Cloud 69

34:

My mother placed a mug of coffee in front of Carson, and sat down in the chair across from us. Carson took the cup gratefully, and held it between both of his hands. I sat on the left side of Carson and rested my hand on his shoulder. Dylan sat on Carson's other side, closer to my mom.

My mother looked tired. She had large under eye bags and her hair looked like it hadn't seen a brush in decades. Of course, we were all tired. It was 8:30 in the morning and we were all sitting around the kitchen table, mostly quiet.

"Have you spoken to my parents?" Carson asked. His voice was shot. 

My mother ran a hand through her hair, "My husband got in touch with them about an hour ago. They have an experimental surgery tomorrow-"

Carson looked down at his lap, "They're not coming."

"They are," My mother insisted. "They're getting here just in time for the funeral."

My mother continued on about how the funeral and burial proceedings would work. Dylan asked her a few questions now and then. But Carson had tuned out completely. He was just staring at his coffee.

"We'll be sending out the notice this afternoon. I thought the wake should be open to the public, so that everyone from her boarding school can attend."

After everything she said, one of us would respond with a "that sounds nice" or a "good thinking," but none of us were really listening. 

"Now, do all of you kids have something appropriate to wear? Something black?"

"No," Carson said, lifting his eyes up to look at my mom. "No black. Katie would roll over in her grave if people wore black to her funeral."

"Okay then," my mother said hesitantly. "No black."

"What's um- what's gonna happen with her stuff?" Carson asked. 

My mom offered him a small smile. "I don't want you to worry about that."

He nodded, and sank back down in his seat. 

*                *               *

The funeral was three days ago. It was a beautiful service, and I think it brought Carson a bit of closure. He was definitely doing better now that some time had passed. 

Anyways, his parents had asked Carson to come back home while they were here, and he wasn't really excited about that. Carson had little faith they were going to stay much longer that what was considered an acceptable amount of time to mourn over the loss of their daughter before heading back to Italy. 

The house was really empty without Carson, so I forced Luna to stay with me last night, and she was bringing Dylan tonight, too.

Before that, however, my parents had invited the Daniels over for dinner tonight. Now that the funeral had passed, they could finally talk about the research the Daniels' had been doing in Italy. 

Carson showed up with his parents at around six. When I opened the door for them, his parents smiled and greeted me with a hug before inviting themselves in and heading towards the kitchen to find my parents. They left Carson alone in the doorway. 

"How are you?"

He shrugged, "Could be better."

"How are they?" I asked, referring to his parents. 

He shrugged again, "They could be better, too."

"They're not the loss everything well?"

He shook his head, "They're handling it too well."