One More Light: A Chester Bennington Memorial FF COMPLETED!

One More Light

Mike's POV

It's only three in the morning and my cell is ringing. Looking at the caller ID, I hadn't seen the number in a long time, so I picked it up in case something was wrong.

"Hello?"

"Mike! Thank God you answered!" Mr. Bennington replied to me. "We're sorry to bother you at this hour, but we need to know... have you seen CJ?"

"Cayla Josephine? Chester's baby sister?" I asked, worried, knowing what today was. "I haven't seen her since a few months after the funeral, when you guys let her tour with me for a bit. And I haven't spoken to her in at least six months. Why?"

"She went out yesterday like any other day and she didn't come home, Mike," her mother said desperately.

"Okay, we all know how much Chester loved her. It's why he always made time for her while she was growing up. So she grew up as a little sister to the rest of us too," I started. "We all love her as much as if she was our sister. I'm going to look around here in California for her. I have an idea of some areas she may have gone to."

"But how would CJ have gotten to California?"

"She grew up around Chester. She was resourceful and, if she had been planning to disappear, she's had more than enough time to get here since yesterday," I explained. "You guys keep looking closer to home. I'll look out here. If I find anything, I promise I will get in touch with you."

"Thank you Mike. For being Chester's best friend and now for this," Mr. Bennington said. "This family owes you a lot."

"No, you don't," I replied, feeling guilty that I couldn't save Chester. "But no time for that debate. I gotta get dressed to look for CJ. I'll talk to you soon. Bye Mr. and Mrs. Bennington."

I hung up before they could say anything else that could possibly make me cry. Instead I got dressed and grabbed my keys to go looking for Chester's now 18 year old sister.

We were all in our 20s when Cayla Jo was born. She was as much our baby sister as our surrogate daughter as she grew up. When she started to pull away at the start of high school, we had to accept it was just her being a teenager. She never cut Chester out completely, but she made less time for him. Before that, they were together as much as their parents would allow with her schooling and our touring. Chester was worried that she didn't love him as much. None of us thought that could ever be true. Which we all found out for sure two years ago.

Flashback:

"NO! CHESTER YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME! I STILL NEED YOU!" CJ yelled at her brother's casket furiously before anyone else had gotten there. "YOU PROMISED ME YOU'D ALWAYS BE HERE FOR ME! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS CHESTER CHARLES BENNINGTON?!"

CJ collapsed in tears. I couldn't bring myself to move. It was the first reaction to Chester's passing she'd had since she'd been told he was gone. As much as it pained me to watch her suffer, she needed to let it out.

"How could you leave me to suffer in this world alone?" she said quietly through her tears. "The kids at school are horrible already. When they heard this... it got worse, Chester. And I don't have you if I need you now..."

She was sobbing. I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't just leave her thinking she was alone because Chester was gone. I went to her and pulled her into my arms. When I did, she flinched, as if she was in pain.

"What happened to you, CJ?" I asked her, worried, but she said nothing. "Cayla Josephine, just because I am not your blood doesn't mean I am any less your brother than Chester. Whenever you were with him, all of us in the band looked after you, loved you like our own family. That's not going to stop because... because we lost him. We all lost him, CJ. He left us all. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to walk away from you. I still love you like you're my own sister."