Broken Lantern

Chapter Six

I wake up to muffled voices coming from the livingroom. I look down to see that I'm dressed in my nightgown, but I don't remember putting it on.

"She's hanging in there, man, but it's been touch and go, for real." Kevin's in the livingroom, talking to someone. My head feels heavy and I can't see anything. The room around me feels strange; I don't know where I am.

"Where are all of their photos?" I hear a girl ask.

"Don't mention them when she wakes up, please", Kevin begs the girl. She must have agreed because he says, "Thank you."

"Darry would be very happy with you, staying here like this, taking care of her and the baby." I hear a different male voice and then it hits me, Matt and Brittany are here.

I sit up and feel with my hands what I was laying on and turn to reach for a lamp. I flip the switch and begin to sob uncontrollably. I'm lying on our bed, covered with the very blanket that we used to make love under. Darry's pillow beside me, I reach over to pick it up and bring it to my nose. I take in his scent and the tears continue to fall.

Kevin comes in, turning on the overhead light; Matt and Brittany right behind him. Kevin comes over and kneels in front of me, putting his hands on my knees. He looks up into my eyes and I peak at him over the pillow that is clutched firmly to my chest. "I don't want to be in here, Kevin. Please." I whisper.

Without a word, he nods and stands up, swooping me up into his arms, he walks me out of the bedroom and takes me into the livingroom, sitting me down on the couch and then sitting next to me. I ball up, holding the pillow and turn toward Kevin. He wraps his arms around me and looks at Matt and Brittany who are just standing there, watching us in silence, a look of sympathy on both of their faces. Matt turns off the bedroom light and closes the door behind him. He walks over and sits down on the recliner, and Britt joins him, sitting on the arm of the chair.

"You ok?" She says, barely louder than a whisper, tears welling up in her eyes. I look at her and shake my head, "No", is all I can say. She nods, understanding and Matt gets up to cross the room. He bends down and kisses the top of my head, "Me either." He says, sitting next to me, turning me away from Kev and bringing me to him, he wraps his arms around me and we both cry. We're all four crying together in mine and Darry's livingroom, feeling every bit of the pain of our loss. The only sound is our sobs, echoing in my ears.

I hear the door open and close and look up to see the other Mrs. Williams walking across my floor straight to me. She kneels down in front of me, and says, "What can I do, Alice? Please tell me." Everyone is looking at me now, wiping the tears from their eyes. Silent tears are streaming down this beautiful face staring into mine. And I see Darry's eyes staring back at me. I feel instant calm wash over me. My sobs begin to slow. Elaine reaches over to the table beside us and brings back a tissue for me to blow my nose.

"Your being here is good." I tell her, smiling a weak smile at her.

"Let me cook for you kids, Alice." She says, getting up to go into the kitchen, but I stop her. "Thank you, Elaine, but I think... could you... can we get Chinese food?" I ask, and everyone looks at me, and then they all bust out laughing. "Yes, baby girl, we can get Chinese", she says, smiling.

"You can have anything you want", Kevin says to me, as he leaves the room to call the order in.

Elaine sits next to me, eating her sesame chicken and noodles, we're all sitting in the livingroom, circled around the coffee table; me, Kevin and Elaine on the couch and Matt and Brittany sitting with their legs criss-crossed on the floor in front of the table. We're all stuffing our faces as we share happy stories of Darry and our time spent with him. We aren't crying anymore, instead the house is full of laughter. My stomach hurts from laughing so much and my face is sore from smiling.

"There was this one time, we went into Henry's because Darry was buying a few crates of strawberries for you...." Kevin begins to tell us, "...he had just had tacos and was feeling really gassy. But he didn't want to wait until he was at the register to let it out and have to face old Ms. Holly when he let it rip. So, he backed up to the meat section and let it go. A lady came right over, not knowing what he was doing and started picking up packs of meat and sniffing them to see if they were good or not. Her face twisted and she got this look. I thought I was gonna bust trying not to laugh. She looked at Darry and held one up to him and said, "Smell this. All of this meat is rancid! They're all bad!" she told us, pointing to the entire lot of meat. We couldn't hold it in any longer and we both busted out laughing at her, walking away to go pay for your berries."

We're all rolling in laughter at the thought of this woman and the look on her face as she smelled Darry's fart all over the meat.

It feels so good to laugh again. And to see all of these people that I love, laughing as we all remember the silliness of someone that meant the world to each of us. Someone that at one time or another had lit up our world for one reason or another. Darry was so loved and so missed. He had touched the hearts of all of us and of so many others. It warms my heart to know that he will live on through all of us and the memories we each have of him and the memories we all share of him too.

I look at Kevin as he's laughing, and I feel a pull at my heart. I'm so glad he's able to let go for a while and laugh and enjoy himself. He's had it hard these past couple of weeks, taking care of me and dealing with me in my very worst moments. I am so grateful for him and his love for Darry. I'm so thankful that he loved him enough to be here for me.

He looks over at me and our eyes lock, his laughing slows to a smile and he winks at me. I smile and turn toward Matt and Brittany. Matt is telling about their locker room shenanigans and Britt is laughing at the thought of Darry putting icy hot into the jock strap of Kenny Thomas, the biggest jerk on the football team, because he said I was hot, and he was going to ask me out.

That's my Darry though... always looking out for me.

I finish the last bite of my honey chicken and slurp up the last of my noodles and reach over Kevin for my glass of water at the same time he's leaning up to grab his from the coffee table. We bump into each other and I turn to look at him at the wrong time, our lips brush and I pull back, turning to sit back against the couch quickly, looking away from him. My eyes go wide and my cheeks flush in embarrassment. The whole room is silent until Brittany and Elaine start laughing at us. I turn to look at Kevin and he's sitting back, looking at me, a grin across his face but his cheeks are just as red as mine feel. "You don't have to kiss me; you can just ask for your glass and I'll hand it to you." He says, teasing me. I slap his chest and he lets out an "Oof" sound, pulling his hand to his chest and bending over to act like I just punched him in the stomach.

The room is full of our belly laughs. The baby starts kicking like crazy and without realizing it, I grab Kevin's hand to put it on my belly. He stops laughing instantly, and just takes it in. The baby kicks against him and his eyes soften. He looks up at me, and I see the light in his eyes as he smiles at me. Then, before I know it, I have three other hands on me, as we all feel what can only be explained as the baby dancing in my belly.

"Man, she's going nuts in there!" Kevin says, excitedly and every hand falls away from me instantly.

I just look at him and shake my head. Elaine gasps and brings her hand to her mouth. Matt and Brittany are looking from Kev back to me, a look of surprise on their faces, and I know they're waiting for me to hit him again.

"She, huh?" I say, pressing my lips together.

"Oh my God, Alice. I'm so sorry. I'm soooo sooooo sorry!" Kevin pleads, begging me to forgive him. "I told you, I'd let it slip", he says, shaking his head, disappointed in himself.

"It's ok, Kevin. I'm ok, really." I tell him, running my hand up and down his arm.

"I have a granddaughter!!" Elaine says, jumping up from the couch and clapping her hands, now that she knows it's safe to do so.

"Can we please tell your parents now?" Kevin asks me, his voice full of both hope and relief.

I laugh and as soon as I nod, he runs out the front door before I can suggest that we call them.