The store manager had told Sadie to take as much time as she needed, at least a week off from work, to let this settle in. She was back to work within two days, back first thing, Monday morning, opening up the store herself.
His...her...their replacements had entered, surprised to see Sadie on duty, working away like normal. She'd told them she'd be fine today, and that they could go home.
All by yourself?, they had asked her, with a coddling tone that made her feel more annoyed than comforted, and she had insisted again, Yes, they did not need to be there, that she had handled the store by herself many times, and this wasn't going to be any different.
Once they had left, and she was alone again, habitually, she checked her phone, expecting a text saying 'hey sorry i'm going to be running late' or 'cough cough im ill im germy im home today' or something to make her laugh, but there was no notification on her phone.
Just in case her phone rang, she turned the sound all the way up, and rest her cheek on the counter, neglecting to even notice she'd not turned on the store lights, or flipped the 'closed' sign to 'open'.
A while back, she'd picked an amusing notification sound for whenever Lars messaged her, and she didn't want to believe that she was never going to hear it again on its own accord.
They still didn't know what had happened. Not for certain. Autopsy results were pending, and there was no obvious clues that led to any particular cause.
Friday morning, after multiple times of demanding to get up and get dressed for work, Lars' father went into his son's room to shake him up and at it, only to be greeted by the sudden cold stiffness that signaled that something was terribly wrong with the boy who still hadn't stirred.
An ambulance had been called, but there was nothing to be done, nothing that could bring back what had already gone.
It hardly was any comfort to friends and family, no matter how gentle and assuring the voice of the bearer of bad news was, to hear that he'd simply passed away in his sleep. Sure it had been painless, and it was, if one wished to believe, the most peaceful of departures, but it just didn't make sense. Lars hadn't been ill, there was nothing to suggest it was caused by his own hand, and the night before, he'd been eagerly talking about the upcoming movie from his favorite series, and how he was going to buy tickets a month in advance.
Ronaldo still remembered that conversation, how excited Lars had sounded, and how much of a dork he'd been as they had been squished together in a booth seat at Fish Stew Pizza with Sadie right in the middle of the two, sitting across from Jenny, Buck, and Sour Cream, blabbing on and on about nerdy junk until Mr. Pizza had yelled at them all to quiet down, and get back to their own respective homes. It seemed so surreal that in less than twelve hours, Lars would go from blabbering on about movies to being zipped up in a body bag.
Once he'd gotten the news from Sadie, Ronaldo had felt that sudden vulnerable feeling again from when he was younger, and retreated to his office, much like a child trying in vain to escape the terror of thunder.
Sadie had to be joking.
He had opened up his laptop, and switched to his FaceJournal, clicking on Lars' profile, seeing Lars' most recent post had been from the week before, some various goofy selfies with Sadie, Steven, his cat; Aberdeen; and even just some random photos of the beach with lazily slapped on Instagrab filters.
Ronaldo hadn't realized he'd been staring at that same set of thumbnails for over an hours until the browser automatically refreshed, and the feed was now topped by some written platitudes expressing sadness at Lars' apparent departure, and the knowledge that this wasn't some sort of hallucination or sick joke sank in Ronaldo's stomach like a stone.
After a few more refreshes, the number of messages setting the reality in harder, Ronaldo quickly switched over to his blog, and opened up the 'create a post command', and stared at the white screen for several minutes, blinking only when he felt his eyes drying out.
His muscles feeling unusually stiff, his fingers twitched a little as he began to type.
"Recent events are making me look into the unanswered questions of mortality- how much time do we really have left in the world?"
"G-Garnet," Steven had finally managed to speak through sobs as he lay in her arms, overcome by grief, "C-can you tell me why this happened?"
"Steven," she had answered softly, gently petting his hair, "I'm sorry...but I can't. I can only predict the possibilities of the future...what's past is irreversible."
"Y-You mean you didn't even see this happening in your future vision?"
Garnet spoke with a regretful tone, "I unfortunately didn't see this in my possibilities. Things of this nature are just simply unexpected."
Hiccuping, Steven wiped his eyes, upset and frustrated that even Garnet couldn't look into why this happened.
"There was nothing we could have done Steven...I'm sorry."
Almost immediately, Steven leaped out of her arms, and fled to his mother's room, wanting to ask Lars through it, why, why he up and left without even a goodbye.
The cloud mannequin of his friend smiled with blank placidity as it answered that it didn't know. It just didn't know.
"Were you sick?"
"I don't know. Sorry Steven."
"Was it a heart condition?"
"I don't know. Sorry Steven."
"Was it an aneurysm?"
"I don't know. Sorry Steven."
"...Did you do this to yourself?"
"Oh Steven, I would never do that! I love you too much!"
When the decoy kept on smiling, spouting the words it thought that the boy would be happy to hear, Steven suddenly felt rage, stomach twisting violently, and punched it, feeling even worse as he watched it disintegrate, then he sank into the pink fluffy interior, sobbing his eyes out.
It just wasn't fair.
Being a small town, the news spread quickly, and the next week was filled with a sense of awkward somberness.
Neighbors fretted over whether or not to leave flowers at the family's doorstep. A few had been left at Lars' workplace, and Sadie dared not to touch them. Or even look at them. She'd been entering through the back as of late.
Not many people were well acquainted with Lars, or his family, but somehow, many of them felt the need to involve themselves in it now. Suddenly everyone who may have talked to Lars, or at least even saw him would be speaking fondly of him like an old friend, expressing how bright and cheery he was, and how Beach City just wasn't going to be the same without him.
And it irritated Sadie to no end, wondering who on earth all these people were, suddenly acting like they were Lars' best friend, writing on his social media accounts with reminiscence, and she held back the enormous urge to ask them where they were when Lars was in need of friends, because he'd always have people who were there to help him, and they certainly weren't the ones typing goopy paragraphs about him.
After a few days of going to work without actually opening it up all the way, Sadie ended up skipping it altogether, not caring if she got reprimanded for it. Her mother insisted on taking her to her own workplace today, and Sadie didn't argue it. She was feeling empty, and being in a boring mail room wasn't going to change that.
She ended up joining her mother for the next few days, finding it at least distracted her from the apathy that grief had brought upon her.
Barb would try to converse with her daughter, taking any answer with a hope that Sadie was slowly but surely going to start cheering up. It didn't work, and deep down, Barb already sort of knew that.
Somehow, the fact that a parent in their own little town was suffering the sudden horrific loss of a child was much like a magnetic field, pulling people together. Parents hugged their children a little tighter, and siblings made sure to tell each other they were the greatest brothers and sisters in the world.
Steven visited his father every day, staying for as long as time allowed, secretly fearing that he'd lose him too, and then end up mourning him as well as Rose Quartz, and Lars.
Ronaldo's predicament hadn't changed much. His ways of handling grief; by sitting in front of his computer all day, typing away, theorizing over how much time he might have left in the world to make his mark, without even helping a bit at the fry shop; was far too unconventional for his father to deal with, and multiple times, he'd told Ronaldo to, for once, put the computer down, and make himself useful in the shop.
Some sort of argument ensued, nothing too harsh, but still, pretty aggravating, and Ronaldo decided he didn't have to hear any of this, picking up his computer, and heading towards the back door to head out by himself.
Before he could even open the door, he was pulled back in a sudden bearhug, and his heart skipped a beat when he realized his father was crying.
Mr. Fryman couldn't risk a petty argument being the final thing he might ever tell his son.
"Dad, I'm sorry."
"I love you son!", he blubbered.
"I know."
Lars' family soon hosted a wake at their home, and neither Sadie or Steven were exactly in the best spirits to go. But they told themselves, reluctantly, that Lars probably wouldn't want them to be sad and withdrawn, and both went with their parents.
Sadie wasn't all that interested in mingling with anyone, noticing most of the guests, aside from Ronaldo and a few of their mutual friends, were probably relatives, and they all just looked so gloomy.
She looked right through the lovely memorial display Lars' family had set up, arranging his photos on a table with some flowers and candles. She could pretend to admire it, and avoid locking her eyes on the bright face of her friend who no longer breathed on this earth.
She'd retreated to a couch, and was soon receiving attention from Lars' cat, who was rubbing her head against Sadie's shoulder, purring and stepping on Sadie's lap over and over.
Sadie softly chirped for Aberdeen to sit, and once the cat was settled on her lap, purring therapeutically, she pet the animal slowly.
Aberdeen was purring like she hadn't been given this much affection in a long time.
Lars' parents never really cared for the cat, Sadie remembered, Lars had found her hanging out behind the dumpsters at work, and tempted her with herring. He must have been the only one around here to give her attention. Poor thing must be love starved!
The thought of something so simple; a pet missing the owner who loved her most; made Sadie's throat tighten.
Lars was one of the only people in the world I could talk to about anything. Not even Steven or Mom.
Before Sadie knew it, her eyes were overflowing with hot tears, which rolled down her cheeks, and down onto the cat's fluffy fur.
He's gone, and I never got to tell him that.
Ronaldo sat beside her, and asked her if she was okay. Sadie looked at him with a tear streaked face, and unimaginable grief, and he rubbed her arm as she leaned against him and continued to sniffle and sob.
"...I know...I miss him too."
Meanwhile, Steven was wondering how appropriate it would be to ask one of Lars' family members what had happened, and why his friend was dead, but they all looked too sad to even bother. This was one of the first times he'd ever been inside Lars' house, and the teen wasn't even around to show him his room.
After a bit of aimless wandering around the room, Steven decided to take a seat, and walked past the memorial for Lars, when his eyes caught something.
Among the flowers scattered on the table were a good amount of the flowers from that day on the hill, still looking as beautiful as ever.
Had Lars been keeping those all this time?
The memories of the two standing on the hill looking over Beach City, joking and laughing with their friends seemed like a distant memory, and Steven remembered how afterward, he'd collected a huge armful of the flowers, and dumped them on Lars' head. Lars had gotten mad at first, then proceeded to dump an even bigger load of flowers on him in revenge, and by the end of their war, the two had pink petals stuck in their hair, and it took forever to get them out.
Smiling a little at the memory, Steven gently touched one of the flowers, and felt less of a need to ask why his friend was gone, but just simply more of a need to feel better. He didn't want to remember Lars most for how he died, rather for how he lived, with those sprinklings of good memories.
When one of Lars' parents had approached Steven, thanking him for coming, and telling him how much Lars appreciated him as a friend, Steven didn't ask the burning question he had for the last couple weeks. Instead, he asked if he could take some of the flowers home, explaining he had a present for Lars.
Later that evening long after the wake had ended, several of the teenagers of Beach City, the ones who knew Lars closely at least, had gathered on the beach near the temple, having a celebration of life in honor of their friend. Some stories were told, some ending with laughter, others with tears, and some with a bit of both.
Sadie was still sad. They all were. But she had managed to come to the event on her own accord. Sitting between Steven and Ronaldo, she smiled a little as she heard everyone tell stories about Lars, stories that she definitely could believe were about her friend. Stories about how grumpy he could be in the mornings, stories about how kind he was when he was in the right mindset, stories about how much he wanted to make people like him and be happy. He always was a little rough around the edges, but everyone agreed, he really did try, he tried to be a better friend to everyone in spite of his insecurities and shortcomings, and they all came to the agreement that he'd succeeded.
Ronaldo still wondered how much of a chance there would be that he might fall asleep and not wake up the next morning. How much would he have accomplished in his life to make it worth something? Lars hadn't made it to his 18th birthday, and for a lot of his life, he was pretty insufferable ( a thought Ronaldo felt horrible about, but it was something he was taking into account), and here people were celebrating Lars' life, including Ronaldo. Well, of course. Ronaldo and Lars had repaired their friendship about a year earlier, and in that time, Lars had managed to become a happier individual, and had been looking to the future with a better sense of optimism than in the years prior. Ronaldo could only conclude that if he were to die that next day, he'd be secure in knowing people would miss him, and remember him as he wished to be remembered, both on and off the internet.
Once everyone had finished sharing stories, Steven gave each of them one of the pink flowers, and they all approached the tide, setting the flowers in the water, and watching them get set out to sea, floating gracefully, their bright pink gems suddenly sparkling in the nighttime like spirits wandering to another world. They all continued to stare until the flowers faded out of sight.
Steven would occasionally feel a warmth in his chest, and would see the gem on his belly glowing dimly. He thought about his mother, inside his gem, exuding warm thoughts of love and care to him as he lived out his life. At the same time, he also hoped that all this time, she was watching over his family too, making sure they were safe and happy. Maybe there was also a chance she was watching over everyone, protecting them.
Mom, Lars is with you, isn't he? He's happy, right?
No sudden sense of dread came to Steven, and he immediately felt relief, gripping onto one of his friends' hands as they all walked along the beach.
Lars is still safe, wherever he is now, since Rose was there to welcome him when he woke up.