Warning: Character death/suicide.
"Yo, Jeff, you okay?" Nick looked at the blonde Warbler, whose normally focused brown eyes were hazy, sort of sad looking. Nick bumped his friend's shoulder, casually, trying to get his attention. Jeff jumped at the touch, the sad look disappearing into fright, before easing into a frigid sort of state, as if he were hiding something. Nick gave him a look, before turning his attention back to Wes, who was currently banging the wooden gavel.
Nick kept an eye on Jeff throughout the meeting, like any best friend would. The way Jeff's eyes dimmed worried Nick greatly. The way he didn't raise his hand, or speak up. His motions- which were small and timid- looked as if he was moving through water. Jeff had a graceful quality about him, making Jeff one of the Warbler's best dancers. But, a dancer's movements should be light and airy.
Jeff was moving as if his bones were too heavy, like lead filled them. His eyes dimmed, and when the Warbler's were dismissed, Jeff sat there, looking into space, his eyes never focusing.
"Jeff, you coming?"
"Naw, I'll just hang here for a while. Got a lot on my mind." Nick could hear the sadness, the hollowness in his voice. Like he was giving up.
Jeff never gave up.
He always pushed himself harder, harder than he should
sometimes.
The Warbler's always said, the first person to defy gravity would be Jeff Daniels.
Jeff would fly higher than the rest of them, one day.
Jeff stared at the sheet in front of him. Notes, notes that flew off the bars were everywhere. But, he began marking them flat, and sharp, and anything but the beautiful notes they were. His hands were shaking, looking down at that sheet music. He was once a beautiful song.
Now, Jeff bitterly thought, he was a bitter harmony.
He should have been there for her. He shouldn't have lingered too long. His sister, his fucking sister, was gone. His parents had given up on looking for her. But she was out there- he was sure of it.
Jeff refused to believe his greatest joy was six feet under.
She just couldn't be.
Her sweet, pink lip smile, her soft white blonde curls, the fairest, pale skin, those big blue eyes-
A sob came from his chest, and Jeff slammed down the pen and music, curling up.
No tears fell, though. It was silent crying. His body shook, but no relief came. All he could do was sit there, shaking.
Suddenly, Jeff stopped. His eyes were dark- as if no light could shine through them.
They always said he'd fly high.
Now, Jeff thought angrily, they would see him fly high.
"Guys, I'm worried about Jeff. Like, super worried." Nick ran a hand through his bangs, a nervous habit, before looking at the smallgroup of Warblers he had assembled- Wes, Thad, David, Kurt and Blaine. Kurt was just visiting Blaine, but Nick knew he was close to Jeff.
"Why?" Wes asked, curiously. Sure, Jeff had been in some funk, but everyone assumed it as because they lost, and Jeff was a bit dramatic.
"Well, his sister- Sophie- died a few days after we lost… And he and Sophie were really, really close…" Nick felt his throat tightening up.
Jeff didn't even go to her funeral.
It was if he refused to believe that she was dead.
"He didn't go to the funeral. I'm worried that Jeff will do something irrational."
Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand, leaning into him. It was horrible just hearing this news. How Jeff managed to hide it from everyone- excluding Nick- was beyond him.
"Nick," David began, "have you noticed anything… different about Jeff?"
Nick nodded, "His eyes are like looking into a grave sometimes. And he doesn't smile." Nick bowed his head.
"It's like he's walking dead."
Jeff ran to his dorm, grabbing a belt, before spiriting back to the Warbler's practice room.
He made a stand out of a chair, and looped the belt around one of the lamps that hung from the veiling.
He tightened the belt around his neck.
Ruefully, he sang a few bars of the song Jeff had marked to its death.
"Kiss me goodbye, I'm defying gravity… and you can't pull me down."
And that's when Jeff kicked the chair over.
They found him there, suspended in air, the next morning.
"Jeff-" Nick's voice broke, seeing the boy dangling, his feet not touching the ground.
David found the sheet music, and couldn't help but cry. The Warblers filed into the room, and no one dared to look anywhere but to Jeff- the first of them to defy gravity.
He defied gravity, by giving into the death he had wished so long for.
Nick, after what seemed like an hour of just looking at Jeff, went and unhooked the belt, tears finally escaping his eyes. He felt no pulse in Jeff's wrist, no breathing from Jeff's chest, no recognition of Nick when he looked into Jeff's dead- Jeff was dead- eyes.
Nick brought the dead boy close to him, sobbing into his shoulder. He half expected Jeff to wrap his gangly arms around him-
But Jeff couldn't.
Jeff was dead.
Jeff was dead.
He was dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Jeff had flown high.
But he wouldn't- he didn't want to- make it back down to Earth.
A the funeral, the sun was shining; the sky was a beautiful shade of blue. Flowers bloomed- oranges, and yellows, and reds, and pinks, and smiling purples.
It contrasted with the group of people dressed in black, mourning for Jeff Daniels.
Nick was the first to go and say a few words- no one else could find the words to say.
"I met Jeff back in freshman year; We became best friends almost instantly. He was a smart, funny, and very awkward kind of fellow everyone needs as a friend. He was always smiling, always the first to volunteer for everything and anything. He also was the first to support our fabulously gay couple, Klaine," Nick grimly smiled at the memory of Jeff's hand shooting up first for the boys' duet, "And, he was loyal. Very, very loyal." Nick could feel his voice giving out. He quickly wrapped up his speech.
"And we'd always say he'd be the first to defy gravity- if it were possible." Nick finally broke down, tears spilling from his eyes.
"I just never imagined this is how he'd defy it."
Hey everyone! Sorry for the random leave from stories and writing- life has gotten crazzzyyyy! Anyways, I just killed a Warbler! And it was Jeff! Did you see it? See? See?
I'm super hyper right now.
So, if you liked it (or want to kill me for killing Jeff- your choice!) leave it in a review. Please?
Thanks so much for reading:D
-Madi
P.S. IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE WRITTEN FANFICTION WOAAAH!