What if Dom had been the one to die?
(TW: drugs, death)
August 2016
Clara bit her thumb as she watched her phone, waiting for something, anything from her brother. It wasn’t like him to ignore her and she hadn’t seen him since the night before when he told her he was going out. Slowly running out of options and dreading the first that came to mind, she dialled Candice’s number. The first time, it rang until it went to voicemail. She didn’t bother leaving one and just called the number again.
“Hello?”
“Candice, have you seen Dom?” She asked, trying to mask her anxiety.
“I haven’t, isn’t he with you? He told me he was staying home today and I told him I’d call him tonight. Why?” Clara took a deep breath, trying to remain calm.
“He didn’t come home last night and he’s not answering my messages or picking up his phone and I’m scared.” She rambled, her voice breaking at the end.
“Give me a second, I’ll call you back.” The girl was whispering but Clara could tell that she was worried. She hung up and Clara just stared at her phone, waiting for Candice to call back.
“Come on, Dom…” She mumbled as she waited. She was hoping that he just didn’t want to tell her where he was or what he had gotten himself into. She answered her phone the second it rang again. “Well?”
“I tried calling him and he’s not picking up for me either…I don’t know where…wait wait I have his location shared with me…sh-t. I don’t have it…I don’t…I always have it…I…I don’t know, Clara.”
Clara could tell that Candice was starting to get more and more worried, she could hear it in her voice and it only amplified Clara’s own worries. She heard a voice in the background of the call, which she presumed to be Lily-Ann, screaming and then Candice cursed again.
“I can’t get out of this…stupid f-cking thing right now but but…I’ll figure it out. I…I have a friend…I’ll ask him…and then I’ll help you look when I’m done.”
“Okay, you do that and let me know when you’re done. I’m going to call the police.” She told her before hanging up and instead dialling the number for the police. Calling the police was high up on Clara’s list of last resorts but now she felt that the more people they had looking, the better. “I’d like to report a missing person…Dominic Charles Lucier…last night, around 10pm…I don’t know where he went…our family home in Beryl Heights…yes, male…caucasian…14 years old, born March 7th, 2002…um, 5’6, athletic build, dirty blonde hair and he has heterochromia, his right eye is blue and his left eye is brown…he was wearing a navy blue t-shirt, black shorts and white Adidas superstars with black accents…I can bring one down. Thank you.” As she hung up the phone, she took another deep breath but her breaths were becoming shakier and shakier with each one. The phone call she had just made was one that she never thought she would have to. She pulled out her phone to text Candice.
Hey. I’m going to the police station to give a pic of dom if you want to meet me there
She got in her car and drove, having printed out the last picture of her brother that she had on her phone. Her parents were still asleep. She didn’t want to wake them with the news of ‘your son is missing’. She parked at the police but decided to wait for Candice before going, no longer sure if she could do it alone. Except when the girl arrived, she was a wreck. She could barely walk because of how hard she was crying.
“I…I…I’m so…so…I don’t…know…how do I…oh god…Clara, I’m so sorry…I’m sorry.” She babbled while sobbing and Clara put her hands on her shoulders.
“Candice. Candice, breathe.” She instructed, starting to become worried about caused her to be crying like this. “What happened?” Candice closed her eyes.
“He’s dead, Clara…Dom…he…he died…he overdosed.”
Clara felt the air leave her lungs and her hand flew up to her mouth as she finally let herself break down. She quickly embraced Candice as she began to sob.
Two Weeks Later…
Attending the funeral of her fourteen-year-old brother was by far the hardest thing Clara had ever done. Aside from their family members, most of the attendees were kids Dom’s age, his friends from school and soccer teammates. Candice. Seeing the sombre expressions on their faces was yet another knife into Clara’s heart. She had convinced her parents to let her give the eulogy. When it came time for her to give it, she stood up with a handful of tissues.
“Good afternoon. If anyone doesn’t know who I am, Dom was my little brother. The problem with a life being cut as short as my brother’s is that there isn’t much for a eulogy. He was born on March 9th, 2002 and our parents named him Dominic Charles Lucier. He always preferred Dom, though. He, um, he loved art and…and soccer.” She reached her breaking point, unable to keep herself from crying anymore. Her dad came up and put his arm around her shoulders, rubbing her arm to comfort her as she dabbed at her eyes with her tissues. When she finally felt ready to continue, she took a deep breath. “He would never let anyone see his pieces until he was satisfied with them, even if they were already beautiful. He loved spending time with his friends, especially his girlfriend, Candice. Dom was supposed to be going to high school next month, attending the same school that both myself and our mother attended. Instead, he died, two weeks ago, because of a drug overdose. I can only hope that he wasn’t alone or in pain. Love you forever, Dom.” As she finished and went back to her seat, she caught a glimpse of the other attendees. Candice, poor thing, hadn’t stopped crying, her sobs only intensifying when Clara mentioned Dom’s art. His friend Jordan was looking at his feet. Daniel, the little sh-t, was on his phone and Clara knew that she had seen him roll his eyes during the eulogy. If they were anywhere else, she would’ve decked him right then and there. Lucky him, she was too busy crying.
Clara cried through the rest of the ceremony. Then it was time for the cemetery. She travelled with her family and Candice. Clara held Candice’s hand the entire drive. She managed to calm down her crying on the way over and held it (somewhat) together during the ceremony at his grave but when it came time to place flowers on his coffin, a few as she set down the blue forget-me-nots that she had chosen for this moment,
At the reception, people kept coming up to Clara and offering their condolences, telling her what a shame it was for her brother to have died so young. The issue was, most of these people Clara had never met or had only met once in her life. They were her parents’ friends and co-workers or distant relatives. Their sympathies felt empty. So Clara got away from that as soon as she could, finding Candice in the crowd.
“Hey hun, how are you holding up?” She asked, putting her hand on the girl’s back. Candice just hugged her and Clara hugged her back, holding her tight. She’d seen the tears in her eyes and that was a good enough answer for her question.
“How…are you doing?” Candice asked after a few moments had passed.
“I miss him.” This was all Clara could come up with and really it summed up how she had felt since that day. She couldn’t bring herself to enter his room because she knew that he wouldn’t be on the other side of the door, yelling at her to get out and she wasn’t ready to face that. “Candice, I miss him so much.”
“I keep thinking back to his last words to me and…and…I told him that I loved him and I’ll call him in the morning and now I can’t and…it feels like sometimes I can’t breathe…” As Candice spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, all Clara could think about was how Candice was too young for this. She was too young to know this kind of loss.
“I know, Candice, I know.” She cooed, tightening her embrace on the girl. “He knew how much you loved him and he loved you, too. You were the best thing that ever happened to him.”
The End
Mentioned:
@benitz786 - Candice, Jordan and Dan