It has been 3 days.
3 days without him. 3 days where time should have stopped ticking, the world shouldn't be going on without him. That's what Eric thought, at least.
The day he heard the devastating news had gone by in a flash, Eric barely noticed that he moved at all. There was that one sentence, the one that had thrown him for a complete loop and fired him off into a big black hole where he wasn't sure he was going to be able to come out any time soon. Sympathy was thrown in his direction, but none of them really got through to the blonde. Those bloody four words had been running through his mind for the past 3 days, and he couldn't get rid of them. Every time he closed his eyes, it felt like he was teleported back to that one phone call, and even though he desperately wanted to, Eric couldn't stop reliving the moment where his entire world stopped, while other's moved on.
Brian Anderson passed away.
Eric never knew how much just one simple, almost innocent, sentence could have such an impact on your life. But after hearing it, he never wanted to experience the feeling again. No one of the team turned his head and looked up when he left the building in a hurry, although they had no idea who Brian was, somewhere along the way they'd figured it was someone important, someone very close and dear to their technical operator.
His phone had died, ironically, and Eric couldn't be more bothered to plug the charger in and refill its battery. A lot of missed calls and texts would pass right by him, but he found that he had the right to ignore them, he was grieving, people would pick up the note after the first day.
Nobody had checked up on him yet, but Eric didn't blame his family though. Brian always was part of them, even after the beloved couple broke up, no one gave up on him. Until Eric heard the doorbell ring, he was convinced they wouldn't until the funeral.
The blonde didn't bother to stand up, whoever was on the other side of the door should let themselves in, if they owned a key anyway. Otherwise, they clearly weren't important and some of the last people Eric wanted to face right now.
"How are you holding up?" It was a stupid question, the woman asking it knew, but she couldn't think of anything else to say to her brother. Katherin walked out of the hallway, but stopped death in her tracks when she spotted Eric in his state on the couch.
His eyes were bloodshot, spend from days worth crying, bags formed underneath the once beautiful shining blue eyes. Tear streaks were still visible on his cheeks, as the said man hadn't bothered to wipe them away with a tissue yet.
Eric Beale looked like hell came over and paid a visit.
And to him, it did.
"Do you know what a gunshot wound feels like?" This was Eric on his most funerable point, Katherin had recognized it as soon as she laid eyes on him. Normally, things wouldn't really get to the man, but this hit home worse than anybody could ever predict.
The younger woman didn't answer his question though, knowing it was more pointed in the oblivion than to her. She moved towards the couch to come sit next to him, and simply laid his head on her lap without any words said.
"I'm worried about you, we all are Eric." The slightly peaceful silence was broken after a few minutes, but the said man delayed whatever 'confirming' speech came next. "We hate seeing you like this, and I want to apologize for not checking in sooner after calling you about a thousand times. But look, I know you're scared and most of all hurt, but in a few months this will all be over, and it might make me sound like a bitch, but you'll hopefully move on. Brian will always have a special place in our hearts, he'll live forward more in yours than in anyone else's. It will be okay, I might take a while to get there but someday, in the near future, it will be okay again."
Eric moved out of her grasp, as much as he silently begged her to keep his shattered heart in her hands to try and hold the glue together, and made his way to stand in front of her rather than sit next to her.
"No, don't give me all that comforting crap, I don't want to listen to your bullshit. If you came all the way here to tell me exactly what I don't want to hear right now, then you can leave the same way you came." Tears were forming in his stormy eyes again, despite his desperate attempts to keep them at bay.
"I didn't, I would never, you know that, Eric. I just wanted to get a reaction out of you, and seeing there was no other way I had to walk this road." His expression softened, and he slowly fell back in her embrace. "You look like hell."
A emotionless chuckle got caught in his throat, before he spoke up again. "Certainly feels like I've knocked on dear Satan's door and walked in there."
Katherin decided to stay silent after Eric's comment, knowing her brother would speak up and translate his feelings into words when he was ready to. For now, all she could do was wait, and she had all the time of the world.
"I didn't even tell him I still loved him."
Eric's heart broke 3 days ago, but right there and then, Katherin could hear hers break into a million shattered pieces.
"Oh, Eric." Tears streamed like silent little rivers down his cheeks, and Eric didn't even bother to keep them in. He was allowed to cry, even though it was the only thing he was able to do for the past few days, would be for months to come, and he kept reminding himself that he was.
"I never stopped loving him, and now he will never know. Because I was too stubborn to realize it sooner, that really, this entire time I dated Nell, it was only my head in the game, not my heart. That will always belong to Brian Anderson, and now he'll never know."
Katherin held him tighter and closer to her, gently strocking his back as the older boy completely broke down on her shoulder.
"He does, Eric. Brian knows you loved him that way, he actually catched up on it a long time ago, but he wanted to give you the time he knew you'd need to come to terms with it. He was ready whenever you were going to be, he slowed down the pace and waited for you to catch up on him. He loved you too, sweetheart, and he knows he always held your heart in his hands, and protected it with his life."
He had missed his change. Eric missed his change on experiencing real love again, and he desperately wished he could turn back time and hold it close, intending on never letting go again.
It had taken him months to realize his heart belonged to someone else, but only a few seconds were needed to register the feeling of his world slipping away underneath his feet.