REPLAY [ krtele / kritz / krii7y ]

ᴇᴘɪʟᴏɢᴜᴇ

it had been thirty years, john keyes was now fifty years old (his birthday had been three weeks ago) and darryl noveschosch had adopted a baby 25 years ago.

well, he had a two year old grandson that was going with him to visit his old best friend, john keyes.

they walked through the forest quietly, sighing when john took three minutes to open the door. "go see mamaw!" darryl smiled, watching the little boy run through the cabin house to the room which held john's 80 year old mother, she was probably reading.

"hi, john." darryl whispered, sitting on the couch, watching john plop next to him.

"hey," john whispered, he'd been here ever since toby died. he was nineteen when he moved, he never went back to college and never stayed in contact with anyone except darryl. darryl always told lui and david, jon and evan, etc. about how he was after he returned to town...but john never did it personally.

"how are you?" darryl asked quietly, shifting and looking around. it was far too quiet, there were newspapers scattered on the table which were hardened in several parts because of tears having dried on them. they were newspapers from when tyler and jaren died, toby's was around here somewhere...john was sure of it.

john may have been 50, but in his mind, he was still that poor 19 year old boy who'd killed everyone around him. "i'm alright." that was always his answer, no matter how numb he felt that day or if he had to go out and buy a new frame for the picture of jaren he had because he'd broke the old one.

darryl smiled fakely, he knew john was far from alright. "that's good," he whispered, "it's been quiet in town. grace has a new girlfriend," grace was the baby darryl adopted, she was bisexual.

"that's nice." john whispered, "are they good together? better then her and branden?"

"yeah, buddy, they're good." darryl shifted, sighing. "why're you still here, john? you're punishing yourself, come back and live."

"don't deserve to, darryl, took two people's lives away." john murmured.

"now you're taking yours and your mothers." darryl frowned.

"i can't hurt anyone here," john whispered, "i can't fall in love with the pictures." he chuckled sadly, "i can't kill anyone."

"you didn't kill anyone."

"jaren."

that was usually how their conversations went, they switched to a different topic afterwards and darryl usually stayed until it was dark, bidding john a farewell before going back to town to tell his friends about how john was.

and of course, fill grace in on how "uncle john" was. but it was always the same, john never came back and his mother died two years after that conversation. john still didn't move back, he simply moved into a smaller cabin and died twenty years later at 72.

he wished he could tell people what he saw in his last moments, but it was only darryl there. because only darryl knew.

but darryl told everyone about john. his last moments, his last words.

what were his last words? well, last word.

"jaren?" and then his eyes closed and his breath slowly faded, darryl holding onto his hand and crying softly.