ix: zay (after)
The entire tone of the room drops with every passing second. His picture is up on the wall, smiling down at you all. His eyes are glinting with happiness. You barely knew him, however, it still pains you that this guy went through so much pain, so much anguish. The very idea that Maya, Riley and Lucas would never be the same again. It frightens you. Tortures you. Riley's not in Rileytown anymore, you can see it in her eyes. Her hopes and dreams, gone.
Farkle is inside the coffin; the thought strikes you as you look around the room. He's there. He's exposed by the partly removed lid, wearing a simple suit.
There are so many people here. Relatives, friends of his parents. The Matthews. Everyone is here to pay their respects to him and his family.
And you're looming, almost stalking. Slumped in the back, not truly belonging there. You've hidden yourself in the plethora of adults, hugging eachother, and crying over him. Lucas and Maya are sitting in the front row, entangled in the other. On any other day, you would be pulling out a fire extinguisher and firing at them in full blast. Farkle would subdue them.
Stuart Minkus stands up to the podium and speaks a well-rehearsed speech. He's not even reading it at this point – He had been continually going over it for the last month, cutting parts out and exchanging them for something else. He could never find the right words to say. "Two months ago, we lost our dear Farkle." He sighs, a lump visibly forming in her throat.
"We thank that everyone who ever cared and loved Farkle, for her brought care and love everywhere he went. He didn't care about your differences or who you were, because as long as you had a beating heart with love to give, he loved you." His voice broke mid-way through his sentence. Silence regained hold of the room. "Now, we have Riley Matthews."
Riley lifted her head when she heard her name being spoken, but didn't speak. She stepped up to the podium and swallowed. She makes eye contact with you, worry eminent in her eyes. You nod encouragingly, and she looks towards Lucas and Maya, both of whom had tears spilling from their eyes. Riley began to hum a song awkwardly into the microphone. You don't immediately recognise it, until she begins to form words.
Her voice cracked with every vowel that left her lips. It was obvious that she wasn't confident about performing in front of such a large audience. Farkle had been a bit of a performer in his life. It was a nice send out.
Only need the light when it's burning low,
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow,
Only know you love him when you let him go…
She looked down and wiped her eyes with her thumb. Maya had already left her seat, and made her place next to her bestfriend.
"What are you doing?" you hear Riley ask.
"I got you." Maya replies with a shaky smile.
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low,
Only hate the road when you're missing home,
Only know you love him when you let him go.
They're harmonizing with eachother, like they've practiced it a million times before. It's beautiful. There's no instrumental music accompaniment, but its better this way. Everyone's entranced by their voices and how they mould together with high purpose.
You know then and there, that things will never be the same. But it's time to let go. Letting go is the best thing to do.
And you let him go…
