Young Writers Society

So, I'm back with this. I'll still be posting Truth in the Shadows as well, just thought I'd get the next of this out. Read and review please. Hopefully this part is a bit more interesting.

Shay rubbed Aiden’s back and looked towards the grave. They were covering it with dirt, it was sad. Her brother’s body was going to sit six feet under the dirt for the rest of eternity. She would never see him again; he wasn’t coming back.
Lacy was approaching them, while Ben talked to his parents. She saw Aiden and her eyes filled with tears. When she arrived at the bench she wiped a tear from her eyes. “Come here, baby,” she whispered as Aiden stood up and hugged her. She ran her fingers through his hair. “You’ll be okay,” she murmured. “I promise,” her voice was breaking.
Ryan and Shay stood up. Lacy let go of Aiden and hugged each of them. “I know this is hard, believe me. But, we’ll have to work through it,” she said and wiped away her tears.
All three of them nodded, even though her words weren’t helping. Shay knew eventually she would go on with her life. Ryan knew the same. It was Aiden they were all worried about.


***
All the funeral attendees came back to their house after the funeral. Shay didn’t want them to; she just wanted to relax and think. But, when she walked inside her house, all the drinks and food were set up. She remembered her Mom setting it up before.
She glanced around as Lacy told everyone where the food and drinks were. Everybody walked around and talked and comforted each other.
She wandered over to the food. It was the basic party food, even though she didn’t think of this as a party. She dipped a tortilla chip into the salsa and took a bite. Suddenly, Ryan was standing next to her. “Why are we having a party?” he asked, as if he had read her mind.
“I’m not really sure,” Shay replied and ate another chip. “I think it’s more like a get together.”
Ryan shrugged his shoulders and glanced behind him. “I’m worried about him,” he murmured.
“Who?” Shay asked and followed Ryan’s gaze.
Ryan turned to stare at her in disbelief. “You know who,” he said. “I mean, he watched his brother get hit by a car. Not exactly something that a person would get over easily.”
“Oh, right,” Shay said in a barely audible whisper. She looked around for Aiden. When she found him, he was sitting on the couch, by himself. It looked like he was crying; he was staring down at his lap.
Ryan shoved one of his hands into his pocket and ate a celery stick with the other. “Well, the kids at his school all knew Landon. They’re going to, you know, talk about it. It’s not every day that a kid in your school gets hit by a car.”
“A drunk driver,” she corrected him. “He was hit by a drunk driver.”
“What’s the difference?” Ryan asked.
Shay sighed and rolled her eyes. “It’s different because it probably wouldn’t have happened if that guy wasn’t drunk. It was his third drunk driving offense.”
“He’s going to jail,” Ryan said. “I hope he rots there.”
“Me too,” Shay nodded, tears filled her eyes. “God, I miss him,” she brushed her dirty blonde, side bangs back.
Ryan wrapped his strong arms around her, “Me too,” he whispered into her ear.

Aiden watched his siblings embrace. Hopefully, they wouldn’t come by him. He really just wanted to be by himself. Though, his wish wasn’t granted when his grandma, May, sat down next to him.
“Hello, sweetie,” she said in a raspy voice. She peeked over the rims at her glasses at him.
“Hi,” he replied, glancing away from her beady eyes.
Her jowls shook as she spoke, “How are you doing?” her face was sympathetic.
Aiden looked down at his lap and rolled his eyes. What kind of question was that? How did she think he was feeling? “Bad,” he replied, always an honest person.
May put her arm around him; Aiden breathed in her strong perfume. “I know how you feel, darlin’. When your grandpa died, I felt like I piece of me was missing. But, maybe not as soon as you would like, you’ll move on with your life.”
Probably not, Aiden thought, pulling at his bangs. He just nodded, and stared ahead at people. He wondered what they might be talking about. His aunt, Renee, smiled. This was definitely not time to be smiling. He turned and smiled half-heartedly at his grandma, before standing up and marching over to Renee.
He tapped her arm and she turned around. “Why are you smiling?” Aiden asked, anger running through his blood.
Renee opened her mouth to answer, but Aiden cut her off, “This isn’t time to be smiling. Someone died. Seriously, do you have a problem? Because I really don’t think it’s very funny when drunken people run over people and kill them, it’s not a smiley thing. What if it happened to you? I certainly would not be smiling. Wouldn’t you be mad if I were smiling when you died? Think of my brother!” Ryan grabbed him and pulled him aside.
“Chill,” he said softly. “She wasn’t smiling as a way to be mean.”
Aiden crossed his arms over his chest. “You really don’t get it, do you?”
“What?” Ryan asked. “What don’t I get?”
“How stupid this is. How we’re basically having a party. This isn’t a time to be having a party. This is stupid, and-“he stopped talking and ran down the hallway.
Ryan turned around to face his aunt, her face was red. He wasn’t sure if she was mad, or just embarrassed. “Sorry,” he murmured. “He’s just upset.”
She nodded, “It’s alright.” She then turned back to her husband and continued chatting.
Ryan sat on the couch where Aiden was previously seated and his dad came over, sitting beside him. “When are these people leaving?” Ryan asked, combing through his shaggy, brown hair with his fingers.
“I don’t know,” Ben, his dad, sighed and leaned back into the couch. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. “Hopefully soon, I think we all just need to relax.”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah,” he murmured.
“What was Aiden doing?” Ben asked. “I noticed him talking to Aunt Renee; he looked pretty upset by it.”
“He’s just…” Ryan paused. “He’s just upset. He got mad at her, ask her about it. I’m not in the mood to explain exactly what happened.”
Ben nodded, “He must be taking this hard. I’m upset as well, but it just seems like he’s more upset then all of us.”
“He is,” Ryan said matter-of-factly. “They were best friends.”
“I know,” Ben took a deep breath. “I hope he’ll be okay. It kills me to see him like this.”
“He will, he’s a tough person,” Ryan muttered. “I know he’ll be fine.”
Ben patted Ryan on the back, “You’re right,” he said with a weak smile. He then stood up and began walking away.