Sky's The Limit

xliii

forty three | crystal

There he was.

Adorned in all black, from his shirt to his shoes. On his face were a pair of shades that were tinted as dark as Antonio's car windows. He didn't seem like himself in the slightest.

He walked in quietly, as if we wouldn't notice his arrival, as if we hadn't had our Shaan-detectors on full alert since he's fallen off the face of the planet.

If a pair of Locs sunglasses couldn't throw off his recognition, surely the unknown woman on his arm couldn't either.

He greeted Ms. Shondra with a somber smile before offering her soft conversation.

My eyes squinted, my gaze zooming in on his lips in an attempt to interpret his words. My trial was in vain as Antonio stepped into my line of sight before I could identify a pattern in Ishaan's speech.

"Here," he handed me a copy of the funeral program.

They'd run out of them at the door, so it was a miracle that he was able to get one somehow. I suppose Ms. Shondra wasn't expecting nearly this much of an outpour of guests for her son's homegoing.

Shit, I wasn't either.

Matter of fact, I should probably start looking for a seat before I end up standing for the entire duration of the service.

"Thanks," I smiled softly at Antonio, taking the program between my fingertips.

"How have you been holdin' up?" he inquired with his hands finding his pockets.

I inhaled deeply at the question, trying to find the words as my gaze fell upon the medallion of his gold chain. In the medallion were four pillars, similar to that of Will's.

With a sigh, I mustered up another smile. "Fine."

He nodded, although his eyes told me that he knew I was lying.

In all honesty, I was a mess.

None of this shit even felt real.

First, Maceo was whisked away, and now William is... gone.

I tried not to think too deeply about the turn of events for fear of becoming a fiery explosion of tears, but standing here, having to talk about it with Antonio wasn't helping.

I debated on even coming. It took everything in me to get up this morning. Anything more, I was running on empty to fulfill.

I wondered if Antonio felt the same.

"How are you holding up?" I reciprocated the question.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "You want the small talk answer or the honest answer?"

A breath of laughter escaped me as it became apparent that no one— not even Antonio— wanted to voluntarily delve any deeper into their feelings of grief, especially not conversationally.

I glanced down at the program in hand, admiring the yearbook picture of William on the front.

I remembered how excited he was about being a senior in high school. With Ishaan only a year away from partaking in the very same festivities, he made Will promise to get him into the exclusive senior parties.

Will always delivered. He'd always been a man of his word, even when he was just a boy.

At that point, his dreadlocks were coming in nicely, beginning to dangle rather than sticking out of his head like worms emerging from the dirt.