Disclaimer: I do NOT own LWD.
A/N: So sorry it's been so long, but I've had my baby and life has been insane. So updates will be a bit slow, but they will come. Please enjoy!
The day after the funeral felt surreal. Before it had been as if Casey was coming back, but she didn't, and she never would. Nobody was the same, nobody was happy. The night before when everybody had left their home they all just went straight to bed. Now the house was a mess and nobody was going to clean, and nobody cared that it was messy.
George went to work like normal, but Nora didn't even bother to leave their room in the basement. Lizzie made sure Marti got to school, but she didn't go herself. She spent the day sitting alone on the couch. Edwin slept all day, he didn't want to face life. Derek went to school. He didn't cause any ruckus like he usually did, he didn't skip any classes or hit on any girls. He just went to class. He was trying to go about his life.
That evening after Derek arrived home from school after picking up Marti he fixed dinner. It wasn't very good, but it was something for everyone to eat. He didn't want to mess with the food that people had brought over after the funeral, it felt like pity food to him, and he didn't want that. He felt like Casey wanted them to be strong, to get back their lives and be normal. It was hard, but he was trying.
George forced everyone to come sit at the dinner table, but everyone avoided looking at the empty chair. Everyone ate silently, none of the usual happy chatter and sibling arguments that usually filled the air was there. Derek hated it, but he couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't upset someone, so he stayed silent.
After dinner Lizzie helped Edwin clear the table and wash up the dishes. They felt it was the best they could do to help Nora. But the act was unusually silent. There were no evil schemes or lively debates as they normally would have been. Just silent cleaning. Once the dishes were done they went their separate ways to their rooms.
Derek couldn't stand the silence, he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts. So to fill the air he started blasting music. But it wasn't his usual loud indie music, it was pop. It was something that you would usually hear coming from Casey's room when she'd had a bad day. Ballads were streaming through the air, causing the feeling of sadness to be amplified by everyone that heard it.
"Would you please turn that shit off?" Edwin had entered Derek's room, with anger written on his face.
"Why? It's better than silence. I'm so sick of being able to hear every little sob coming from everyone's room," Derek fired back.
"Well this isn't helping any!" Edwin threw his hands up in frustration, "why don't you play some of the stuff you usually do?"
"Because Casey hated it," Derek told him, "now get out of my room."
Edwin done as he was told and left the room, he didn't have the energy to argue with his older brother, and he didn't have the patience to try and win. Derek lay in his bed for the rest of the evening listening to the sad music, no one else bothered to come and complain to him.
The next day went pretty much as the one before, though Derek didn't make dinner because Lizzie had fixed some of the food that had been brought over. She had decided that she needed to do something. That evening Derek didn't feel like being alone in his room, so he found Marti and asked if she wanted to play a game or something. She agreed and they went to the game closet to find a game.
"What about LIFE?" she asked, and Derek decided that it would be a decent game. At least he'd have something to keep his mind off of Casey.
"Sure Marti, here grab it," he lifted the small girl up to grab the game from one of the top shelves.
"Can Lizzie and Edwin play too?"
"Sure, if they want to, go ahead and ask them and I'll get the game set up," he told his youngest sister.
Marti ran off and Derek went to the living room to set up the board game. He moved the coffee table and began to unload the items from the box onto the floor. He had just gotten the board itself set up with all the little pieces stuck into it when Marti arrived.
"They don't want to play," she looked really sad, and like she was about to cry.
"Why not?" Derek asked, trying to keep things normal for the small child.
"Lizzie said she was tired and Edwin said that board games are too trivial with Casey not being here. What does that even mean?"
"Nothing Marti, I'll get them to play," he stood up from the floor and made his way to their rooms.
"What's your problem?" Derek asked Edwin. "You've been an ass lately, Marti just wants to play a game, and you're bring up Casey. She's just a little girl, she doesn't need the sadness that we all have, we need to try and keep things normal for her. So get your ass in there and play the damn game with us!"
Edwin looked shocked at what his brother had just said. He nodded and got up from his bed and headed down stairs. Next, Derek went to Lizzie's room. He was a lot easier on her, he just told her that he thought Marti needed to have things kept normal and she agreed to play.
The four played two games of LIFE and finally Derek decided that Marti needed to get to bed. He felt like he was being a parent to everyone, and was getting upset with George and Nora for not trying to keep things normal for Marti, or trying to help Lizzie and Edwin grieve properly, or even themselves. He knew that things were going to have to get better. They had to. Casey would want them to, she wouldn't want them to live like this.
A/N: Thoughts? I'd love to hear them!
~Domi~