Welcome to Falsettoland - A Fanfiction

Trina

"Jason, honey, it's time to go." 

  Trina was well-dressed, in a blue flower-patterned skirt and purple top, the first time she'd really bothered about her clothing in a while. She knocked again on Jason's door, having had no response the first time. 

  She heard slow footsteps move across the carpet, and the door opened. Her son stood there, dressed in black pants, a white shirt, and a black tie. His hair was clean and brushed, and he looked perfect for a nice event. 

  Except for the fact that he looked utterly empty and broken. 

  In the three days since Whizzer had died, Trina had been used to this version of Jason. At first, it had worried her - it still did, in fact, but not as much since she had talked to Mendel on the issue. 

  "Losing a close friend is really difficult, especially for someone in his situation," Mendel had told  her quietly. "I've talked to lots of kids around Jason's age who dealt with losses, and they're the same. It goes away, eventually. You just have to show them a lot of love and let them go through what they have to go through." 

 Mendel might not always have the right advice, but Trina had trusted him there. For the past three days, Jason had been mainly locked in his room, playing chess she had assumed. He had come down for a few meals, but even then he had seemed distant and non-responsive. 

  "Let him be," Mendel had said, more times than Trina could count. "It'll pass." 

  But she wasn't so sure. 

  Now, she leaned down and gave Jason a hug. He barely reacted. "Mendel's starting up the car, honey. We don't have to stay a long time if you don't want to." 

  Jason nodded, still not looking her in the eyes. 

  With a sigh, Trina took his hand and led him down the stairs and out the front door to where Mendel was waiting. 

  It was a gorgeous autumn day. The sky was bright and blue, and the maple tree out front was bursting with yellow leaves. Mendel almost backed into said tree on his way out of the driveway, but with Trina's help, they made it unscathed and trundled down the street to their destination. 

  Mendel had the map out across the dashboard, partly obscuring his view. He really was horrible at driving, but for some reason always declined when Trina offered to drive instead. He thought it was his "husbandly duty" but Trina wasn't sure if it was husbandly to nearly kill them all by fire hydrant and not remembering which pedal was the brake. She could have reprimanded him, but Jason's quiet presence in the backseat led her to instead look out the window at the fall trees passing by. 

  "Is that it?" Mendel asked, squinting up the road at a pair of wrought-iron gates flanked by two chestnut trees. 

  "Yes, that's it. Just park on the curb, we'll walk in." 

  The iron gates led onto a sloping pavement road that cut through a huge expanse of grass, still speckled with summer green and dotted with tombstones. Trina glanced at each one as she went by, even though she knew the one they were looking for was up the hill. 

  A black car was parked there - Marvin's car. But three silhouettes stood next to it, so Charlotte and Cordelia must have come as well. Jason, Mendel, and Trina crested the hill just as the other three took notice of them. 

  There were hugs all around. Thank God, Cordelia hadn't cooked. Charlotte gave Jason a smile and rubbed his shoulders a bit, maybe trying to bring some life back into him. Of course, it didn't really work - he didn't respond, and she let go quickly, returning to her space between Marvin and Cordelia. They all turned as one to look at the grave nearest to them. 

  There was no freshly dug earth around it. Whizzer had always hated the idea of being buried in a box, of being trapped forever, even after death. No, his ashes had been spread - somewhere, by Marvin most likely, although he hadn't volunteered to share details. The stone itself was pale gray and smooth, and the words inscribed into it were sharp and new - Whizzer Brown. Loving friend who will be missed by many. 

  They'd declined a professional funeral. That wasn't what Whizzer would have wanted, Marvin said with certainty. They had planned to come up and pay their last respects on this day in early October, and that was all they had planned. 

  Maybe they should have said something, but no one could find words. For a few minutes they all stood, still, staring, remembering. Trina thought of how she could never have hated Whizzer, and she was glad she didn't. She thought of his loving, joyous, puppy-dog energy that she'd always found so annoying in the earlier stages of Marvin and Whizzer's relationship. An energy that she'd slowly grow to cherish. She thought of those nights when they'd cook Marvin's dinner together, boiling water for linguini and chopping vegetables. Nights that were quiet and cold. 

  Marvin was placing something on top of the grave - a single rose, of a beautiful red shade. He bowed his head and stepped back again, and silence fell. 

  Then someone was moving past Trina, someone whose head only reached to a little above her elbow. Someone who was clutching something in their hand as they moved to stand at the grave, alone, looking smaller than they ever had. 

  Jason placed a chess piece on top of the grave next to the rose. 

  "Isn't that your chess piece, Jason?" Mendel asked, breaking the silence. "Don't you want it?"

  "The king," Marvin murmured from near Trina, his voice sounding oddly strangled. 

  Jason turned back to them, giving them a sad smile. "I don't know if I like chess so much nowadays." 

  Marvin began to sob, making all of them look. He was standing, head bowed, shoulders shaking, tears cascading down his cheeks. Before she knew what she was doing, Trina moved over to embrace him, stabilizing him, giving him someone to lean on while he poured out the emotions, emotions that had somehow been triggered by a chess piece. 

  Jason moved between them, wrapping his arms around both his parents. A lump caught in Trina's throat; how long had it been since Jason was able to hug both his mother and father? How long had it been since he saw his mother and father hug? 

  More arms embraced them - Mendel, Charlotte, Cordelia. They stood there, encircling Marvin who cried like he had never cried before, while shedding tears of their own, tears for a friend. 

  Over Marvin's shoulder, Trina thought she saw someone; someone in a mint-colored shirt that looked very familiar, someone with swept-up brown hair and a smile that seemed to crinkle their whole face with joy. But Marvin shifted, and he was gone. 

  Trina didn't believe in ghosts, but she knew who she saw that day. She had seen someone stopping by to pay their last respects before saying farewell, going wherever they might be going next. 

  The silence was broken by Mendel's voice; soft and cracked with emotion, three words. 

  "Welcome to Falsettoland."