Good place oneshots

The next right thing - Eleanor & Chidi angst season 3 spoiler

I've seen dark before, but not like this.

Eleanor had attended her Dad's funeral and believed her mom was dead for many years but no one's funeral seemed to be as dark and unbearable as Chidi's.

This is cold, this is empty, this is numb.

Before she came she'd drowned her sorrows in alcohol but tracing her hands over his black metal coffin was still making her heart throb.

The life I knew is over, the lights are out
Hello darkness I'm ready to succumb.

After the ceremony Eleanor stood alone in the dark for hours, trying to process all that had happened.

I follow you around I always have.
But you've gone to a place I cannot find.

Her Chidi was gone. The one who'd shown her not everything in the world had to suck, there was good out there and she was loved. Now, she was beginning to question all of that again.

This grief has gravity, it pulls me down.

Eleanor hasn't been able to see any of their friends since he died. Janet and Jason always come over hoping for her to answer the door, Micheal phones every day and Tahani uses any form of social media she can surprisingly she even resorted to calling.

But a tiny voice whispers in my mind,
You are lost, hope is gone,
But you must go on,
And do the next right thing.

She can see him she knows he's there. She must sound crazy but she swears he's giving one of his motivational pep talks again, telling her she's better than this and to go home. She shakes her head crying even harder.

Can there be a day beyond this night?

Eleanor takes a deep breath leaving the funeral home. Chidi would have wanted her to get some sleep.

I don't know anymore what is true.

Everything played over and over and over in Eleanor's mind. She knew his death hadn't been an accident there was everything about Chidi dying in a car crash with his favourite books and a picture of her was off.

I can't find my direction, I'm all alone.
The only star that guided me was you.

She got out of bed walking towards his office. On his desk lay a note reading. Eleanor, I love you so so much, I just can't lie anymore, I'm not perfect, I've never been, I've thought everything through in life and am ready to go. All my love, Chidi.

How to rise from the floor?
But it's not you I'm rising for.

After hours of lying on the floor sobbing Eleanor knows what she needs to do. She will make sure something like this never happens again.

Just do the next right thing.

In the morning she calls everyone making them aware of their plans. Tahani being the social media influencer she is posts about the plans online and the rest of her friends spread the news by calling everyone they know.

Take a step, step again.
It's all I can do.
Do the next right thing.

Eleanor looks at the big building in front of her. Thousands of people are inside waiting for her, wanting to tell their stories, she needs to do this. It's the only way to fix everything.

I won't look to far ahead.
It's too much for me to take.

She couldn't think anything through anymore, she hadn't even prepared a script for what she was going to say, it was all too much and it was killing her inside.

But break it down to this next breath, this next step.
This next choice is one that I can make.

She fumbles with her microphone a bit but then she starts talking. Telling the world about him, about her not knowing about his depression, about him dying with no one there, about her feeling like she was being eaten up alive was grief and heartache and pain.

She knew so many people were watching but she couldn't stop. She rambled on and on finally realizing he was gone and she couldn't get him back and someday, somehow that was going to seem like ages ago.

So I'll walk through this night,
Stumbling blindly towards the light,
And do the next right thing

After she finished telling their story to the world she hears everyone talking. Everyone's coming up to her explaining their stories.

One women lost her son to a drug overdose, a man who lost his wife when she was black out drunk, a young child who lost their best friend because they thought no one cared about them. All these stories were heart wrenching she knew she'd made the right choice to share her story though.

And with it done, what comes then?
When it's clear that everything will never be the same again.

That night when Eleanor came she sat in bed hugging Chidi's pillow, it still smelt like him. It had the scent of books and snuggle time, and coffee all over it. She sighed seeing him once again. Good job babe was the only thing she heard and then he was gone.

Then I'll make a choice to hear that voice
and do the next right thing.