What If?// WDW BxB: Corbyn-Shots

Day 16|| The Day After- Dorbyn

Sequel to Tomorrow
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Summary: Daniel made a promise and he has to keep it, no matter how much it hurts

Daniel's POV
The roof was falling, growing nearer and nearer each second I spent in the house. The air seemed to surround me. Encircling me in an ice-clad prison. Leaving my breaths foggy and skin numb. I didn't mind the cold's nipping chill or the pressure of the collapsing ceiling. They weren't causing the strange tightening of my stomach. It was being here.

Everything about being here felt... wrong.

It felt wrong, walking into this place without my Baby by my side.

The first place he had ever truly known. Where he had grown up. Where his first steps were taken, first words spoken. Where some of his first tears had been cried. The place he had come home to after school. The place he had slept each night. Where I had loved him, taken care of him. Where I would kiss him and cuddle him. Coo to him and promise him.

And now, he was just gone.

Just like that. As if he were no more than a puff of smoke. The whisper of a warm summer's breeze. Leaving nothing behind, but the toys in his room, the tears in our parents eyes, and the shallow thump of my barely beating heart.

I hadn't shed a tear since the night he died in my arms. I hadn't spoken since my final I love you. I hadn't existed since our last moments together.

I couldn't. Not when he wasn't here.

It felt like... I was betraying him. As if... as if it would hurt him if I made a new memory without him. If I touched what he never could. Or saw what he would never see. Or heard what he would never hear. So, I didn't.

I didn't think.

I didn't feel.

I didn't see.

I didn't listen.

I didn't exist. Not without him.

Never without him.

" Ice cream," my mumbled words drifting helplessly. Tone lost, voice echoing it was so hollow.

" W-what?" My mother seemed horrified. Though her words were gone as quickly as they had come.

" Ice cream," I said again. Already reaching for the knod. My fingers didn't rush, my muscles in no true hurry to escape my ice box. Or the caving roof," I have to get ice cream. I promised."

I don't know if they understood. I don't know if I cared. But I do know I was out the door and down the steps before either made a move.

Their blank faces peered out at me. Unable to decipher the emotion written across their features. Their heads no more than pale blobs. Faces empty, flat expanses of flesh. Like that of a mannequin.

I drifted along the sidewalk. Never feeling the ground of which I walked. Or the warm light that shines upon my frosted skin. The cold left me numb. Numb to all, but the pain it caused.

I never saw the people I passed. I don't even know if they were people. Each having the same blurry, flat face of my parents. Each car passing in a streak of washed-out color. Leaving what little of the world I could see bathed in fading shades. Though the dancing flecks of ebony glided across my gaze made even seeing that difficult. Each particle a screen, playing a movie of my past. Our past.

I never heard the delighted chirps of singing birds. Though, I suppose their songs were never meant for my ears. I wasn't who they wanted to serenade. The echo of giggles my only song.

" Dani! Hurry up! Your walking so slow!"

I never thought about where I was going or how fast I was gonna get there. Or even if I was gonna get there. Every step was subconscious, guiding by instinct.

The handle was solid against my chest. Digging in slow as I continued forward. Unfazed by the obvious blockage in my path. Or the lifeless stares of those around.

" Chocolate and Cookies 'n cream," I muttered once at the register. I don't know if they asked. I don't know if there were others in the shop or if there was someone in front of me. I just didn't know and didn't want to.

I left when I had my ice cream in hand and the gray-red counter was littered with an assortment of balled up dollar bills and gleaming coins.

My instincts guided me to our rock. On which now I sat. Staring out to the field through the gap in the trees, it's details lost to me. It was no more than sea of green with the occasional splatter of some emotionless color.

The sensation of my burning taste buds lingering in the very back of my mind for only a second, before it was abandoned. I continued to scoop the sinful chocolate into my mouth. I continued to ignore the churning of my stomach.

Though, I couldn't ignore how much I missed his warmth beside me. Or his delighted hums. His pouts for more.

But, it seemed I just missed him.

Missed seemed inappropriate, but I didn't know what else to call it. That aching feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The sun had set. Making way for the inky blue of night. Leaving the sky open to the Moon and all its accompanying stars. The glowing rock swimming happily amongst them, encouraging then to shine. To put the Sun and its clouds to shame.

There was one though, one particular star that had always twinkled brighter than the others.

It had been his favorite. A star he had affectionately called Chev.

And Chev gleamed. Its blinding white a beacon on the vast sea of blue-black, guiding those who seemed lost. It guiding the Moon across the sky each night. Never straying far. Always happy to lead it from point A to B. No matter how late. No matter how cold. No matter the day, or the season. Chev was always there when the Moon needed it most. Forever guiding. For the Moon would be lost without it. Nothing more than a ship floating aimlessly across the sea.

For the first time since Corbyn died. A tear came to my eye and traced its path down my cheeks. Writing the words I had never been able to speak.

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