"Loving and fighting, accusing, uniting, that's what we did." Kellin Quinn said quietly, keeping his eyes down, away from the crowd of people gathered in front of him.
"And I can't imagine a world with you gone. Without all the joy and the chaos, the demons we're made of." He said softly, his voice breaking as he thought of the line he would say to Vic almost daily.
"I'd be so lost if you left me alone." He choked out, his eyes finding the large picture of Vic smiling at the front of the room. His mother picked it out, finding it in one of the photo albums in their apartment. A old photo from a date lost in time, when Vic was truly happy.
"You locked yourself in the bathroom, and you were lying on the floor when I managed to break through, and I remember pulling you in to feel your heartbeat." He continued, keeping his eyes locked on the photo.
"If you were here, I'd say what I did then. Hold on, I still want you." Kellin's voice faltered then, and he let a sob wrack through him, moving his eyes back out to the crowd where their daughter Willow sat, tears pricking the corners of her eyes as she clutched her friend Quinn's hand for dear life.
"Come back, I still need you. Just come back, let me take your hand, I'll make it right." He managed, and then walked away from the casket behind him, Willow jumping up and following him out, holding him up as he collapsed and began to cry.
"I still need you." She whispered into his hair, dampening it with her own tears as Vic's mother took over speaking for him.
A few days later Kellin came to the cemetery, going straight to Vic's grave without any preamble, staring at the granite. A simple headstone saying he was a beloved son, brother, father and husband, four things that didn't even begin to encompass all he was. The words seemed to mock Kellin, who crouched next to the stone.
"I remember nights when we'd drive down long endless highways, with you silent beside me. Now it seems that I'm drivin' a nightmare I can't escape from. I keep helplessly praying, the light isn't fadin'." He said softly, gritting his teeth.
"I remember when they took you away on a table, pacing back and forth as you lay still, pulling you in to feel your heartbeat. Couldn't you hear me screaming "please don't leave me'?" He asked, wiping his face furiously as tears began to fall.
"Please Vic. Please. Come back, I still need you. Just come back and let me take your hand, I'll make it right." He said, looking up at the sound of footsteps on the gravel pathway of the cemetery.
"Kells, you need to learn to move on." Vic's brothers wife Alysha said softly, and he turned to face her.
"I don't wanna let go Alysha. I know I'm not that strong." He said softly, casting his gaze back to the headstone.
"I just wanna hear him. Hear his voice saying 'baby, let's go home'. I just. I just wanna take him home." He said softly, his voice breaking before he got up and walked with Alysha back to his car.
Come back,
I still need you
