Summary: Dealing with loss is never easy. Sometimes you to want to stop living and you sit back as the world around you spirals out of control. But sometimes what seems like the end is just the beginning of a world you never even knew existed.
This story takes place one week after the shooting.
Teaser
He felt sick to my stomach as he watched the man he always thought of as a father being lowered into the cold, hard earth. Through his blurry vision he could barely make out the outline of the dark oak that held inside it the only person other then his mother that had always been there for him. The one person he would have gladly given his life for on that day if he had been given the chance.
The boy could feel the tears stinging his eyes as he heard the voice of the priest "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" he spoke in a raised yet soft voice as year's worth of memories, good and bad flash before his eyes. If you would have told him a month ago that something like this was going to happen Lucas Scott would have said that you were crazy and that Keith Scott had the strength and the drive to live forever but like so many other moments in his life he would have been wrong.
Next to him the boy could hear his mother sobbing loudly as she buried her head in my father's shoulder. He was holding her tightly against him as if he had a right to and it made the first born Scott nauseous. Who the hell did he think he was? He causes nothing but heartache and pain to both his Mom and Keith for years and now he wants to sit her with his arms around the woman he got pregnant and then abandoned, trying to comfort her at the funeral of the brother he had made miserable since the day he was born. The very same man who thought up the brilliant idea of hiring a woman to seduce and trap his own brother into a relationship that would only lead to the man's heart being crushed into a thousand pieces. Yes Dan Scott was a despicable bastard and if he thought for one second that the death of his uncle was going to make room for him in his family then he had another thing coming.
On the other side of him was his wife Deb. The woman was alright but even she had no right being there. After all she was the one who had set a fire that almost killed the evil bastard and yet he still found a way to blame it on Keith. But he wouldn't attack the woman because she was after all his brother's mother and had only taken such desperate and drastic measures because the man she thought she knew turned out to be a snake that almost destroyed her.
Next to her sat his grandparents. Although he didn't know them he could tell just by looking at them that they were an elderly replica of Dan and Deb Scott. The woman was a nice, soft spoken lady who would probably do anything for her boys and for anyone else in the family. Once in a while he would catch her staring at him, wanting to reach out to him and say something but she would always change her mind at the last second and look down to the ground as more tears fell from her eyes. He kind of felt sorry for her knowing that she loved her son and did her best to make him feel comfortable and welcomed in their family but she was only one person. Between the father and his favorite boy neither she nor her eldest son ever stood a chance.
Beside her sat Royal. The man who had created the monster he was forced to forever be tied to by way of blood line and the man he owed his life too. Royal was a nasty character and if he had ever wondered where Dan got his self righteous, egotistical, aggressive, bossy and overbearing behavior from his answer came in the form of this man. He was very crude and gruff even as he sat beside his grieving wife, forcing the woman to basically grieve alone while he had his hands folding in his lap and stared at the coffin before him. His eyes were glazed over but like his favorite boy the man didn't shed one single tear. He wanted to walk over to the asshole and slap some sense into him and try to make him see what a good, decent, caring person his son was. He wanted to tell him that he raised a good man and that his world was a lot safer and filled with love and a great sense of pride because of him. But more then anything he wished that the man could see Keith for what he was instead of what he perceived him to be. He wanted to him to see the side of Keith that was hard working, loyal, loving, strong and responsible, instead of looking at him as if he were some kind of failure, something to be ashamed of.
Not being able to take the sight of his grandfather he turned his head to the seat directly next to him where his brother Nathan sat. The boy had an arm around his shoulder and was crying silent tears for a man who had given him the best months of his life when they had worked together at the dealership. He said that Keith was more like a father to him in those few weeks then Dan had ever been in his entire life which didn't surprise him one bit. But he had to admit that even though the relationship between them had become stained over the past few months that Nathan didn't miss a beat when he found out about Keith. In fact he was the one who broke the news to him and his mother and had volunteered to stay the night with them to make sure they had everything they needed. He had even stayed up that night with him and held him tight as he cried his heart and soul out over the devastating loss that he would unquestionably be feeling for years to come. Nathan was amazing and had been with him every step of the way. It was kind of funny to him how at one point they were bitter enemies but he was happy that he was there for him now and that they were now closer then ever before.
Beside him sat a stunned and heartbroken Haley. Keith had been like a second father to her and he was sure that the loss was hitting her almost as hard as it was him. The young woman was sitting there with her head buried in her husbands shoulder and sobbing loudly, unable to stifle her pain. She must have made herself sick several times that day and was now dry heaving to the point where her body seemed as if it were about to give out on her. Seeing the look on her face hurt him beyond words and forced him to remove his sight from her and focus on those sitting across from him.
Across from the Scott family were a host of friends and those who have had contact with Keith over the years and wanted to give the family their full support. From his position he could see Peyton and Brooke clinging to each other as dark streaks slide down there faces and soft whimpers escaped their lips. They too loved the man in their own way and now were suffering with the harsh reality that they would never see him again. In a way they all were.
The other faces he too knew but his vision somehow blocked them out and decided once again to focus on the now barely visible casket where the greatest man he ever knew rested inside. He could feel a lump forming in his throat and his body began to quiver as a loud rumble of thunder shook everything around him before the sky gave way sending large heavy drops of water pouring from the sky. The water was soaking anything left unprotected and that included those who were mourning but yet, no one moved. After the sound of the priest voice was drowned out and long after the dark oak box had finally collided with the earth they were still glued to their seats as if they were all expecting to wake up from this nightmare any moment now.
But he knew better and as much as it pained him to think it, to admit it his life and the lives around him were going to be a lot darker and a lot harder to bare with him gone and as the family rose to their feet and began throwing the dirt turned mud down into his uncle's final resting place his body grew weak and his hands went numb. In fact if it weren't for the strong and quick limbs of his brother he surely would have went down with earth he held in his hands. But as much as he wished he had, he didn't. So there he stood with his brother and sister in law on one side and ironically enough his parents on the other as the rain washed over them all and the booming sound of another round of thunder echoed loudly in the back ground he took a deep breath as he remembered the life he had and the love he was losing while knowing that his life and the lives of those around him were never going to be the same again.