Love is a Pretty Tragedy

[Chapter 9]

I silently closed the front door behind me. My eyes quickly shifted to the living room to see both of my parents sitting incredibly stiff on the couch. I wondered how long they had been waiting for me there. Perhaps all night. They sat staring holes through me. I nervously took a seat on the couch across from them. There was no talking at first. Just those four set of brown eyes giving me a death glare. There was complete silence other than the dishwasher running in the background. I stared down and looked at my hands, ready for the blow at any moment. The air conditioning shut on and off before there were any words that were spoken.

"Estelle." My father spoke my name with such venom. There was a pause as my father took a deep breath, like he had been going over his little speech for hours, waiting for this one moment. All the emotions, the sadness, anger were going to be misplaced towards me. "We are very disappointed in your behavior. You know the rules. You know you broke them. It was incredibly childish of you to do this to us when we had just lost your brother. We had no idea where you were. You know the dangers.” His jaw clenched as my mother grabbed his hand to signal him to calm down. “We know that you are upset about your brother. Although, that does not mean you can defy us." My father said this without changing his tone once.

My mother now spoke up. "You missed everything. We went to look at the body to see if the police really were correct in their identification. The body was gone when we arrived, so we expect some mischief has happened. A search for the body has begun.”

My mother continued as what she said meant nothing. The body is missing? I didn’t understand. Were there not police on the scene watching his body? Who would take it? I knew they would not take time to answer any of my questions though, so I did not bother to ask them. “I planned the funeral and called the relatives. Everyone has been asking how you were holding up. Of course we didn’t know.” My mother raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes in repugnance. Not that I ever really cared how she felt about me. It wasn’t like I was gone for several weeks, it was one night.

“We have a very good idea who you were with though.” My father snarled. “That dirt, you call your boyfriend." I wanted to scream at him. The hate has bubbling under my skin, ready to explode any second. I just had to make it through this, but I was so tempted to run out the door again. "Estelle, it shows every one where your priorities are when they need to be more focused now more than ever. You are grounded for the rest of the summer. No computer or cell for a month, so you can really think about how much danger you put yourself through tonight. How much stress you put me and your mother through kept us up all night.”

It was hard for me not to laugh. It was all about them when they barely pay attention to anything I do. “We are not allowing you to see that boy anymore. He is obviously not a good influence on you, never was. Don’t think that you will be able to sneak out either; we’ve informed the house staff. That’s your punishment. I suppose the only other thing that you need to know is that the funeral is the day after tomorrow. Henry can come tomorrow since he did know Wesley, but that will be the last that you will ever see of him.” The dishwasher stopped, and now there was an eerie silence that engulfed the house. I had a feeling it was going to remain there for quite some time as I had no plans of ever speaking to anyone in this house ever again. I gave a slight nod; knowing that I would have other plans than to break up with him. That would be the opposite of what I would do. I got up and swiftly walked out of the room, not able to take any more of their fakeness.

I took the stairs at my usual pace, but I didn't make it to my room. Instead, I was frozen in my steps in front of Wesley's. It was exactly how he left it. Messy, bed unmade, even that sandwich - half eaten on his desk. His window was cracked just a little, just how he liked it. I grabbed his massive headphones and put them over my ears. I crawled into his unmade bed, not moving the covers, wanting to leave them how they were. With the earphones, I could hear the sound of my own heartbeat, as it began to calm me down. I lowered my nose to his pillow and let his smell drift into my nose. Although, I can't admit to it being a pleasant one, it was his. One of the few things I had left of him. We were not even left with a body. I felt like letting the tears flow. It seemed if I started now, I would never be able to stop.

At the Funeral

Wesley's funeral was the type of funeral that you see in all the TV shows and movies. Rain was coming down in pelts, the sky was gray and cloudy, everyone with black umbrellas covering their heads. Henry placed his head on my delicate shoulder taking in our surroundings. His warm hands covered my small, icy cold ones that were holding the umbrella. He had no idea what I had been through the past few days, or what I must do today after the funeral. At least he seemed less spastic than when I saw him last. I wouldn’t know how to deal with me either. A few men brought my brother's casket out; everyone fell silent. No one but my immediate family knew that the body was not even in there. Just an empty casket to be buried for now. My mother and father went up and said a few words, while dropping their red roses on the casket. Then, it was my turn. As, I gave the umbrella to Henry; I grabbed a red rose. I felt all the eyes on me. The rain poured down on me, adding to the pressure I was already feeling.

"I know most of you know me already, but if you don't I'm Estelle Powell, Wesley's sister. We had the normal sibling relationship, fighting about the silliest of things, sharing books and him trying to get me to like his taste in music, and always there for one another." I paused and looked around at a couple of the faces and realized that I didn’t recognize many of them. Some from college perhaps, or maybe I never paid as much attention to Wesley’s life as he did to mine.

“We were always extremely close to each other and would help out when times got tough. That evening he invited me to go in his new car with him. I'll never know what would have happen if I was there with him. All I know is that he will be missed forever and we will never forget him. I'll miss you, Wes." I whispered to him wherever he was. My eyes had now filled with the tears that had been missing before. I slowly placed my red rose down. A sea of yellow roses cascaded on the tomb next before I buried my face into Henry’s coat. I was so upset and mad at the world. I whisper into Henry’s chest that there wasn’t even a body in that casket…they never found one. I swear I thought I heard Henry’s breath stop, but then I saw he just put a kiss on the top of my head.

I wiped the black smears from my mascara before I was going to head back downstairs where everyone was waiting to give me their condolences. Many people I could here were there. Relatives, friends but the majority was strangers to me. As I walked down the stairs I could tell many people’s eyes were on me. As I reached the bottom, already many murmurs and whispers began, before a few people came up and greeted me. Then, Wes's roommates came over to me. There were four of them, all looking like college, frat boys that would normally have huge smiles on their faces. “Your brother was an awesome roommate and a great friend." One chipped in.

"We'll miss him a lot. It won’t be the same." Another added.

"Thanks. It was weird; the day before the accident Wesley was talking about how my boyfriend might have been able to move in with you all. I would have seen you all a lot.” I knew that all hope of that was now lost.

They all gave each other confused expressions. Then, one spoke up, "That is just like Wes isn’t. Did he also tell you that we have a two bedroom apartment for four guys right now. He was always one to be there for people – just like you said in your speech.” I just nodded with a half smile and walked off. However, I couldn’t help to think that must mean how much Wesley really wanted me to be with Henry. How he had finally seen that he wasn’t the bad guy anymore, and that he did not have to be my protector. It helped make my impending decision that much easier. I noticed my dad from across the room talking to someone I didn't know. He gave me a stare full of anger. I looked away and noticed Henry coming toward me. Just the person I wanted to see.

"Hey, let's go outside." I suggested.

He looked at me strangely and said, "Why it's raining?"

"Please." I begged. Henry gave a slight sigh and gave in. I grabbed his hand, and we headed outside. Luckily, everyone was inside because of the weather. I could feel my freshly, applied mascara was already starting to run, but I should have already realize that wouldn’t last for long. I practically skipped to the swing and sat down. I was nervous and excited. Henry tried to dry off the swing so he wouldn't get his nice pants wet, but I pulled him down anyway.

"Thanks a lot." He said with a slight laugh.

I grabbed his jaw with my fingers and made him face toward me. I bit my lower lip. His eyes searched mine for a sign that this was what I truly wanted right now. I shook my head, and he pushed his lips onto mine with no concern for anything. Kissing him made all the pain, regrets and bad memories flee from my mind. His tongue found its way into my mouth and started to explore.

I pushed him away for a second to get air and licked my lips. "Let's take this somewhere else." I got up and ran to the pool house, and he followed. I locked the door behind us. He sat down on the small futon that was located in there. He took off his soaking wet socks, shoes, tie and overcoat. I took off my high heels and jumped onto his lap. I looked into his green eyes, filled with so much passion. I picked up from where we left off. His hands searched my body, while mine searched his. We once again found our favorite places on each other. I ruffled his combed hair, as he gave my bottom a little squeeze. It was so comforting to feel his wide shoulders hovering over my small frame.

Then, he broke away for air. His tongue grazed over his teeth. He slowly sent little pecks all down my jawline and down to my chest, tracing the V-shaped neckline of my dress. He moved to back up to my neck, which always seemed to be his favorite spot. He nuzzled it for a second, then slowly started sucking the skin. I could feel the passion running through his veins; it was unbearable. To the point where I could barely stand what I was feeling and just wanted him inside of me. It seemed as though all of my senses were heightened, as they have been for the past couple of days. There were so many emotions and for some reason my body wanted to channel them this way. I pushed him away for a second and made him look into my eyes, his eyes still wanting to go back for more. This was the time. Slowly, I spoke being extremely clear with my words, "Henry,” He stared at me with a look in his eyes and a smirk on his lips, loving the way his name sounded coming out of his mouth. “Marry me."

Two words made Henry's eyes lose their passion and become replaced with fear.