Thank you for taking your time to read this story. I had in the past written a story titled "Going Home" which I never completed. This story is a sort-of rewrite of that previous fiction. If you enjoy this story, please follow and comment. Thank you.

Chapter One

The time was seven past three on the afternoon. It was the 16th of June during the time of the day that the sun should have been blinding, and the air should have been completing its transition from uncomfortable yet manageable warm to blazing hot. Instead, it was dark, and cold, and most importantly, wet. There was no prediction of rain that day. In fact, the weekend was being hyped as being one of the hottest on record. How many people's plans had that weatherman ruined?

There was a still, yet constant chill in the air. Those who felt it were reminded of the feeling one gets when he or she steps into the cold ocean, when the sudden cold hits with a force that takes ones breath away. Of course, that feeling eventually subsided as warmth began to return to the body. On that day, the air seemed to take away a person's very soul―one's very existence―and threatened to never let it go.

Everybody wore black. On any other spring day, there might had been a whole palette of colors. On any other day, especially in June, there may had been little to no black at all, most of those clothes locked away for when the gloomy months returned in November.

There might had been thirty people, or perhaps even forty. From afar, the group of people looked like a complete absence of light. It looked as if a piece of a jigsaw puzzle was missing, or perhaps it appeared as if a black hole had opened, threatening to swallow anything or anyone that dared to be close enough. When close enough to the crowd, the people's faces could be seen. All the faces looked void of any emotion. That damned chill had gotten to them all.

At the front of the group was a young girl, also wearing black. Her blonde hair, which had at one point had been very long, fell straight down her back, stopping just past her shoulders. Her eyes, which had always been the most beautiful shade of blue, now appeared gray and old. They were eyes that would have looked best on a person who had lived a long, troubled life; not on a young ire under the age of 30. Her skin was pale to the point that she almost appeared transparent, as if she might have vanished at any moment.

She, along with everybody else, were standing around a freshly-dug grave, though only the concrete liner inside was visible, though only partially, under the simple black casket which sat over it on bronze runners. The ground around it was carpeted in AstroTurf, which would had stood out a brilliant yet obnoxious green on any normal day. That day it looked muted, just like everything else, as if God had placed a sepia filter over the world.

Serena felt the hand around her arm squeeze, causing her to turn her head and remove her eyes from the final resting place of her husband for the first time since arriving. Her friends stood with her. The same friends she had known since elementary school. They had been with her since she returned to her home town for the funeral, the service of which was held in the same church she had married him, almost a year ago to the day.

Serena always knew him as an honest man. A good man. He worked hard and provided for the two of them the best he could. When he got a job offer in Maryland which he couldn't refuse, he promised her a great life for the two of them. She had been happy in New York. They didn't have much, but what they had was great. Even so, she supported him. Serena chose to leave all she knew behind because she loved him. Perhaps if she had said no, then that drunk driver wouldn't had hit him while he was walking to the store and dragged him over 100 feet.

Serena reviewed the facts in her head over and over again, and every time reached the same conclusion: if she said no, he would still be alive. The squeeze Serena felt on her arm was from Raye, one of Serena's oldest friends as well as her sister-in-law. Raye gave her a reassuring smile and for the first time since his death, Serena felt her eyes sting with the promise of tears.

Serena had gotten the news only nights earlier. There had been a knock on her door and when she saw the police officer standing at her doorstep, she knew. Her husband was away often on business and when he was gone, he always called her at the same time every night. He was one of the most organized and punctual people she knew, and even him calling a few minutes after was extremely rare. Not calling at all was completely unheard of.

After finding out about her husband, Serena didn't cry. Not a single tear. Even when her friends arrived in almost record time, all crying themselves for her, she didn't shed a tear. She felt horrible about herself, and even disgusted at herself for not crying. Even at the funeral, as his own sister remained strong for her, Serena's eyes didn't as much as well up.

Raye's squeeze was followed by a squeeze on her other arm. It was Mina, another one of Serena's oldest friends. Her belly swelled with new life. Serena felt guilty that the funeral was the time she got to see her since receiving the news, and that she couldn't be more excited for her. Unlike Raye, Mina could not stop the tears from falling down her face.

Behind Serena stood Amy and Lisa, both with a hand firmly placed on either of her shoulders. She couldn't see them, but Serena was sure they were crying as well. Even though Raye was not crying, Serena could tell that her strength was hanging by a thread.

"Now let's bow our heads in silent prayer," the funeral director said. It took Serena a moment to register the words and react. Though the man asked for silence, there was a symphony of sniffling and light cries. The slight drizzle that had been going on since the beginning of the service began to grow in intensity until the sounds of crying were replaced by the steady sound of rain.

Things had wrapped up fairly quickly after the rain intensified. Everybody lined up at the end to place a rose on to the top of the casket, beginning with Serena. She had stared at the plain black box that held her husband. This was it: the final goodbye. As she placed the white rose on top of the casket, she hoped that the tears would come―that the floodgates would open and all the pent up emotions from the last several days would be released.

Not a single tear was shed.

After the funeral had ended, everybody said their goodbyes to Serena. She had lost track of the amount of times she heard, "sorry" and "he's in a better place now". Serena almost wanted to laugh at the latter. 'At least he's in a better place', she thought. Everybody else that was left at the end would be going to Raye's house. If Serena had a choice, she would had just gone back home to Maryland and went to sleep indefinitely.

"We need to go," Raye said as she placed her arm around Serena's shoulders. Serena noticed that at some point she must had gone off and cried, since her eyes were red and swollen―the eyes of somebody who had spent the last ten minutes crying. Serena nodded, but didn't say a word.

Amy, Mina and Lisa has already gone ahead to set up at Raye's house. Raye guided Serena to the car and the two sat inside for several moments without speaking. Serena knew it was what they called awkward silence. Usually that was when two people both wanted to talk but couldn't find any words to say. In this situation, Serena didn't want to talk to anybody. She wanted to be left alone. Raye opened her mouth to say something. She even let a sound escape her lips, but then she stopped herself. There was nothing to say. Instead, Raye started the car and began to drive.

The drive to Raye's house was silent, though Serena didn't remember any of it. In fact, she had difficulty recalling much of the day, or the whole week for that matter. Her memories of the day's events were reduced to only one image: the concrete grave liner, the plain black casket, and that God damned AstroTurf.

Upon entering Raye's house―a small, but comfortable ranch―Serena's senses were overloaded with the aromas of Lita's cooking. Set up in the dining room were half trays of various Italian dishes. Eggplant Rollatini, Chicken Francese, Penne alla Vodka, and many others were sitting in steaming chafing dishes. Every food item was one of Serena's favorites, and with her overwhelming grief, she could feel her mouth salivating.

The people who were gathered around the room―sharing stories, telling jokes―stopped what they were doing and looked up as Serena entered, like she were a teacher who arrived to a class of children. In an instant, it was silent. That awkward silence again.

'Should I say something? Give a speech? Put on a show?' Those thoughts all ran through Serena's head at once.

"Thank you for coming everybody," Raye said, much to Serena's relief. "You don't know how much this means to me. To us." She diverted her eyes to Serena, who gulped and opened her mouth to say something. Anything. No sound came out.

"Now come on," Raye continued. "You all know my brother wouldn't want us all being down like this. Let's remember how good of a guy he was and make sure to have an extra drink for him. Okay?" Raye smiled. It was mostly forced, but was effective, as the few chuckles and nodding of heads showed.

A handsome man with dirty blonde hair held up his glass of beer. His name was Andrew, one of Serena's husband's oldest friends. Before Serena began dating her husband, she and Andrew had gone on a few dates, but it didn't go far, since Andrew had chosen to go away to college. He was supportive when her late husband became interested in dating her.

"I'll drink to that," Andrew said. Everybody who had a drink held it up in agreement. Those who did not held up their hands anyway, imaginary glasses held high. Serena smiled. It was a sad smile, but it was genuine.

"Thanks everybody," Serena said, finally breaking her silence.

"When's the baby due?" Serena asked around a mouthful of a mix of Penne alla Vodka and Chicken Francese. Serena hadn't entered the house with much of an appetite, but once she was amongst her friends, it wasn't long before she was on her third plate.

Mina rubbed her swollen belly, "August second. My God, I can't believe it's so soon." Serena wanted to ask about the father, but decided to save it for another time. Raye had asked Serena to not bring it up. She told Serena that Mina's boyfriend ran off once he found out she was pregnant.

"He better never come crawling back," Raye had said, "because if I saw that guy, I would castrate him." Serena knew that she probably wasn't kidding.

"I can't believe we're all going to be aunts," Lita chimed in from across the table that currently sat the four lifelong friends. Her comment was answered with giggling from the other girls, including Serena.

Serena poured herself another glass of Sauvignon Blanc, her third in the last hour. Amy gave a worried look, but Raye shook her head at the girl. Serena seldom drank, and when she did, one was usually enough to knock her on to her ass. There were a small handful of times that she made it to a second glass. Once ever did her friends witness her drink the dreaded third glass of wine.

Serena had at one time gotten into a huge argument with her husband. It had gotten so bad that she took the first plane to New York. That night, as she spilled her frustrations to her friends, she had the third glass of wine. The rest of that night, as well as most of the next day, was spent in the bathroom, kneeling over the toilet. Serena's friends promised each other to never allow Serena to drink that much again.

Amy understood what Raye was trying to tell her. Obviously, that night was a completely different circumstance. 'Sorry your husband died, but you better lay off the booze.' That definitely wasn't happening. Serena might had very well gotten sick, and they had to be there to hold her hair the next morning. At that moment, it was the most they could do for her.

Serena took a large gulp of her wine and sighed.

"I gotta shank you guys," Serena said. "Like really." Amy placed her arm on to Serena's shoulder.

"You never need to thank us. We'll always be there for you," Amy said with a warm smile, her blue eyes brimming with tears. The other girls nodded in agreement, tears swelling in their own eyes.

"You're more than our friend," Amy continued. "When you hurt, we hurt too."

"That's right," Mina said, reaching across the table to take Serena's hands. "We'll always be there for you. If you can't walk, we'll carry you. I don't know if that makes sense, but I think you get what I mean." Serena nodded, feeling her eyes begin to droop.

"I shink I need to sleep," Serena's voice slurred. She finished the last of her wine in one gulp and—rather unsteadily—stood up. Amy jumped up immediately with her and took her arm, ready to support Serena if she were to fall.

"I'm okay, really," Serena said in an attempt to reassure Amy. Amy, though not totally convinced, released her grip on Serena's arm.

"See?" Serena asked the girls. "I'm perfectly fine." She turned on her heels, almost comically, and took one step, then another. On her third step, she tripped over her feet and fell forward. At once, all of her friends jumped forward, but it was too late.

Serena fell uncontrollably, and winced in anticipation of a nasty spill. It never came. Instead of hitting the hard, cold floor, she felt herself lands against something warm and oddly familiar, followed by a person's arms wrapping around her body. Serena opened her eyes in shock, the adrenaline rushing through her body removing any feeling of intoxication from the wine.

"Serena?" a man's voice half asked, half exclaimed. Serena steadied herself and looked up at her savior.

"D-Darien?" Serena asked, or rather shot. His dark blue eyes, which usually looked at her mockingly or humorously, were filled with an emotion she had only seen in his eyes once before: concern.

"Serena," Darien calmly said this time. "I'm so, so sorry, Serena." Darien wrapped Serena in his arms tightly, much to her surprise. Then something happened; something she couldn't understand at the time.

Serena didn't know if it was the wine, or perhaps the adrenaline that was still flowing through her veins, but she gave herself up into her embrace. Then the strangest thing happened. For the first time since she received the terrible news just days before, she cried.

That's it for the first chapter. I know that it's a little depressing, but I promise that it will (perhaps?) get a little happier from here. If you enjoyed it, please let me know. Thank you.