13. The Breaking Point

Kairi POV

I visited Syd everyday for a week. She still was in denial. All she did was sleep. I was just glad she hadn't turned to alcohol or drugs, or even worse, suicide. Course, I never did check her wrists for cuts. Apparently no one else had seen her either, so that meant she had never even left her room. People tended to notice when the most popular couple at school went missing for weeks. I just didn't have the heart to tell any of them what had happened.

I had never gotten my living arrangements from Nicole, but I told her about Sydney being Shadowed and about what had happened back in New York. I had skipped some details. Nicole didn't need to know everything.

I walked up to Sydney's door and was almost too scared to enter. I quickly rapped on her door. No response, I panicked and knocked again. Still nothing. I tried the door, it was locked. I took a bobby pin out of my hair and began to pick her lock. I'd learned a lot of interesting things in my six-hundred sixty-nine years. The door silently clicked open and I slowly stepped inside. I looked around. I didn't see any dead bodies. I was almost afraid to smell the room just in case there was alcohol or weed somewhere, but I did and was glad it smelled like it had been. I looked at Sydney's bed and was surprised to see her sitting up and drawing in a sketchpad. Maybe she had finally accepted this.

"Hey."

She looked up at me and frowned. "What do you want?"

I sighed. She was still not dealing with this. "Just visiting." I sat down next to her. She was wearing a long sleeved jacket, so I didn't see her wrists. I glimpsed at her sketch. I shouldn't have been surprised that it was a picture of her and Cody together. I stared at her. That's it! This is going on for too long! She had to accept it sooner or later.

"His family's really worried about him you know."

"Who's?"

"You know who. Sydney, you've got to accept this."

She looked at me, "Accept what?"

I took a deep breathe. That was the last straw. I stood up, "Gosh darn it, Sydney! I'm tired of this! You know what happened in the Spirit Realm! Accept it! Cody is dead!" I looked at her. Her eyes glossed over as they filled with tears. Oh god, I didn't mean to do that.

She looked down and dropped her sketchpad. "I know."

I sat down next to her and put my arm around her shoulder. I really didn't want her to start crying. It would probably make me start to cry too.

"I loved him. Even when we had that fight part of me wanted to run over and kiss him and never let go!" Sydney clenched her fists trying to hold back tears. "It sucks! I'll never see him again, I'll never kiss him again, I'll never hear him say 'I love you' again!" Tears slid down her cheeks. "He was perfect, he was amazing, he- he was mine!" She finally broke. Tears flooded her face. She buried her face into her pillow. I just sat there and comforted her. "It's my fault."

I stared at Sydney. What? "No it's not."

"Yes, it is!" She looked at me with blood shot eyes. "I should've tried harder to get him to stay, I shouldn't have ticked Death off, I- I- I could've saved him!"

"No, you couldn't have. Death plans everything out. No matter what you would have done, the result would be the same."

Sydney shook her head. "No."

"Yes."

"No!" She began to cry again.

I sighed. Grief consumes people. Death obsesses people. I'd never seen Sydney so upset before. It was weird seeing her cry. She was normally so tough, so brave, now she just looked… weak and unguarded. I didn't point this out to her for fear of ending up dead, permanently this time.

We stayed like that for hours. Sydney cried until she had no more tears left, even after she just lay there, lost. At one point, she got up and crossed the room to her dresser. I tentatively followed her. She picked up a small silver and gold music box. It was beautiful. How had I missed that? It was oval shaped with a picture of a woman on top. The picture was decorated with sapphires and rubies. Small pearls formed its frame. White rose patterns circled around the woman. Gold designs shaped like roses and swirls covered the silver metal on the sides. It caught perfectly in the light. Sydney gingerly opened the top. Soft, loving music floated into the room. I could almost feel the high chimes wrapping around me, entrancing me. Inside underneath the lid, which bent completely back, there were a man and a woman dancing, spinning in a paced circle. Sydney lifted a heart-shaped locket out from the box and snapped it shut. She dropped back down to her bed and stared at it for what seemed like forever. An S made of a diamonds was placed on the front. Sydney pushed down with her thumb and the locket popped open. Inside, I saw a photo of Sydney and Cody together. They were sitting with their legs intertwined and their noses touching each other, staring deeply into the other's eyes. They both looked so happy, oblivious to what was to come.

"He got that for you? Didn't he?"

Sydney flashed a half-second smile. "Yeah. We went to Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1900 on a date once. He had managed to sneak off and buy me these when I was distracted by a street act."

I let her stare at the locket in peace. I hated having to interrupt her. "You're going to have to tell his parents."

Sydney turned her head. "I can't. There's no way I'll be able to. Kairi, please."

I shook my head. "I don't even know them. It has to be you."

She sighed, sat up, and rubbed her eyes. "Okay."

"Wh-what?" Cody's mom looked at us with horror. "Please, tell me this is a joke." She looked around as if Cody was going to pop out saying "gotcha!".

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Michaels." Sydney looked down.

"He was so young. He- he…" Tears filled her eyes. "Oh god." She took a deep breathe, sat up, and brushed away the tears. "Well, Cody wouldn't want us moping around. We have to carry on." She looked at Sydney. "Where's the body? He needs a proper funeral."

Sydney looked away, tears in her eyes again. I spoke for her, "I'm afraid there is no body, Mrs. Michaels."

She stared at me. "Very well then." She turned back to Sydney, barely holding back the tears. Sydney had kept hers in for too long to even try to hold them back. She grabbed her hands. "Sydney, would you mind helping me with the memorial?"

Sydney slowly nodded. "Of course."

I smiled. Maybe, she would move on.