream this morning. Her saddened face always got the best of me, especially those darkened eyes she has. Swallowing the lump that was lodged in my throat, I quietly took a step forward and crouched down until I was in the same eye level as the headstone. Seb didn't say anything, but I did feel his gaze boring through my back.

I stared hard at the small inscription engraved on it, like I always did. I blinked like they would disappear without a trace, but of course I knew that they were still there. However, I'm the one idiot wishing that the writings would disappear. In that way, I wouldn't have to worry about reading it again.

I placed both my hands on the gravestone, and lowered my head down, letting my bangs cover every part of my face.

I should have been looking forward, just like Seb and the others. I should be enjoying life a typical guy at my school; having fun with friends, dancing in parties or getting wasted, finding a cute girl and try to get her before anyone does. Even if I'm not interested in those, at least I should be doing something else.