His messages to his father were the same. Casual conversation between ideal parents and their son. They had asked why he hadn't messaged back, where he went. The dates matched up with his death.
They didn't know.
I messaged them from my phone instead of his.
'If you're able to, please call me. It would be wrong to tell you something important over text...'
I was stupid. Hadn't I learned better, to put my name down?
The phone rang almost immediately after I sent the message.
"Hello?"
"Hi... What news are you talking about? Who are you?"
The man on the other line most definitely wasn't French. Pure American.
"Uh... I'm John."
Why was this so hard?
"John... Like John Laurens?"
Okay, that made it better.
"Yes."
"Please tell me you know where my son is..."
"He... I..."
My throat tightened up.
"What is it?"
"He's dead."
"How?!"
"He was sick... There wasn't anything any of us could do. I found your number in his phone, figured you should know."
"That's why the game was canceled, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Are you okay?"
Strange question. It felt like I should have been the one to ask that. My hands were sweating, and I had to lie down on my back.
"I don't know. I'm sorry..."
"It isn't your fault. Thanks for letting us know... It is better to know than worry, right?"
"Yeah, probably..."
"When is the service?"
"We already had it in South Carolina. Nothing extravagant... sorry about that, too. I didn't know he even had parents that weren't dead."
The man on the other end took a deep breath.
"Can you tell me where he is, exactly?"
"On my family's estate... I can give you the address. And... By the creek off to the left of the front gate. We thought he would have liked it there. I won't be there. The spare key is under the right post the gate's on. It's loose."
"Thank you. It means a lot. I... Keep in touch. We're here if you need anything."
"Me too. Thanks."
I hung up, and typed in the address. It was tempting to throw the phone at the wall, but I had at least some self control.
I had so many questions, but I didn't ask them. It was only fair to give them space and time to grieve.
Space was the opposite of what I wanted. I longed for someone to be there. Not even him.
Just... somebody.
YOU ARE READING
Nausea: Sequel to Warcrossed
FanfictionAfter the death of his boyfriend, brother, and a little girl, John seeks to find answers as to why they died from using something completely harmless to everyone else. With the help of a small group of people, he works through his grief and tries to...
