never got the chance to say a last goodbye
People shouted all around them, lights were flickering in the hallways and a few deputy’s were positioned at the entrance. Sidney was leaning her head on Randy’s shoulder, as she cried.
He rubbed her arm awkwardly, as he attempted to comfort her. Neither of them were expecting the events to play out as they did. Billy dead, Stu dead, Tatum dead. All their friends were dead, and they didn’t know what to do now.
“I can’t imagine how hard it is for your boyfriend to try and murder you.” Randy muttered, trying not to draw too much attention to the clearly grieving girl.
Sidney looked over at him, shaking her head. She wasn’t even able to make the name leave her mouth before she just started crying again. Tatum. Randy frowned, pulling her into another hug, he regretted bringing up the topic.
She didn’t have the strength or the emotional maturity to tell Randy that she didn’t care about Billy; she was crying about Tatum. He rubbed her arm even more awkwardly, as they both watched the nurse approach them.
“Mr Riley is awake, if you want to see him now.” Sidney was surprised they let her see him that easily, but she guessed it had something to do with the grieving of his sister and her best friend. If she could even class Tatum as a best friend at this point anymore, she knew the way she felt was more than that.
Randy nodded, urging her to go talk to him. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve, as she followed the nurse into the room. “Dewey.” Sidney took in his state, bandages all over him.
“Sid.” he smiled weakly at her, as she stepped closer to you. “How are you holding up?” They both knew what he really meant, but neither wanted to mention it.
“I’ll be better soon, how about you?”
Dewey went silent. Sidney knew it was bad when he couldn’t have the words to form how he was feeling. She couldn’t blame him, he lost his sister. She stepped closer, her hands reaching for his.
“She really liked you Sid.” he didn’t let her say anything before he continued again. “She didn’t want me to tell you, but after,” his voice broke and Sidney could tell he was on the verge of crying. “I think you deserve to know.”
Sidney paused, loosening her grip on his hand. Tatum loved her. Her eyes filled with tears again, as she sat in the seat next to the bed. “For how long?”
“Since you were fourteen.” Dewey turned his head to look at her, both of them crying now. Realisation dawned on his face, as he watched her cry. “You liked her too, didn’t you?”
She sniffled, nodding. “I was too scared to tell her, and now I have no chance to tell her.” Dewey sighed, wanting nothing more than for the two teenagers to reunite.
“It’ll be okay, Sid. I’m sure she would’ve wanted your friendship to stay as it was.” he wanted to say more, but a knock at the door interrupted them.
Gale Weathers.
“I hope I’m not intruding, the nurse told me you would be in here.” she glanced over at a crying Sidney, and her face fell. “I’ll come back later, if it’s not a good time.”
Sidney shook her head, standing up. “It’s okay, I’ll go sit with Randy and you two can talk.” she sent a weak smile over to Dewey, as she passed Gale. “I’ll come back later.”
⋆｡°✩
“Are you sure there’s not anything I can get you Sid?” Randy watched the girl move around the kitchen. “Anything at all?”
The two of them were staying at her house, Sidney didn’t want to be alone. Randy didn’t either, but he only agreed to stay because she asked him to.
“I’m fine Randy, thank you.”
“Are you sure?” he leaned his back against the counter, as he watched his friend grab food from the fridge. “It’s okay if you need anything after what you went through.” Randy started rambling about that night, and Tatum’s name slipped out of his mouth.
“Don’t bring her up.” Sidney muttered, but loud enough for him to hear.
Randy nodded, frowning. “It’s hard losing a best friend.” Sidney sent him a warning look but he carried on speaking. “She was like a sister to you?”
“Just stop.” She couldn’t listen anymore, so she grabbed the food and made her way to the front door. She wasn’t mad or annoyed at Randy, she was just starting to realise that Tatum was truly dead. There was no coming back.
She sat on the porch, as she watched the sky. Maybe Tatum was watching over her, maybe they were always going to be together now. Even if one of them was a ghost. “Come back to me Tatum.” she mumbled, as she took a bite of the apple she grabbed.
“I shouldn’t have brought her up.” Randy spoke from the doorway, as he moved to sit next to her. “I know how much she meant to you.”
He didn’t know how much Tatum meant to her, but he didn’t know about her feelings. Randy watched her, the two of them in silence. Sidney was too focused on her thoughts about Tatum, and what if she was here. Randy didn’t want to push his friend into talking or reliving the events.
“I just miss her.” Sidney turned to Randy, her hand reaching for his. “She deserved to be here today.”
“It’ll be okay.” he pulled her in for a hug, hoping he was able to comfort her. Randy wasn’t the best at comforting people, so he was wondering if he was going to be able to comfort Sidney better.
“You’re a great friend Randy.” Sidney muttered, as she tightened her grip around his shoulders. Her grip loosened as she suddenly pulled away, Randy frowned. “I’m going to go see Dewey, he said he was going to be discharged later today. I wanna make sure everything is okay.”
“I’ll see you later Sid.”