Misery Loves Company

Track 57: Outro

Misery Loves Company

By: theinkslingerr

Track 55: Outro

Outro

(noun)

The concluding section of a piece of music.

Snowflakes dotted the shiny wooden casket. With the exception of our little group, the cemetery was empty. But it hadn't been that way all day. Someone else had buried a loved one and their footsteps, along with their guests, bisected the snow around a nearby grave.

I thought about what kind of people they were, and what could've robbed them of the person they'd buried.

Had they been prepared? Or were they caught off guard like us?

I looked up at Rocco and squeezed his hand. His profile was grim and colorless, his thick hair in tangles. The whites of his eyes were red with grief and fatigue. He'd spent the last few days with the Moons helping them with funeral arrangements and keeping Jae from going off the rails.

I'd be surprised if he'd gotten any sleep or time to process his own feelings.

Sienna stood to my left in a long black coat and matching bowler hat. Jae stood in front of us, so her eyes were trained on the back of his nearly shaved head. He'd showed up at her mom's salon the other night, angry and heartbroken, demanding she take clippers to his head.

Under normal circumstances, Sienna would've probably thrown him out. Not to mention Mrs. Johnson, who'd walked in on him getting belligerent with her daughter. But Sienna complied, because she knew what he'd lost. She told me she felt it in the pit of her own stomach. So after calming Jae down and explaining the situation to her mom, she'd put him in a chair and shaved off most of his hair.

The end result was Jae looking sharper, meaner, and even more unapproachable— which was probably what he'd been going for.

Standing next to him was his mom, oldest sister Jeni, and Eli. The snowflakes stood out against Jeni's red pixie cut. It was a shame I hadn't met her before today. She looked like Mr. Moon, but her smile reminded me of Ji-Hyun's. Eli slipped his hand into hers and squeezed, much like I'd done to Rocco a few seconds ago. The gesture was reciprocated, and she shuffled closer.

When a trembling, sniffling Mrs. Moon tried the same thing with Jae, he snatched his hand away and curled it into a fist. He'd been rigid this entire time, not accepting comfort and not offering any.

I couldn't imagine what he was going through. I was sad, but it was nothing compared to his pain.

Mrs. Moon brushed against Jae's hand again, but this time he snapped, "No. Just...stop." He let out a shaky breath before stalking off into a patch of trees a few feet away. Sienna went after him immediately. Eli and Jeni were about to follow, but Rocco stopped them. "Give them a second," he said.

Mrs. Moon's face crumpled and she started sobbing, causing Jeni to envelope her in a tight hug.

My own eyes watered. This was one of the most heart-breaking things I'd ever had to witness. I wanted to reach out or say something, but I wasn't sure if it was my place.

I'd only known Mr. Moon for a few months.

And most of that time had been spent worrying about Ji-Hyun and Dom's accident.

After Eli had burst into the Chip On Your Shoulder lobby with a split lip and announced Ji-Hyun had gotten into a very drunk Dom's car, I realized that I (and by extension the Black Eyed Peas) had been wrong.