Chapter Text
I stood in the cemetery looking at cold hard granite with his name engraved on it. Axel Sterling, 2002-2025. I kneeled down near the grave, with the grey dirt on the floor sticking to my shoes.
“Hey.” I said to the grave. “Um. I'll read the book you had in your honor. I hope you don’t mind. We- well, Milo and I miss you.”
I pulled out the book Axel recently bought himself, accidentally dropping Axel’s pristine silver mirror he used as a bookmark.
The mirror caught the reflection of the photo near the grave. It showed Axel in his football jersey from his high school. He had brown hair, green eyes and this evil smirk that unsettled me sometimes, yet was also very charismatic. He was a really nice guy.
“Oh! Sorry.” I said while picking up the mirror that had landed next to Axel’s grave. It was weirdly cold but I ignored that.
I quickly wiped it with my shirt before looking back at the book. It was a paranormal mystery titled Until The Afterlife.
“Seems kinda interesting. You would have loved this stuff. Well, I gotta go. I'll be back soon.”
I stood up, and slowly walked out of the cemetery, with the book and mirror in hand. I got into my car and drove home.
On the drive home weird things were happening. The radio kept turning itself on. Weird, but the car was old and worn down. Besides, the radio had turned itself on before a few times.
Once I got to our building, I walked down the hall and up the elevator to reach the apartment I share with Axel and Milo. Or. At least I used to share with Axel.
I hung my coat on the coat hanger before walking over to my boyfriend Milo. He was quite handsome, with dark brown hair that contrasted his pale skin and these huge blue eyes that stared a lot at people. I was worried about Milo, because he was laying on the couch and staring at the ceiling.
“Milo? You alright?”
He remained still, silent, staring. I could tell he was very overwhelmed.
“Um, I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” I hesitated, deciding to add a bit more to the sentence. “Love you.”
I walked to the kitchen, but got bothered by the fact a lot of wind poured in through the open window so I shut it and locked it.
I decided to cook some tacos to distract myself from the fact Milo and I’s best friend was gone. The house felt unsettlingly empty. Cold. Really cold. Quickly flipping the tortillas by hand, not really bothering to be careful since the round metal comal was burning hot, and cooking some small bits of beef in a pan. I burnt my hand twice but just ignored it and went on with my cooking.
I quickly assembled them, poured some salsa verde and lemon juice on them and plated them. Then, I noticed I accidentally made three portions out of habit.
I sighed, before quickly heading over to Milo with two of the plates of food and setting them down on the living room table.
“I made you dinner.”
“Thanks Santi.” He said, while reaching for a plate.
“Milo, are you okay?”
He hesitated, his hand stopping midair next to the tacos.
“Not really.”
I sat next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pulling him towards me.
“Milo, you know you can talk to me, right?”
He leaned against me, his breathing starting to turn shallow before he forcefully composed himself.
“I just- I miss Axel.”
He reached for the plates again, handing me my plate and we ate together in silence.
After we ate, I stood up and looked back at Milo
“I’ll- uh. I’ll go clean the kitchen. Hope you liked the food.”
I got off the couch and began to walk to the kitchen, the hall was weirdly cold. I walked through the kitchen doorway and shuddered. It was like I was being watched.
I started to think what to do with the extra portion of food when I looked at the counter and screamed lol.
The food on the plate was gone.