Wake Me Up When September Ends.

I herd my mother sob as they laid my father into the cool damp earth. I patted her on the back but didn't shed a tear. I looked over my shoulder and saw my fellow Bash Brother, Fulton, standing behind me. His black tux didn't suit him, like it didn't suit my father, but they buried him in it anyway.

Summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends

"Dean," My mother said, taking my hand off her shoulder, but still holding it.

"Yeah, Mom?" I asked her, trying not to cry.

"It's time to go," She said quietly. I nodded and followed her to the dull green station wagon. It was the car my dad used to drive. Used to. As I climbed into the car, I remembered the day my mother called me to say that dad was gone.

Like my fathers come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends

"Dean?" She said crying. My heart quickened its pace. Something was wrong.

"Mom? What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's dad…He died this morning," I dropped the phone.

"Dean? Dean?" My mother said faintly. I picked up the phone and held it to my ear.

"Yeah?"

"Can you come home?"

"I'll get the next plane to Chicago. I love you, Mom," Then I hung up and put my head in my hands. How could my father have died?

Here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are.

I sighed as the rain beat down on the widow. I had asked Fulton to come with me because I needed support. But I didn't cry. Bash Brothers don't cry, but here's Fulton, crying over a man he had never met before. I put my arms around my mother and gave her a hug.

"It's gonna be alright." I whispered in her ear. But she shook her head. I kissed her cheek and looked back out the rain-smeared window. I remembered every thing my father had ever told me about hockey. Hell, if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be where I was today.

As my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends

I had only cried 3 times in my life. Once when I was 4 and my aunt died of a stroke, another time when my goldfish died when I was 5 and last but not least when I was the tender age of 7, my best friends father told me that I was a worthless piece of shit and had no right to be friends with his son. I ran home to my father crying, who told me that my best friends dad was wrong.

Summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends

At the luncheon after the burial, many people came up to me telling me my father changed their lives in one way or another. I nodded and let them get back to the pulled pork my mother had ordered for today. I sat on the couch next to Fulton, who was eating a roll with butter, and put my head in my hands. He looked over at me with concern.

"What's wrong?" He asked me. I looked up at him with dry eyes.

"He's gone." I replied.

"I know." He patted me on the back and went back to his lunch.

Ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when September ends

My eyes shot open as I herd a voice I had not herd in several days came into the room. I looked up and saw Liz, my girlfriend from my hockey team, walk in. I didn't even tell her I was leaving. Her eyes were burly with tears that started rolling slowly down her pale face. The bells from the nearby church started ringing as she sat next to me and gave me a hug. I let her hug me. Not knowing what to do when that kind of thing happens. I remember the last hug my father had given me; it was after our last hockey game of the season. He told me I had made him proud. I felt like a million bucks after that.

Here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

The storm ragged on even after everyone, expect for Liz and Fulton, left. My father loved the rain. I remember when I was little and he told me about his first date with my mother. He was going to take her out to dinner but it started raining really hard and he couldn't drive the car. So, he took my mother's hand, took her into the street, and started dancing in the street in the rain. About 6 months later they got married and a year after that they had me. They had been married ever since until…

I felt a head lay against my shoulder. I looked and saw Liz quietly sleeping. I smiled and stroked her black hair. Her eyelids fluttered open. She looked up at me and smiled. I kissed the top of her head and got up to look out the window.

As my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends

I remember everything that my father had told me. About girls, about hockey, about everything. The rain-smeared window looked like a painting my mother had painted once. All the colors of the sunset were smeared together made it look magical. My father believed in magic and told me everything he knew about it. Of the fairies and dragons. I didn't believe it. Every time he would start to tell me one of those stories, I would grab my CD player and listen to The Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin. He would usually shake his head and get back to reading the Chicago Tribute. I wish I listened to those sorties now.

I stopped looking out the window and walked into the kitchen to help my mother put away the left over food that I knew she would be eating for weeks, away in plastic containers.

Like my father's come to pass
twenty years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends.

Fulton and Liz stayed the night in our apartment. We would leave for Eden Hall the next morning. It was my father who told me to sign the scholarship that they gave me. I wanted to make him proud. He was a tough guy like me; expect I'm a lot worse. After the incident when I was 7, he toughened me up so that way no one could push me around or tell me I was worthless. He taught me how to play hockey and how to stay in shape in the off-season. That night I had a dream that my father was still alive. He told me I was the best son a father could ask for. He told me to say good-bye to mom and that he loved her. He told me that he had seen Liz and Fulton and that they would be my friends for life.

When I woke up, I told my mom what dad had said in my dream. She started crying.

"I guess dad's ramblings were true." She told me.

"What ramblings?" I asked her.

"He told me that he would 'come back' to us the night he died. He came to you Dean," She told me before crying her eyes out. I smiled and grabbed a bowl of cereal before Fulton, Liz and I left for school. On the airplane, Liz started talking to me.

"I would've liked to have met your dad. He seemed nice,"

"He was the best. You would've loved him." I replied before kissing her on the top of her head. I didn't cry the day they buried my father, but a part of me was buried with him.

The End