Haunted

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start - Nido Qubein

Chapter 18

I was walking through the school in a happy haze. Two of my best friends in the world had gotten engaged. Kurt and Blaine. Klaine as I affectionately called them. Their proposal brought me to tears. I had never seen them happier.

I pulled out my phone to check for any new messages from Finn, I hadn't talked to him in a couple days and I wanted to see how he was doing. I adjusted my messenger bag and walked into the choir room. Marley was the only one there.

"Hey," I said to her sending her a smile.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked adjusting the hat she was wearing.

I shrugged, "Same old. And it's only Monday."

She laughed a little, "Sure is."

Slowly the rest of the club started coming in. Sam took a seat beside me, greeting me with an impression. I smiled and nudged his shoulder with mine, "You're such a dork," I would always say to him. He would smile back at me.

"Alright!" Uncle Will said coming into the room, "I hope everyone had a good weekend! Back to the grind for another week. So for this week I was thinking," he said trailing off as he jumped up to sit on the piano, "eighties week!"

I shrugged and nodded, indifferent. He had been blasting eighties music in the house over the weekend. Emma and I were not impressed.

I heard Kitty scoff and I turned to look at her and smirk, she did the same.

"Guys, the eighties are awesome! I have some great eighties songs that I printed off for you guys, come on up!" he said sliding off the piano and going to his bag, we were about to get up and join him when Sue came in the room.

"Will, could I speak with the club?" she asked.

She seemed off. She was never this polite.

Uncle Will looked at her and ran a hand through his hair, "Sue, we're just about to look over some songs for the assignment this week."

Sue shook her head a little and looked at the ground, "No, this is very important, Will. I need to talk to all of you. Now."

Uncle Will looked at her then back to us, he rolled his eyes, "Sit down guys, we'll continue when this is done."

We all took our seats again, "What do you think is up?" Artie asked turning to look back at Sam and I.

I shook my head, "No clue."

Emma walked in, I looked at her curiously. "I asked Ms. Pillsbury to come in as well. In case she's needed."

I looked at Emma confused; she shrugged back to me before standing next to Uncle Will, who had decided to stand just to the right of the club.

Sue stood in front of us; she adjusted the red zip up jacket she was wearing, "Kids. I really don't know how to say this. I was just on the phone with Burt Hummel. Finn...Finn passed away early this morning."

My body went rigid. I reached for the first thing I could and it happened to be Sam's knee. I looked over at him, Sam was staring straight ahead but he grabbed my hand and squeezed tightly. He was shaking his head very softly.

Then I heard sobbing, but it only took a second to realize it was me. I couldn't stop. I looked behind me to where Tina and Blaine were and saw the Tina was crying his Blaine's shoulder. He looked blank. He was rubbing her back but he wasn't talking.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I started hyperventilating. Sam grabbed me and pulled me into him. I clung onto the front of his shirt and closed my eyes. Willing myself to wake up. But, every time I closed my eyes he's all I would see.

"It's okay, Ryley, I promise, it's okay," Sam was saying to me.

I looked up at him and saw that he was crying as well. A steady stream of tears was going down his cheeks.

"I got her, Sam," I heard Uncle Will say from behind me.

I let go of Sam and stood up and basically fell into Uncle Will.

"It can't be true, it's not. He didn't die, he couldn’t have," I said into his shirt.

He had his arm around my shoulders, he kissed to top of my head, "It's okay, sweetheart," he said before turning the two of us to face the club.

"Um," Uncle Will's voice was cracking, "we're dismissed for the rest of the week. I'll be here tomorrow though, in case anyone wants to talk," he said to everyone, "Emma, could you grab Ryley's bag?"

"Of course," I heard her reply quietly.

Uncle Will led me away from the room, I kept sobbing. I couldn't stop.

Uncle Will led me to his car, talking calmly to me the whole way; I could hear Emma behind us. I was still crying extremely heavily.

How could he be dead? I spoke to him two days before...he was fine.

"How is this possible?" I asked him through my sobs. I was sitting in the backseat with my knees pulled up to my chest.

Uncle Will looked at me through the rear view mirror and shook his head, "I don't know," he said as he started the engine. Emma was going to drive my car back home.

I shook my head and wiped my eyes, "Why is this happening? How can he be gone?"

Uncle Will sniffled, "I don't know, Ry."

I unlocked my phone and looked up my last message to Sam and texted him.

Did Sue say anything else???

He replied back a minute later.

Nothing...

I set my phone down beside me, and rested my head of my knees. I stared out the window until I saw the apartment. He parked the car and I basically jumped out, Emma was right behind us, parking my VW Bug in its usual spot.

When Emma got out I looked at her and started crying again, she pulled me into her, "It's all going to be okay, Ryley. I promise."

"Nothing is ever going to be okay," I cried.

Emma put her arm around my waist and started leading me to the entrance of the apartment with Uncle Will beside us.

When we got there, I headed towards my room, slamming the door behind me.

I collapsed into my bed, with my face in my pillow and screamed and cried until I couldn't breathe anymore. I rolled onto my back to get some air; I looked to my night stand and saw a picture of Finn and me from prom when we were dating. Next to it was the picture of me, Blake and our parents.

I looked back to the ceiling and wiped tears again.

"I have to talk to Kurt," I whispered to myself. I got up and grabbed my phone from the desk where I left it, and dialed his number.

He answered instantly.

"I'm coming home," was the first thing he said to me. He was crying, and I could hear him moving around.

"Are you packing?" I asked quietly, taking a seat on my bed.

"Yeah," he answered breathlessly, "How is this happening?"

I shook my head, "I don't know. How's Rachel?" I asked.

He sighed, "She's been in her room all day. It's just silent in there. I've tried talking to her but she's not responding to me."

"Is she coming home too?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"How did it happen?" I asked him, after a brief silence.

"Does it matter?" he deadpanned.

I ran a hand through my hair, "No...not even a little, actually."

"Blaine is calling, I'll call you later, okay?" he told me.

I nodded, "Okay."

"Hey, I love you. And Finn loved you. Remember that, okay?" he said to me.

Tears started falling, "I will," I said before hanging up.

I dropped my phone on my bed and leaned against the headboard. My phone started going off, I grabbed it and looked at it. It was a group message with the Glee Club. I put it on my nightstand and pulled the covers over me. My head hurt, and my eyes were sore. I was still crying.

On and off I would cry heavily or it would just be some tears falling. But I didn't move the rest of the night. I faked sleep when Uncle Will or Emma would come in. I didn't want to talk to them. Or anyone.

Except Finn.