All That I Need

Episode 31

Klarissa’s POV

I’d just got home from school a few days later, when I heard a knock at the door.

My dad answered it.

“Klarissa isn’t here,” he said, slamming the door closed again.

“I am here, dad. In case you didn’t notice,” I yelled, moving towards the front door from the living room.

“You’re not allowed to see that girl. Seeing her won’t make you better.”

That girl? Lily? Why was she here?

“I don’t need to get better. Plus, if I remember correctly, didn’t you say that I’m no longer your daughter if I’m gay? And I am gay, so I guess that means you have no control over my life anymore. So I’m going outside to speak to the girl I’m in love with. That’s right, I love a girl. And nothing you can say or do can change that,” I was mad, so mad. I wanted to attack him.

He looked just as mad as me, and if I fought, I didn’t think he would hesitate to fighting back. I hated him.

“I didn’t raise you to be like this,” he said. The classic homophobic parent thing to say.

“I hate you,” I said, storming out the door before I did something I would regret.

When I got out, Lily was halfway down the path towards her home.

“Lily!” I yelled out.

She turned around slowly. She looked like a mess. Her usual pretty face was red, and her blue eyes were swollen. Her dark, wavy hair was all over the place. It looked like she had been crying for quite some time.

I ran towards her.

“Lily, what happened?” I asked, even though I was pretty sure I knew.

As soon as I asked, she started to sob. She fell weakly into my arms, and I held her tight.

“She’s gone. I watched her die,” she said between sobs.

“Come over here,” I said, leading her over to a bench outside our house.

We sat down beside each other, and I wrapped my arms around her weak body again as she sobbed on my shoulder.

“When did it happen?” I asked.

“Just before,” she said, sniffing.

“I came over as soon as it happened. I didn’t know what to do, and I couldn’t stand being in there with her body,”

She started bawling again.

I held her close, feeling tears slowly roll down my cheeks as well.

She finally wrapped her arms around me, and we held each other close.

I hated to see her so upset, and I hated that this had to happen to her. Sadly, I never got to meet her mother, but she sounded like she was a lovely person. Lily didn’t deserve this, and everything else that had happened to her. I wished I could change it. But I was helpless. All I could do was be here for her.

“I’m so so sorry,” I said.

“There’s nothing anybody could have done. She was getting so, so sick. I knew it was going to happen. But nothing can prepare you for watching your loved one die, and losing them,”

“I wish I could do something to help you. I wish I could bring her back,” I said. We were still holding each other, and she pulled back.

“You can’t.”

“But all I want from you is for you to be here to support me, and love me,” she said.

“I’m always here for you,” I said.

She smiled, then her face suddenly fell; “What’s going to happen to her body? She has no family to pay for a funeral, or to attend a funeral. Nobody to pay for her coffin and tombstone,” she started to cry again, and I held her body even closer.

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll talk to my mum about it. She’ll help. I promise,” I said.

“She’ll make sure your mum gets taken somewhere safe,”

Lily nodded.

“Tomorrow is the day that my foster parents pick me up,” she said.

“Oh. You haven’t talked much about them. Do you know anything about them?”

“Not much, just their names; Jarred and Dan.”

“Oh. That’s nice. Are they in this area?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Thank god,” I said.

“I don’t know where I’m meant to stay tonight, though. I can’t go back home,” she said, worried.

“I’ll talk to my mum,” I said.

“She’ll let you stay here. I’m sure of it,”

“What about your dad?” She asked.

“Don’t worry about him.” I said, frowning.

“He’s hardly my dad anymore. He’s just a dickhead,”