The room was dark, the air thick with a melody of sadness and grief that seemed to linger in a place surrounding him. Silence filled the room, the only sound evident was a long and shallow breathing coming from the young man huddled in a dark corner, legs askew, arms limp at his sides. His blonde head was leaning against the wall behind him, his neck had lost the strength to support it’s weight a long while ago. Light streamed in from the nearby window, lighting up his pale cheeks, damp from crying. He sat there, staring, waiting, as though the body on the bed might be resurrected and the woman who used to occupy it might return to him.
A gasp from the now open door signaled that somebody else had entered the room. “Oh my god!”
The girl stared, wide-eyed at the body on the bed. She quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. Her dark hair hung loosely down her shoulders and flew back and forth as she searched the room for her brother. Chocolate brown eyes locked solely on the limp form of the man in the corner who still hadn’t noticed her arrival. She hurriedly ran to his side.
“Will?” She asked, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. When he didn’t move, she tried again, this time taking his face in her hands and forcing in to look at her. “Will? It’s Fred. Can you hear me?”
His cold ocean blue eyes remained locked to the sight of the girl on the bed though, and Fred wondered if he even knew she was there.
“Will.” She tried again, shaking him gently by the shoulders. “Will! Can you hear me? Will, please answer me!” She cried, tears leaking down her soft cheeks. She didn’t dare wipe them away though, and let them fall freely, mourning the dead.
His eyes moved ever so slowly to the girl at his side, finally realizing that he wasn’t alone in the room anymore. At first sight he wasn’t able to identify who she was. The pure shock of watching someone he loved slip away from him had clouded his brain, and it took a few seconds to finally place a name with the face that stared him in the eyes. Fred. His sister. He remembered now.
“Fred.”
She smiled through tears, rubbing his face lovingly. “Yeah, I’m here.” She told him, before pulling him into a tight hug. He hugged her back with as much force as he could muster, letting his head rest on her bony shoulders to avoid looking at the bed again. “I’m so sorry.” He heard her say, as they both comforted each other.
When she pulled away, he looked her in the eyes for the first time. He didn’t speak. He didn’t have any words left. His eyes must have spoke volumes because she was able to decipher what he wanted her to know.
“It’s okay.” She told him. “It’s all going to be okay, I promise. But you need to get out of this room. Come on. Come down stairs with me now.” But he didn’t make a move to get up and she couldn’t find the strength to make him. Gasping his hands in her smaller ones, she leaned back on her heals and tried to pull him forward. When he pulled back in the opposite direction, they both fell into their previous places.
“Will, come on. You can’t just stay here. Everyone’s really worried. Please, please come with me.” She pleaded with him, once more tugging on his hands, trying to force him to leave the room with her. She stopped when she heard him speak.
“I can’t.” He said, his voice catching in his throat. He swallowed back the lump in his throat and tried again. “I can’t just leave ‘er here.” He whispered fiercely to his sister.
She looked at him, compassion shining in her eyes. She finally nodded, understanding. Her eyes once again welded up with unshed tears for the great loss they had shared. For her. For her brother. And for the dead girl on the bed. But it wasn’t enough to dull the pain, not nearly, and she supposed nothing ever would be. Her brother would never be the same after this, she was sure of it. Nobody ever was after losing the most important thing in the world to them.
She looked up at him to realize that his eyes were yet again locked to the spot in the room where the body lay. His cheeks were damp, but he wasn’t crying. The tears had long since dried on his face and he had nothing left to shed. There was nothing left. No soul. No heartbeat. No Buffy. Only a shell of what used to be. And a hole in his world.
