Chapter Text
Emily's POV
Rain poured down heavily on my coat as I watched them lower the casket into the dirt hole people called a grave. It was surreal to think I was here, watching silently as the shiny box holding the one I loved was put away permanently. The whimpers and cries of family members echoed throughout the graveyard filling the silence, that was piercing through my already broken heart. The thump of the casket made me draw in a sharp intake of breath. Relatives whines of pain practically erupted as the mother of the boy went up and shoveled in a small amount of dirt.
The mother collapsed on to the ground and gave out a cry of grief, a relative had to walk out of the black clothed crowd and dragged her away as her husband went up and did the same with the shovel. This process repeated with many others, people walking up with tears pouring out like the rain, or whimpering like the kids who were dragged here.
The crowd seemed to pause as an old friend of the boy gently placed the shovel on the ground speed walking back to the crowd. Everyone seemed to turn to me expectantly. I stood there not wanting to move, not wanting to finalize the fact my boyfriend was dead. The mother walked over to me with tears in her eyes as she gave me a painful smile, a pleading one. I bit my lip and slowly walked to the shovel. I shakily picked it up and shoveled the last pile of dirt onto the grave. Silence bounced from one person to another as they watched me drop the shovel and stare at the gravestone. Dropping to my knees I felt all the emotions from the past week build up inside me again. Anger, grief,and guilt that I had done nothing to stop this, even though it wasn't my fault he was dead. My hands gripped my hair and covered my eyes as tears spilled out.
I was sure I looked like a mess right now, but it didn't matter, since the fact everyone did.A hand patted my back gently before pulling me up and into a hug. I didn't know who it was, but I hugged them back anyway. I whimpered and cried for the next few minutes, my feelings weakening me.
No one could ever bring me to a calm state, except him. I pulled away from the stranger, rubbing my blurry eyes as I did so. My eyes turned away from the stranger to see people going to take shelter in the funeral home. I followed them, not bothering to thank the person. My feet walked me into the only place of shelter around here. The whispers of people mixed in with the music silently playing throughout the place I loathed right now. I stopped in my tracks as I almost ran into something. My eyes flew up to find the picture of my dead boyfriend sitting on an easel.
My eyes teared up again as they traced over every feature of his face. My hand gently went up and rubbed over the smile I had grown to love the past two years."I'm sorry for your loss." a deep husky voice said behind me. I had heard that phrase a lot lately, and I hated it. It meant he was gone forever, and that I'd never get him back. I nodded and closed my eyes a tear slipping down my cheek. "Me too." I whispered under my shaky breaths. I turned to look at the person to see it was a guy,probably in his early twenties, like me. He gave me a small smile and looked down at his feet. He looked back up at me and looked over my glum face. Stepping over to me he held out his hand. "I'm Ashton, an old friend of Dylan's. I'm the one who hugged you back there by the way" he said staring down at me. I grabbed his hand and shook it for a second before pulling away.
"I'm Emily, his girlfriend." I croaked out. It hurt to say it these days. "I know." he said with a small smile. I was confused a little bit. "He talked about you a lot whenever he came home to visit. Hell, you were the only topic." Ashton slightly chuckled. I looked down at my feet and bit my lip, holding back more tears. Ashton stopped chuckling and looked at me. We were silent for a moment before he broke it. "You know he loved you, a lot." he said bringing up my chin with his thumb. "Whenever he spoke about you, he had this sort of sparkle in his eye. You were probably the only person that could do that to him." he said. I wanted to smile at that, but instead decided to pull away from him. I turned my back to him and shifted from foot to foot. I heard him let out a breath of hesitation before he started to walk away. His shoes squeaking from the leftover rain.
"You were the one who taught him how to play weren't you?" I called out to him. He stopped in his tracks and seemed to stiffen a little bit. Ashton nodded slowly. "He taught me how to play." I spoke out again."That's what started us as a couple." I whispered out, but loud enough for him to hear. He stood there silently as my eyes watched his back to see if he would do anything.
"Thank you." I said to him my voice cracking. He turned his head to the right to look at me with his red puffy eyes. "For what?" he asked in a curious voice.
"For the dead beat." I replied back to him.
He stood there in what seemed to be shock for a moment before turning his head back to the ground and walking away. I watched as he made his way to the entrance and put on a beanie to cover his head from the rain. Ashton stood there before walking across the parking lot to a black car. My eyes trailed his every step before he got in the car and drove away from the one place that smelled of death.
"Thank you." I whispered out as I turned my back to everybody. My hand met the small bump my stomach formed, and I felt a tear fall down my cheek. I looked at Dylan's picture one last time before walking away, far away from this place.