Downtown Boy

c h a p t e r 26

🎶My uptown girl🎶

-Billy Joel

Hunter's pov:

The house was flooded the next few days. People came in, gave their condolences, left. They came in, I nodded my head, they left.

Left like my parents. Left like my Grams.

'I'm sorry for your loss'

'She was an amazing woman'

'Helped me when I needed a job'

'Gave me an ass beating when I was being stupid'

'Taught me how to cook'

'Gave me a hand to start my own business'

Even with everyone over here, crowding the whole house, their murmurs filling in the silence, everything was so...quiet. I didn't hear Grams shouting and bustling anymore, her talk backs and sassiness, the smacks she gave us for being stupid, I didn't hear any of it.

Everything just faded, the noise around me, the people around me, the time.

Jackson, the man Grams had been seeing, knocked on the door the day after her death, told me he's here for whatever reason we might need him, 'don't hesitate to ask me', 'talked greatly about you guys', 'didn't tell her I love her'.

He came in the day later, after that as well, again and again and again till Sierra saw that I couldn't...I couldn't handle socializing with people anymore. I didn't have it in me to quietly listen to people talk about her, give me a sympathetic look, and then leave.

I was exhausted.

He was only here to help, I reminded myself. He was being nice, I reminded myself.

I was mentally exhausted.

I tried going to work after that, but I couldn't leave the house, leave my family, leave them. My mind raced with a million different scenarios, I was being paranoid but I wasn't taking a chance, I needed more time with them, Mark understood, his mother sent some food, thought we weren't eating properly, she didn't know Sierra would bring us food everyday and night.

Beth would visit once in a while, trying to juggle her time with taking care of her son and job, help around the house with Sierra, ask to take Lacey out, get her some fresh air.

Sam buried himself in his books, cried every night and distanced himself if he wasn't away from us enough. His lady friend would come in, sometimes her knuckles were bruised and a bit bloodied, her lip was busted, sometimes her cheeks were a bit swollen.

Junaid came the first day, he said "It gets better, trust me, she went because it was her time, nothing could've stopped that." I didn't want to believe that. He left a few minutes later, said he needed to go pray, told us he'd remember us in his prayers.

Throughout the whole time, Sierra stayed, never once complained, took care of the whole house. She silently stood in front of me when I was having my tantrums, she stood there listening to me being an ass to her and telling her to fuck off cause I didn't need her help when she was on my ass too much, despite my rudeness, she'd come closer to me and help me with whatever I needed. Quietly she'd put a plate in front of me, sit next to me, wait till I've eaten and then would go clean the dishes after everyone's eaten.

It wasn't a recurring thing -me being a dumbass- we hadn't talked like we usually did because of this, she'd just be there and take care of everyone. Of me. It's only to ask if I've eaten, how I feel, or if we need to get something from the store.