Silent blackness. That's what Rachel woke up to. And it was eerily quiet. Why weren't her dads up yet? Immediately, she stood up, only to be greeted by intense pain coming from her stomach, head, and legs. Wow that hurt! Looking down at her body, she saw only a few bruises running up and down her legs. Thinking for a moment, she attributed her injuries to a very intense session of dance yesterday.
Walking down the stairs, she noticed again the unusual silence that echoed through her house. Something was defiantly wrong, and Rachel was determined to find out what it was. After checking around her house, she then walked out to the garage. Her dads' car was gone, leaving only her beat-up car. Confused, she walked back to the kitchen. Upon opening the fridge, she noticed how little there was in there. Suddenly it hit her. Her dads' must have gone to the store or something. Satisfied, she began to get ready for the day.
The school year was almost here, and she was genuinely excited. Glee would once again be a constant, and she could see Finn. They had spent every moment with each other since Regionals, and she was pretty sure they were official dating. But during the summer he went to Iowa to work for his uncle, and she rarely talked to him. Hopefully he still loved her, because she defiantly loved him.
After Rachel was completely prepared, she noticed that it was only 7:00. This was pretty usual, since she woke up so early. So she sat down and promptly grabbed the morning paper. She enjoyed keeping in touch with current events. After reading most of the paper, she came to her least favorite part, the obituaries. They were always so sad, and she always paid her respects by reading every word. But still, she refused to look at the pictures while she read. They gave her such a sad feeling. And todays were no exception. An elderly lady had passed, as well as a young mother in a car crash. But the next one was particularly curious.
Just then, a large crash came from the door. She jolted up, walking toward the noise.
"Oh, my God…"
Finn practically ran when the bell rang for 8th period. Eighth period meant glee, and glee meant Rachel. He had barely seen her since summer, and couldn't find her all day. Assuming that they hadn't gotten any classes together, he impatiently waited for glee club, which he knew she had. Smiling like an idiot, he burst into the room, about to yell. But what he saw stopped him.
He didn't know what he expected when he walked into glee. Singing, probably. People talking about their summer. Laughing. What he didn't expect was exactly what was in front of him. And that was crying.
And a lot of crying. Kurt, Mercedes, and Tina were huddle together, sobbing. Artie was trying to comfort them, but he was crying, too. Quinn was crying, trying to explain something to a very sad Brittany. Mike and Matt looked like they wanted to punch someone and then burst into tears. That piano dude was crying. Ms. Pillsbury sat in the front of the room, trying to look calm, but crying as well. Heck, even Santana and Puck looked like they were crying.
"What's going on?"
When Finn spoke up, everyone looked at him. He felt so confused, and the looks of completely sadness didn't help. Most people started crying even harder when they saw him. Ms. Pillsbury walked up to him.
"Erm, Finn. There's something that I need to tell you. S-so-something happened yesterday. You should sit down."
"Seriously, what's wrong? Did I say something before or is this some crazy show choir things? Where's Mr. Schue?"
"Well, um… There was an accident yesterday. And, well – I don't know how to say this," She started to cry again, and Finn was even more confused. Did something happen to Mr. Schuester? And where was Rachel?
Mercedes came up to him, looking really depressed. Trying to smile, more tears fell down her face. Silently, she handed him a cut-out newspaper article. Confused, he took it, right before she walked away crying. He started reading the article, and was shocked.
A small, black-and-white picture of Rachel stared back at him. Her normal, happy, intense smile seemed empty, and her eyes weren't really focused on anything. Finn was really confused now.
Rachel Barbara Berry, 17
December 18, 1994 – August 21, 2010
Wait, what?
He read it again, to make sure he was seeing correctly. He was. But today was August 23! This didn't make sense. As he continued to read, he felt the world come out from under him.
Rachel was the beloved only daughter of Hector and León Berry. Born in Lima, she was extremely talented in the arts, winning her first dance competition at the age of three months. She spent most of her life aspiring to be a Broadway star, wanting to be amongst the likes of Barbara Streisand and Idina Menzel. She attended William McKinley High School, where she was a member of the New Directions, the school's glee club.
Rachel's untimely death occurred two days ago, when she was murdered in her home. The case is still unsolved.
Finn couldn't believe it. Actually, he didn't believe it! This had to be some mistake. It was Rachel, after all. Soon, she would walk into the room and tell everyone to start working on some song number.
They door did open, startling him. But when he saw Mr. Schuester walk in, he was disappointed. He still refused to believe it.
"Hello, everyone," Mr. Schue said quietly, barely speaking over the sobbing, "I know that you'll all really upset about what's happened. But Rachel – "
"Wait, you're seriously buying into all this?" Everyone turned and looked at Finn. It took him a while to realize it was him who yelled. It was almost like an out-of-body experience. He watched as he continued.
"You guys really think that Rachel's d-d-da-dead? Cause she's not!"
Quinn looked at him sympathetically, "Finn, I know you're sad but she really is dead. I'm sorry"
"She's not! Any minute now, she's going to walk in here and tell you how stupid this is!"
"But, I saw –"
"No! She's not dead!"
It was Brittany who then walked up to him. She stood next to him, staring straight at him. "The counselor lady told me Rachel had an accident. I didn't really understand, but Quinn says that Rachel isn't coming back any more. She was, like, your girlfriend and stuff. So you can be sad. I'm really sad, too."
Part of Finn wanted to believe her. What she said was somewhat reasonable. But he just knew Rachel had to be alive.
Shaking his head, he ran out of the classroom.
Sitting in the driveway, Finn couldn't will himself to get out of his truck. It was eating him alive. At some point when he was driving home, everything caught up to him. He still didn't believe Rachel was… well, you know. But the thought that maybe she was… dead had started growing inside him. He didn't want to believe it, but part of him did. Still, there was a small part of him that believed she was out there, somewhere.
Once he pulled up to his house, whatever part of him thought Rachel was alive seemed to disappear. Everything crashed around him, finally breaking him.
Finn never really cried. Not in front of people, at least. He had cried when he told Mr. Schuester about Quinn being pregnant. He had cried when he found out he wasn't the father of Quinn's baby. He cried at home the day he saw Jesse St. Jackass with Rachel. He sure as heck wanted to cry when they lost Regionals. But most of the times he cried, he was alone.
He was alone this time when he cried. But it was different. He didn't feel like an idiot. He felt like his whole life had just exploded. Rachel was dead. However impossible it seemed, she was. That hurt him. He felt so vulnerable. He had loved her. He still loved her. But he couldn't tell her, she was gone. He prayed that she knew how much he loved her when she died.
Not only was she dead, someone killed Rachel. That's what hurt him most of all. Someone had intentionally hurt her, and he wasn't there to protect her. After crying his eyes out, he swore to find and kill the son of a bitch who killed her.
Eventually he walked into the house. He and his mom had officially moved in with the Hummel's, and thankfully everything had smoothed out. Actually, Kurt's dad and his mom were on some trip together. Kurt was probably still at school. So he was the only one there, but that really didn't help him. He was so alone.
He tried to act normal, tried to fill the empty space. Grabbing his iPod, he shoved on his headphones and pressed shuffle, hoping to drown out the silence.
Highway run
Into the midnight sun
Wheels go round and round
You're on my mind
Oh, God. He quickly turned off the music, but not quick enough. Finn was crying again. He felt angry, stupid, and depressed all at the same time. The doorbell rang, and he didn't even bother to answer it. He didn't want to deal with people.
The doorbell rang again, and again, yet he still refused to get up. After about the tenth ring, he finally got up, defeated. Kurt probably forgot his key. When he reached the door, he practically threw it open.
"What?" He was surprised by the anger in his voice, but he was so depressed he didn't even care. It wasn't until he saw who was at the door that he cared.
"Rachel?"