Chapter Text
and I don't wanna say goodbye, cause this one means forever. Now you're in the stars, and six feet's never felt so far, here I am alone between the heavens and the ambers.
—In the stars, Benson Boone
That morning, like any other, he was roused from sleep by his mother, though something had shifted, the atmosphere, laden with grief, hung heavy over the chaotic serenity of their household.
"What is it, ammi?" He questioned, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, as he became more and more aware of the eerily silence that replaced the usual sound of the TV, and his siblings fighting over one thing or another. He had always wished for this silence, for this calm, so why did it feel so wrong now? He didn't want it anymore, he would give anything to go back, but he couldn't.... this silence would haunt his days for the future as he could see it..
Denial hit him before devastation as his mother delivered the news, tears welling in her eyes, and judging from how puffy they already were, it wasn't the first time she'd cried that morning.. During that night, though seemingly usual, tragedy had struck Usaid's family, when his father had passed on in his sleep, by the time he was discovered in the morning, he had already been dead for several hours, and there was no chance for any hope of revival
Usaid didn't register when his mother left the room, he felt like time in itself had stopped, sitting on his bed, blanket bundled around him, hair messy, he was staring at nothing in particular, lost in his mind, this had to be dream, right? Right?! That's it, usaid, just wake up..
wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up—
"DING!!!" His phone went off, snapping him out of his trance, he picked it up, barely glancing at the notification, it read: Zahid: yo, coming to school or what? He shoved it under the pillow again without a second glance, a wave of anger came over him, come to school? Come to school?! How could he!? His whole life had collapsed before him, and his friend had to audacity to ask him to come to school?! A logical whisper in the back of his head told him that Zahid had no way of knowing about the tragedy that had befallen him, he pushed that logic away, letting himself stem in anger, anger was good, anger was better than the hollow he was feeling, anger was something, something's better than nothing..