Selena.
There she was, the strongest girl I've ever met, broken. She looked destroyed, vulnerable, and yet she still managed to look gorgeous. But she didn't care. I would feel the same way if my dad just died, out of nowhere. He was her everything, they had the ideal father-daughter relationship that every parent envied. Now she sat next to his open coffin, along with her mom and siblings. Miley was taking it better than everyone else or at least it seemed that way. Everyone could see through her "tough" shell, she was just trying to be strong for the whole family. Everyone was here, from someone Billy worked with on his first album to the Hannah Montana crew. Some were here to support the mourning family.
I just stood there, watching. I watched the family sob, cry and break. I couldn't believe my eyes. I walked over to them. I hugged each of them, leaving Miley for last.
"My condolences, Ms. Cyrus" I whispered in her ear when I hugged her. She gave me a weak smile. I hugged Bryson, Noah, Trace and Brandi. When it was time to hug Miley I gave her a weak smile.
"I'm so sorry Miles. It must be really hard for you, but I know you guys can pull through; you are by far the strongest person I've ever met. And if you need anything, you have my number, call at ANY time."
She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Thank you" she whispered and engulfed me in a hug. She cried into my shoulder until someone tapped hers making her look up. I let go of her and went along where the crowd was. I stared at the coffin for a second, I just couldn't bring myself to see him yet.
I turn to my left and see Demi nest to me. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she had bags under her eyes, which meant she hadn't slept much. I looked up at her, and she looked at me. Without saying a word, she hugged me. We stood there for a minute both crying.
Demi.
I still couldn't believe this. He was gone, forever. He was like a second father to me, and now her was gone. I look up to see them, how they were coping, but all I see is Noah crying on Miley's shoulder. Miley was trying to sooth her little sister who was uncontrollably sobbing by now.
She was gonna hit her breaking point soon, we all knew that. Especially because hearing her little sister cry and wonder why her daddy will never come back took a toll on her. But we were all here for her when it happened.
I looked over at the coffin; there were pictures of him and each of his kids, father's day presents, drawings, letters written to him before he died, and one written after he died. I picked up a picture, it was him and Miley, and she was just a baby sleeping in her father's arms. He was beaming, holding his little girl. It broke my heart that neither of them would get to feel safe in their father's arms anymore.
I put the picture back down. I picked up a piece of paper titled; My Daddy. It was Miley's first grade handwriting. It said; my daddy is the best daddy ever. He writes songs and makes people happy. My daddy always protects me from bad things, he kills spiders and everything. My daddy loves me very very very much! And when I grow up I'll name my kids like him, cause he is the best daddy ever. By: Destiny Cyrus.
I put that back down and grabbed something Miley wrote down recently. It says;
Dear Daddy,
I miss you so much, already and it's not even been a day since I last saw you walk into the kitchen with your usual smile. I still can't believe everything that has happened in the last twelve hours, but I'm coping, and helping the family stay strong. Like you always said, Life Goes On. But this time, it's hard. You are, and always will be my hero. You're one of a kind, who else will give my dates a dirty look, or who else would make a joke of every bad situation? I know you are in a better place now, but you have no idea how I'd trade everything I have, to spend a couple of minutes hugging you. I bet it's nice where you are, and you're happy there. So if you're happy, I'm happy, and if I need to touch you, I'll always have Bryson. Now we're one person daddy, because you live inside of me. And I'll make sure that Noie bear is the happiest little girl on the face of the earth; keep that in mind when you watch her grow up from up there. And, this is not a goodbye, it's see you later. I love you so much daddy and I miss you.
I'll be writing you soon.
Xoxo, Miley.
By the end of that letter I was crying ten times harder. I looked over my shoulder to see Joe, Nick and Kevin there. When Joe saw me he pulled me into a hug and I cried on his chest.
"How's Miley?" he asked in my ear.
"Well, obviously she's broken. But she's taking it better than the rest of the family" I said looking over at her. She now was holding an asleep Noah in her arms, kissing her head every once or twice.
"She's just trying to be strong for her family, and once it calms down, she'll break" Nick said. He could read her like a book and I know it killed him to see her vulnerable. They were best friends, yet so much more. "I'll go hug Miley." And with that he was gone.
Nick.
I was headed towards the family when I heard a loud sob. Louder than all the previous ones. I looked over and saw Miley bawling her eyes out, sobbing and shaking. I moved faster and when I got there I just put my arms around her very tightly, as if it would shield her from reality.
She just sat there sobbing on my shoulder. And as always I was the best friend she needed at the moment. She stood up, and I lead her outside, passing many people looking at Miley. When we got outside she started crying again.
"He's gone, Nick. He's gone. Forever." She sobbed "It finally sunk in, I'll never see him smile again, He'll never tuck me in at night, he'll never sing to me when I was upset any more, he'll never see Noah become a woman" she took a deep breath. "He won't walk any of us down the aisle, he won't meet his grandchildren." She sniffed and then continued, "now that he's gone, who'll go out and buy me ice cream after a heart break, who'll tease people with me? No one."
She came closer to me and buried her face in my chest, I felt my shirt get wet, but I didn't care, I just let her cry. I soothed her making circles and running my hands up and down her back. That always helped her relax.
"Miles, he's in a better place now, and he's looking at us from up there" I pointed to the sky. "Wave at him Miles, he'll wave back." She waved at the sky and gave a weak smile.
"Is it really selfish to know that he is in a better place and yet I want him to come back here and hold me tightly?" she sniffed again.
"No, it's not Miles" I said, and she looked at me, her blue eyes were puffed, red and grey, so grey they scared me "but it's normal to want someone back." She just stared ahead, looking at everything around her.
Miley.
My dad died. He died. 12 hours ago we were having a pleasant conversation about boys. Those kinds of conversations were never pleasant with him. I chuckled at the memory. He didn't like any of my boyfriends, except for Nick. I just can't believe he is gone. I remember everything about last night, after we finished our conversation, we talked some more and goofed around. It was getting late so I went to bed.
I woke up to the sound of my mom yelling, and crying. Then I heard her tell Noah to call 911. I ran downstairs as fast as I could to see what was wrong, but when I got there, I couldn't believe my eyes. My dad was just… lying there, lifeless.
"Hey, it's okay to cry you know?" Nick whispered in my ear. I didn't realize I was holding tears back as I relived the moment. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked me. I was so tired of telling the story but it was Nick, I had to tell him.
"Well," I sniffed a few times before starting knowing I'd be a mess afterwards. "Last night, dad and I were just having our father-daughter conversations, like the ones we had on tour all the time" he nodded. "And, it was pretty late and I was getting tired, so I just went upstairs, you know. I didn't know it would be the last time I'd ever see him." He nodded as if telling me to continue. "I woke up this morning to my mom's screams and flew downstairs, and the rest is… you know."
I looked up at him to see him staring right at me. I started tearing up again, shit. "What is killing me right now is that I just can't remember if I said I love you to him and kissed him on the cheek like every other night. Sometimes I forget to do that, and I just can't remember." Fresh tears were now falling and Nick made an attempt to wipe my tears, but more fell.
"I'm always here for you Mi, you know that." He kissed the top of my head and hugged me tightly. I could stay like this forever. It felt like everything was okay, daddy was still alive, and no one could harm me; I felt safe.