demons | nash grier

chapter twenty two - tribute

A/N: okay, so every time i reread this story, i always find little things that could add up to a new chapter. i just reread up to chapter eleven and i decided i'd do a little aftermath/tribute chapter :) i hope you guys like it and thank you for reading this story! ☺️

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taylor

magcon had ended after nash's suicide.

the fans were a wreck, possibly as much as we were.

we were all still close, what happened bringing us all closer together than ever. we knew nash had done it to himself, but we all felt like we were to blame. cameron constantly blamed himself, wishing he had been a better friend to him in the past few months. he thought that if he had even been able to stop Arianna when he had figured out that something had changed in her, that maybe nash and arianna would both be here.

we all cherished life a lot more now, the littlest things making all of us happy. matt won a goldfish at a fair in the small town we've spent the summer in, just trying to get away from the world, and he's talked about it for the past 3 days.

"but guys, i can't believe i got this!" he beamed, looking at the fish swimming around the bowl.

"it's cool, matt," carter agreed, sitting on his phone and most likely scrolling through twitter. when the realization of how bored we all seemed hit me, an idea crept into my mind that made me both upset and happy.

"guys, i know what we can do."

-

"hi!" i said into the camera as matt and aaron attacked the stranger with a hug.

the last time i had done hugging strangers was when i was in chicago with arianna, and i had told her the rest of the guys and i would do this but we never did.

we all made separate vines of different strangers, resulting in about 24 strangers receiving hugs from one or two of us with one of us filming.

this is for you, arianna.

we all made the captions "hugging strangers in san francisco :)"

yes, we had flown all the way from virginia to san francisco . the city held so much for us - arianna lived here, nash attempted here... we just wanted to feel like they were with us somehow.

we knew it would've been too much if we had gone to mooresville, the possibility of running into nash's family at a high and that would probably upset all of us.

"so, now what?" cameron asked, running a hand through his hair.

i looked around to see what street we were currently on, a green sign hanging from a traffic light saying "the embarcadero", the one near it saying "jefferson street", and another saying "powell street"

"uh..."

the seven of us stood there, looking in different directions probably looking like confused tourists.

"i know what we should do.." matt said, pulling his phone out and typing 3 words onto the iphone map.

golden gate bridge.

- - -
cameron

"i wish i could've made it guys," shawn said into the phone. we showed him the view from the bridge, all of us not bothering to walk from the spot we remembered so greatly. the bridge was full of people just walking by, riding bikes, or jogging pasts while we stood in the same place we had been over a year ago, silently praying and hoping our friend wouldn't let go of the railings.

"it's okay, shawn,"i said, resting my hand on the rail and looking out at the ocean, a large ship heading out of the bay.

"we understand,"

shawn smiled, although we knew he probably wished he could be here more than anything.

"i gotta be on stage in five, i'll talk to you guys later,"

"bye shawn," we all said simultaneously, the call ending.

"i feel like we should call hayes."

all of us turned to look at carter, shocked that he had even suggested it.

"it was his birthday yesterday, you know," he added quietly. hayes turned 15 yesterday and none of us had called or texted him. he took it hard, blaming himself for not realizing what had happened to nash when he had nearly caught him, eerily similar to nash and arianna.

"but won't he -"

the phone rang, all of us looking around at each other like idiots.

"carter?"

"hey hayes," carter said into the phone, all of us beginning to walk off of the bridge so we could hear him more clearly.

"why'd you call?" hayes asked.

"to say happy birthday, and to see how you're doing," carter replied. we all crowded closely together to hear what was said.

"i'm doing okay."

"good. that's good." carter sounded relieved.

"skylynn keeps asking where nash is though, she hasn't really..." hayes trailed off, my heart breaking.

"we just wanted to check in with you, we're here if you need us," i said, taking the phone from carter.

"love you guys,"

"love you dude," we all said before hanging up.

before we left the bridge, we turned around and went back to where nash had been, hanging our sign that would probably be taken down.

"nash grier

12/28/97 - 12/31/14

arianna holland

1/14/98 - 11/16/14

you will always remembered ♥️"

all of our names were signed, and i brought two fingers to my lips and then pressed them against the cool paper.

gone but never forgotten.

-------

within the years, the boys slowly grew apart. shawn became known worldwide, cameron and matt became actors. jack and jack went to college and the others went back to their normal lives gradually, but all the fans remembered all of the good times they had with those 9 boys.

skylynn grew older and hayes always reminded her of her brother, making sure she could never forget him. hayes finally accepted his brother's death, the memories of them together slowly fading from his memory even though he tried to hold onto them so tightly.

he would always go onto youtube with skylynn beside him, watching videos of nash with matt and cameron, from the very first magcon to the last video he made.

hayes went to college when skylynn was nearly 11, leaving her with her parents. she would watch nash's videos even when hayes wasn't around, (the video "meet my sister" always made her cry) not wanting to ever forget her older brother who had loved her so much.

the memories with him were so faint, but she held onto whatever she remembered.

she would even go into his room and play around with his camera, watching videos that he had never posted or clips he had edited out. she didn't dare delete anything.

one day she had just been walking into a grocery store to get something for her mom when a woman maybe in her 20's stopped and asked if she was skylynn, and when she replied she said "i was a fan of your brothers," and gave her a faint smile.

she had given the woman a nice smile and thanked her, but was upset when she got home.

she just wished her brother had stayed.

they all just wished their brother had stayed.