[TW: Mention of death, swearing, anxiety, and panic attacks. If you love your grandmother and grandfather I like do, you'll cry.]
It was Tuesday morning when all the kids walked into school after the long, unexpected weekend. The rain had begun Friday night without warning and was gone without a traced Monday night. The only piece of the rain that was left, was the light haze in the sky.
George drove up to school with Karl in the passenger seat. "Long weekend." He turned over to Karl with an exhausted sigh. In all honesty he did not want the weekend to end. Even if that meant the rain would never end. Karl gave George a light smile, "Yeah... I hate long weekends though. They prolong the suffering that we have to endure before we go back to school." The darker brown haired male grabbed his bag from the back. "Karl, you have never said anything that smart in you life. You are a very surprising guy." George joking before getting out of the car. "Well thabk you George, you are a really nice bestie."
Students were all around them looking for that specific person that they wanted to see.
George couldn't find Clay anywhere.
Karl had found Nick within minutes hanging out with Eret and Fundy. This would have been surprising for George if the group hadn't spent a good hour making sure that they would start getting along again. Eret wanted to protest and tell everyone that he didn't want to. But he couldn't. Fundy liked hanging out with the group and had nothing against them. Eret was doing this for Fundy and only Fundy.
Even with that logic to it, Eret still wouldn't be able to handle much of Sapnap. Karl was quiet and normally only speaking when he wants to or when something extraordinary is on his mind.
"Does anyone know where Clay is?" George walked up to the group in a worried panic. Nick looked over at him, then he walked over to him and grabbed his shoulder. Pulling him away from the group. "George..." Nick spoke softly, almost like he was whispering. "Clay stayed at home. I would tell you the reason why, but I can't infront of everyone like this. I also don't want to say it in front of the councilors either." George was at this point confused.
Why should it be a problem? His father just passed away. Why can't Nick just tell him?
"What other reason is there? His father just passed away. I get why he isn't in school. If my father died I would have stayed out of it for a few days aswell." What George didn't know what that Nick and Clay had spent two hours texting each other before school. Clay had told Nick every bit of detail that he could without it being confusing.
George didn't know that Clay's mom was not a drinker.
Clay stayed home because he was upset about his mom and the fact that he had to clean up after her.
And Nick, he knew everything there was to know about why Clay was gone.
"That's not all the story. I can't tell it to you here. What I need to tell you is personal." George nodded his head. If it was personal he could understand. Everyone has the right to keep things a secret, especially personal things. "Drop by whenever you can... I think I am going to head to class now. I just wanna sit down and think about some things." Nick patted George shoulder as George said that. Then they walked away from each other.
When George was on his way to his first hour class he met Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo in the hallway.
"So, if he asked you to prom would you go with him?" George looked over at the loud boy who asked the question. There was some type of unnoticed anger issue or something that laid in the middle of them. Tubbo looked back at Ranboo, he looked shocked.
Like very shocked.
"W-what kind of question is that?!...Of course I'd go with him!" Ranboo and Tubbo started laughing, fist bumping with smug looks.
George watched them, he thought that the group was cute together. They acted so natural and they were free to make jokes like that.
"In reality though, Boo wouldn't ask me to prom. I'd go with a female classmate that I know."
"Yeaaaahhhh, I probably wouldn't. Unless I was desperate or something." He shrugged casually and smiled. Tubbo turned around and lightly jabbed his elbow into Ranboos side. "Your never desperate. The girls like a tall brownish haired man with green eyes." He joked.
"Doesn't mean I do anything about it." The taller male shot back.
George looked at the two with a smile. Tommy rolled his eyes and looked over at the two. "You guys are dorks." George chuckled softly before waving and walking away. He needed to make his way to his first hour class so that he was not late.
When he got to his class, he slipped down in his spot and sighed. There was a silence that filled the air. The teacher looked up at him and then went back to grading the assignments that she was grading.
George came to the classroom to think but nothing was coming to his mind, everything was blank.
That alone had disappointed him. Right now he should be thinking about what happened at the sleepover and how that should never happen again. George felt so bad about it even though Clay had said it was fine.
He shivered at the thought of what might have happened if they had gone further.
George stopped and opened his eyes.
No don't think like that.
----------
"George... George!" George opened his eyes and looked up. He came face to face with Bad. They were at lunch. "Are you tired or something?" Bad removed his hand from George's shoulder.
Slowly the dark haired male sat up. "No. I'm not tired. I slept for like 11 hours." Bad hummed softly and looked up, "Well you shouldn't be tried then. But aside from that, lunch is over."
The tray of food was sitting infront of George left uneaten.
"Fuck.."
He didn't mean to curse he just did.
"George, language!"
Bad said in a hugh pitched voice.
George got up and whispered an apology. Bad looked at him with a small smile, then noticed that he looked more pale than usual. George dumped his tray and waved.
But he wasn't paying attention and ran into someone. There was a loud clatter on the ground. George looked down at the person whom he'd hit, "Amelia, shoot. I am so sorry!"
If there was anyone George would run into of course it would be a cheerleader.
Especially Amelia.
The girl that Clay had a crush on.
She had bright blue eyes and medium-curly dark brown hair. She was skinny and short, always wearing shoes that made her taller than she really was. George didn't talk to her, but there was many times when Clay has. When he would come back he would always gush about how cute she was, what she looked like, or had on. He'd always point out a hairstyle or color change in her make up look. There was something about her personality everytime. George found it cute that she had captured Clay's mind so well. Not going to lie, he thought that they were a very cute couple.
And despite what others say about him and how he feels about Clay, everything was platonic. George was not jealous about his best friend having a crush on some cheerleader. He didn't care one bit, he supported them. He wanted them to get together because they would really be a perfect couple.
A power couple to say the least.
"No, I'm sorry George. I wasn't paying attention." She bowed slightly and got down onto the floor to pick up the things she dropped. George squared down and helped her, "I wasn't paying attention eitber." He chuckled softly.
Amelia smiled.
"Well, have a nice day." She got up and walked away. George got up and brushed off his knees. Once he did that he walked out of the commons. Thats when it finally hit him. "How did she know my name?!" She whispered to himself in pure shock.
----------
George and Karl got home later that day stressed out. It was mid-quarter and had like 7 tests to do in the next two weeks. He didn't notice his mother sitting on the couch. Karl was to tired to even want confrontation so he ran up to their shared room.
"George."
He looked up to see his mom with her head tilted down. Her dark brown hair covered over her eyes.
"Mom, what are you doing home so early?" He walked around the couch to notice that she had a black and white cat in her lap. It had on a pink collar that had a bell. George found the cat extraordinarily familiar to him.
His mom looked up at him, her eyes were blood shot.
The next words that left her lips would make everything collapse.
"Grandma... had a heart attack and passed away."
His whole world came crashing down.
----------
Clay was at home crying into his pillow. He was ashamed of himself for ever letting his mother end up this way. He hated what she was doing.
Drinking and drinking and drinking.
The bottles that he had cleaned up the night before were replaced with new ones. Bigger ones, infact, they kept growing in size everytime he cleaned them up.
He didn't know what was going to end up happening with her.
He got up out of bed and walked out of his bedroom. There was a few dark green bottles that were on the steps. The house oozed the nasty smell. "Mom?" Clay asked into the silence of the air.
"I'm in the kitchen." Her voice was slurred and slow.
Clay peaked his head in the kitchen to see her rummaging though the fridge. She was dressed in her pj's. She closed the slick black door and looked dover at him. Her eyes were blood shot and she had dark bags underneath her eyes. He didn't wanna see her like this. He hated it.
A lot.
There was a bottle in her hand that she set down on the counter. In a second Clay was wrapped in a tight hug.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
His mother cried out.
"I'm sorry I haven't been a responsible parent! You are hurting to and I need to be there for you and not just myself." She held onto him tighter. There was almost this utmost reason to say 'its okay'. But Clay couldn't say that. He couldn't even say anything to her.
He wants to yell at her but he can't. He thinks that if he does then he will make her drink more and he doesn't want to do that.
"Honey, I know I've been drinking a lot. I promise you I'll slowly begin to stop. There is no reason for me to do this to myself or you. I will stop." She held his face in her hands.
They made eye contact.
"Remember when grandma was in the hospital and she was singing to you?" Clay's eyes filled with tears at the thought of his 11 year old self sitting beside the older lady.
The doctors had placed her on life support and at the time Clay didn't even know she was dying.
"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go." He his voice was caught in the back of his throat as his mouth started singing. "When all those shadows almost killed your light."
He imagined himself sitting next to her, holding her hand in his. She had curly white hair and dark blue eyes. His grandma had the kindness heart out of anyone in the world. "I remember you said don't leave me hear alone."
Then he remembered walking into her room and finding it empty, as if she had never been there at all. "But all is dead and gone and passed tonight." Clay was so confused as to why she wasn't in her bed.
Clay closed his eyes.
"Just close your eyes."
George sat down on the couch, his mother wrapped her around him. "The sun is going down." He cried into her shoulder. "You'll be alright."
Clay's mother pulled him into a tight hug. "No one can hurt you now." The smell of lavender invaded his mind. He opened his eyes and found himself standing on his grandma's porch.
"Come morning light, you'll and I'll be safe and sound." George was heartbroken. His grandma was his rock, she was his one person who he could talk about everything with and she would just listen to him.
"Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire." Clay's grandma cupped his face in her hands and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "The war outside our door keeps raging on." She pulled him into her lap and began to rock him back and forth.
"Hold on." She sang.
"To this." It sounded like a whisper.
"Lullaby, even when the musics gone." The memory faded away. "Gone."
Clay looked at his mother's crying face. "Baby, I know you've been worried about me and I know I've been hurting you. Please just give me time." She gave him a light kiss on the forehead.
Clay looked at his mother and gave her a sad smile.
George hugged his mom tightly, crying with her with.
"I love you, mom."
They whispered.
-
[Word count: 2431]
A/n:
I know my chapters are longer than this, but I didn't have the strength to end this chapter with something random or satisfying. Just writing this chapter made me cry towards the end.
I would be more than heartbroken if my grandma passed away. All the emotions both Clay and George felt towards there grandma's were genuinely my emotions. She is my rock, I love her to death.
Some of what is in this story is based off of real events that have happened in my life, but they have been changed up a bit.
No, I did not lose a grandparent recently and hope to not. If you have then you have my condolences.
🙏😔
Please, stay safe and healthy. I wish that upon you all.
- Nifty