Sighing, Cody finally finished typing in the last few lines of code to the project the company he was working with was creating.
It had been a long, long day to say the least.
The entire system crashed 3 times, his co-worker was sick so he had to do his work for him, and to top it all off, Cody was feeling gloomier than usual. Then again, it was that time of year again. The time of year where the 5th anniversary of the Total Drama series came around, and every single time it came around it always reminded him of her.
Instantly, when his mind shifted to her, he let out a longing sigh.
What would she say at a moment like this to make him lighten up? Make a sarcastic quip about how he's coding for a living and his name is Cody? Give him a kiss on his cheek? Hug him? Or, would she insult him and berate him for living alone in a trashy apartment with hardly any friends outside of work regardless of all the money he had to move out and the opportunities he had to pursue a better career.
Truth be told, Cody really didn't want to move out of his trashy apartment, or pursue a better, more fulfilling career. He was strangely happy this way, attached to his current lifestyle. He couldn't imagine a world in which he woke up in a place other than his apartment, go down into the kitchen and pour a bowl of cereal, watching the mice scurry across his living room and into a hole in the wall, or going to his programming job and pumping out hundreds of lines of code a day, then going home and sitting infront of the tv, sometimes re-watching all of Total Drama and reliving the 'glory days'.
While this life may currently be a pretty boring and unfulfilled one, he would strangely not have it any other way. It was like this routine was permanently scarred into his soul.
But now, he had another problem: She was on his mind again, and with her came the usual feelings: Dread, longing, sadness, anger, and emotional distress.
The only upside to this was that his job was finally over for the day and he can go home to his trash hole and sit down and rewatch a few episodes of Total Drama Island and imagine being with her there, and not just with her, but with her with her.
Stacking a few papers and putting them down in the drawer of his desk, he rose to his feet and checked his phone.
7:30 PM.
He actually completed work pretty early today. Usually, he would finish at about 7:50 or so, but no.
Walking through the door to his office and going into the hall, he said his goodbyes to his boss who reminded him he was working tomorrow.
Tomorrow was Saturday.
This day just kept getting worse and worse. Usually on days like this, Cody would just go and take a hot shower and burn all the troubles away and wash them all down the drain. But today... He was feeling like doing a little something different.
Today, he decided, he was going to go visit Gwen. Maybe that would cheer him up, or at the very least get her out of his head. He didn't get to see Gwen often, seeing as to how he usually got off work at late times and missed the opportunity due to the time being so late, and just not feeling up for it in general... But today was strange. He had to see her. It was the only thing which would set his mind at ease.
So then off he went.
Out in the parking lot, he pulled out his keys and unlocked his car: an old 2005 Hyundai Sonata. Walking over to it, he pulled the door open and crawled inside the stained interior of the old junker.
He got the car from his uncle, shortly before he passed away last year. His uncle hadn't really taken care of it, infact, when Cody got it was actually in worse shape than this which may surprise the average Joe.
Granted, the car was in pretty bad shape at the moment, but it was not near as bad as it was when it was in his uncle's possession.
Putting his keys in the ignition, he turned the engine on, which stuttered and chugged as it struggled to power up. After a few tries, the engine finally sprang to life, thus beginning his journey to Gwen.
He pulled on into the intersection, which seemed to be pretty empty today. Not a single soul but him.
This only served to make him even more gloomy, especially given the location he was going. But he kept on the road, determined.
Taking a left, he steered away from his usual path, something which gave him a small tinge of anxiety; he didn't like breaking his routine. But for her, he would suffer this slight feeling of inconvenience. He looked over at the clock. '7:40 PM' it read.
He was going to run out of time and not get there in time.
Soon, after 5 minutes, the building came into view.
He parked in the parking lot and got out, stepping onto the grey concrete of the lot. A few people stood next to the gate to the building, sobbing lightly and he had a feeling soon he would be too.
The guard next to the gate grunted as he peered over his newspaper.
"You again? Man, weren't you here last month?" He sighed. "Nevermind. here." The guard pressed a few keys into his keyboard and the gate infront of him opened, allowing him entry. "You have 15 minutes before we close. Make it quick buddy boy."
Nodding, Cody swiftly entered the field.
Flowers bloomed and trees grew, but regardless of these, a terrible depressing feeling loomed over the place. For in the field, acres of headstones jutted fourth from the ground, forming neat rows in the fields.
Cody had no trouble traversing through this maze of headstones;he knew the path he was going through by heart.
Finally after a few minutes of walking through the depressing land, he found her.
Sighing, he sat down infront of her.
"H- hey Gwen."
No response.
"I'm sorry... I just... God it's so crazy." he chuckled. "I just can't get you out of my head today. I've been having a pretty garbage day. How about you?"
Still no response. The skies above him were growing dark as the Sun began to set, throwing rays of bright orange light across the darkened skies. Cody sighed once more, placing his head in his hands.
He sat like this for what felt like hours, just enjoying being near her. Occasionally his gaze drifting up to the sky. "Pretty beautiful sunset, eh Gwen?"
Still no response, but Cody felt a small smile growing across his face.
"You know, I've been thinking of moving out of my apartment and moving to an actual place that's nice... But I don't really want that. Part of the reason is because I'm actually fine the way I am living life at the moment, regardless of the gloomy feeling I get everyday... But the other reason is because I don't want to be to far from you."
No response still, and above him, the sky grew darker and darker, and Cody's smile began to fall into a frown.
"Hey kid, times up. Gotta lock up." The guard called from behind him.
Slowly, Cody stumbled up to his feet, trying his best to keep himself together. He always hated the part when he had to say goodbye.
"Well Gwen... My times up. G- goodbye I guess. Until next time."
Swiftly, Cody turned his back to her and began walking the fields of headstones, out towards the way he entered, giving one last glance behind him.
Infront of where he was sitting, a single headstone jutted from the ground like all the others near it, and with it, a single purple flower lay infront of it. The headstone had writing etched into it which said:
"Here lies Gwendolyn Everett
1996-2014
Gone, but not forgotten."
A/N: Alright so I have decided to go ahead and make this a multi chapter story, of about 4 chapters. Basically, it's going to be Cody dealing with the tragedies in his life and trying to move on. This was originally a one shot with the reveal of Gwen being dead not being given away in the description, but given the content in the second chapter and the plans I have for the story, I see no real point in hiding the detail. Especially since it's already kind of given away from the fact Cody drives up into a graveyard.
This chapter I feel does a pretty good job of setting things up, so I'll go ahead and keep it the same.
Speaking of description, I've been racking my head on the description of this story for the past 30 minutes trying to think of a way to make it sound good before settling on the current one. Let me know what you think about it, and the story in general. I'm a fan of brutal constructive criticism.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll stick around for more!
-Twisted
