Storybook ending::: Chapter one [His Tragedy]

“It’s all just another chapter”, the cigarette still resting between his lips, he peered at her with one eye open, the words she had heard a million times spilling alongside the smoke like velvet. 1

“I know”, her thick lashes pointed down as she rolled the cherry of her own cigarette against the edge of the ashtray. 2

“You’ll get it back Bridge. I can feel the words at the tip of your tongue. You’ve got your characters all lined up... Now all you need is the tragedy to start the plot.” 3

“I thought I’d been through my tragedy. I found you, remember?” Her frown broke into a smile as his gaze finally met hers.4

“No reason to joke like that.”5

“I know...”6

“Can I tell you something Bridge?” His eyes fell back on the sun as it faded behind the clouds. 7

“Of course”, hoping to find a way to bring his attention to her, she pressed her face into his neck, only to feel his hand on the back of her head.8

“I... I love you.”9

“Yeah, I know you do!” Her teeth grazed his earlobe playfully before she pulled away. He was still looking away from her, cigarette burned nearly to the filter. “I love you too Jake”. 10

“Yeah, I know”11

His elbow hit against her ribs lightly. Crushing out his cigarette, his eyes still locked on the sunset, he slowly pulled himself out of his seat to go inside.12

“Just have patience Bridgette. It will come to you soon enough.” With a smile and a wink, he was inside the house.13

That was the last time she ever saw him alive. The call had come in around seven the next morning, his sister. Hysterical, she explained what had happened. She had found him on the living room floor, bottle emptied and eyes glazed a milky white. What she had believed to be her life investment had left her behind with a stomach full of OxyContin. Suicide. Betrayal. 14

Ems voice rang in her ears as she looked at her own image in the mirror. The girl she has seen the night before looked alive, looked happy. In a matter of seconds, what used to be her tanned, healthy skin had faded to a dull gray, her thick brown hair now a stringy mess of knots in the back of her head. He was gone. She was gone.15

“The funeral is this Saturday”, Emily choked out the words “Please show up...”16

“Yeah...” She could barely recognise her own voice.17

“I love you Bridgette and I know Jake did too”18

“Yeah...” There was that creak again.19

“I’ll... I’ll see you on Saturday...” The line went dead.20

It was Wednesday the 21st. Two days and they would have been together for a year. 21

Thoughts streamed through her head as she sat in front of her mirror. Hours passed, her family had come home, yet she couldn’t bring herself to walk down the stairs. Cheeks bone dry, eyes red and raw, she could do nothing more than stare at that once beautiful girl in her vanity mirror.22

“Bridge... Do you want dinner?” Her mother’s voice echoed up the stairs.23

Her knees wobbled beneath her the entire way down the stairs to the kitchen. Her lanky frame nearly collapsed in her chair, the smell of the dish burning her nostrils as if it was poison.24

“How was your day love?” The kind voice of her mother said as she dished out portions.25

“Fine”26

“Fine... nothing more? What happened?”27

“Jake killed himself.”28

___________________________29

The days rolled by to his funeral. The day was beautiful; overcast yet warm, the way he would want it. 30

The sun always hurt his eyes... Or at least that was what he had told her.31

Nearly 20 people had arrived; a large accomplishment. His mother had turned up, sober and tear-streaked, her hands rested in Emily’s, she was waiting for wine. Bridgette recognised only those two, the rest were those he had spoken about but never allowed her to meet. It was Emma’s voice that broke the silence of her mind.32

“We’ll go inside once Max has shown up.”33

“Max?” Her voice was still just a croak.34

“Our older brother... best you’ve never heard of him. He’s...well...” Em was cut short by the sound of a backfire. From the tattered vehicle stepped who was believed to be Max... but not at all what she had expected.35

“Let’s go in shall we?” Clearing her throat, Emily opened the doors to the church.36

__________________37

The setting was like that from a movie. Falls hung from the hooks in the walls. A deep red to match the satin of the coffin. Bridgette carefully placed herself next to Em, as far away as she could get from Max, just close enough to make out a body on the stage ahead.38

“Jacob Matthew Donovan was known to many as trouble, but to those closest to him, he was precious. His time was spent as a loving brother, a helpful son and a straight A student in his pre-medical courses. Though Jake dreamed of big things, they were cut short by this terrible tragedy.” The priests voice shot through her like an injection. “We will miss Jake as he makes this final journey, but as he wrote himself, ‘do not miss me when I’m gone, because I’ll forever be right here.’”39

An hour had passed and Bridgette hadn’t moved. Eyes locked on the casket ahead, she wanted nothing more than to wake up. If she made it to that coffin, just to make sure it was him, it wouldn’t be. This would all be a dream, and he would be home in the morning. Her feet felt like concrete as she made her way to the front of the room. Emily’s hand clasped white-knuckle tight to hers, her heart lurched and stomach turned at the sight ahead of her. It couldn’t have been him.40

Before her lay a mannequin. Still, lifeless and cold, the body before her looked nothing like the man she had held so closely that last Tuesday night. Already pale skin glowed a lifeless blue, eye sockets bulged from forced-closing, Jake’s hands lay folded across his chest like you would imagine a vampires, the ring that she had given him still in place but upside down. Her eyes focused on his chest for a sign that he was still breathing. Nothing.41

“Say goodbye...” Em’s eyes were shut tight to avoid the sight of her brother. It was natural to say goodbye with a kiss, Bridgette’s lips brushed against the cool rubber-like flesh of his forehead as tears stung the back of her eyes.42

“I love you” a faint whisper into the kiss before the lid was closed. “I love you” a faint whisper as the hearse drove away. “I love you” a tear jerked scream from inside her room that night. “I hate you” a complacent croak as her eyes fell on what he had left in her drawer. 43