How to Lose your Best Friend

♡LXXXVIII♡

Eagle

The funeral ended in a fight between Antonio and PJ's dad. The mayor escorted Mr. Asklar away personally and the funeral died down. There was barely anyone left besides Antonio and I. He didn't get in trouble for punching Pj's dad because everyone agreed that he most definitely deserved it. I doubted that PJ had ever done it so it was about time that someone stepped up to the plate.

I wished that I'd gotten to say more to PJ's dad than the few remarks if managed to add. There were so many things I wanted to talk to him about it but I'd rather not know the answers. I wanted his presence to die along with the ending funeral and what happened between him and PJ was a thing of the past. Just as I was getting tired I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder. I assumed that it was Antonio and brushed him off of me to feel someone's nails digging into my skin.

I snapped my head back to see a young woman looking back at me. I recognized her as PJ's mother from when he first appeared that the funeral with his dad. She must have stayed behind when her husband was whisked away.

"What do you want?" I asked rudely. I wasn't in the mood to explain myself to someone who didn't deserve an explanation. I assumed that she was going to ask about her husband and where they were taking him but I didn't want to discuss the man.

"I wanted you to know that I was never okay with anything that my husband did to my son. I never approved of his awful punishments and it was inhumane of him," she said.

"So why did you let it happen?" I asked.

"Why do you think?" she said lifting up the bottom of her shirt to reveal similar bruises to PJ's. she must've been beaten by her husband just as much as PJ was. Now that I think of it she probably had it off even worse than him. PJ was able to get away from his father. But she was with him all the time. When PJ wasn't there to take his abuse it was her who took his beatings. I couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for the woman.

I didn't reply. I didn't want to be rude but I had no clue of what to say. I thought that PJ's entire family was just a fucked up as his father but maybe this woman truly didn't want that kind of life for him.

"I loved him. I wouldn't have kept him if I didn't. When his father found out that I was pregnant it ruined him. He thought that his future was over and dropped out of high school. We both fell into a deep depression and got into heroin and crack almost instantly. We were so messed up that I was surprised when PJ was born with no health issues whatsoever. When he was an infant I gave him to my other to avoid being killed by his father. My mother loved him as if he was her own and she gave him a necklace to wear once he got older. I can see that he must've found it and given it to you."

"He must've been lurking through my room because it was taped underneath my vanity along with a letter. It looks as if the letter was never touched she maybe he didn't want to know what was inside." I looked down at the necklace I was wearing. It read PJ's full name and I never realized how much it was worth until now.

"Anyways, that enough of my sap story. I'm sure that today doesn't need to get any sadder than it already is. My point is that I wasn't the mother that he deserved. That child deserved the world and all he got was hell. I wrote a series of letters for him to receive one my husband kicked him out of the house. They explain how I truly felt about the situation so he could sleep at night, I never wanted him to hate me and I felt that it was only right for him to find out the torture I was going through. I was beaten every day that he disappeared but I'd take every beating in pride knowing that it wasn't going to him." he reached into her bag to pull out a medium-sized box. She opened it to reveal a series of letters.

"I wrote them to the person I love and now that he's gone I'm giving them to the person who showed him how to love. He was head over heels for you and he would go to the end of the world and back just to see your face. I would suggest that you read them in order so the information is more thorough. That's all though. I hope that this cleared a few things up. I wish you both the best." she said before disappearing into the streets.

I looked over to see Antonio as equally confused as I was.

"Do you think she was telling the truth?" I asked.

"What reason was there for her to lie?" he stated. "PJ's dead now."