Jeremy cried. He cried a lot. He wasn't even ashamed of it. The emotional baggage of seeing the futures of Cordelia and Tobias had built up and was now overflowing. He was entitled to a good cry.
"I'm so sorry Mom. I'm so sorry." He sobbed, and she just patted his back and held him for a while. Finally, after a good twenty minutes of crying he got a good look at her. Her always present dark circles were even more prominent than usual, and her eyes were bloodshot. It looked like there were a few more wrinkles in her face too. Unlike Cordelia and Tobias, who had appeared as they were when he died, his mother looked like she was coping with his death.
"I'm sorry too honey. I'm sorry that you have to see what happens to me." Her eyes shone with tears, and the overwhelming feeling of dread overcame him.
"What do you mean?" Jeremy asked, and his mom shook her head sadly.
"You should know the rules by now. You have to see it for yourself." For the third time, Jeremy walked over to the white screen, but for the first time, he hesitated before touching the screen.
"You'll be right next to me right?" He asked, feeling like a small child again, strongly reminded of the time when he went on his first roller coaster, and was so afraid that he held his mothers hand and covered his eyes with his other hand.
"Of course sweetie. I'll always be here." Despite the kind words, a flicker of doubt flashed across his mind, another memory, this one far more recent. Him, holding a letter recommending a therapist for his mental issues, and her ignoring him, continuing to drink and chat on the phone to her friend. But, he shook that memory away and touched the screen.
There were no colours this time. Instead there was just the powerful metallic scent that he recognized, but couldn't quite name. Then the smell disappeared and he was standing in his familiar bedroom, and had to fight back the tears as he saw his lifeless body lying on his bed, his mother crouched over him, sobbing hysterically into the phone.
"Please, please, my son swallowed something and he isn't responding. You have to get here soon! He is going to die!" Jeremy looked over and saw that Angel-Mom was crying too, a few tears trickling slowly down her cheeks. Luckily this didn't last too long, and soon the scene changed, to his funeral once again. Jeremy didn't go over to look at his body again. he had already seen his lifeless corpse enough times to last a lifetime. He didn't look at Cordelia either. It was too painful. Watching his mother wasn't very easy either. While Cordelia had been fairly composed throughout the ordeal, as expected, his mother was a mess. She could barely stand, and was leaning on his older brother, crying uncontrollably.
"I'm not a very pretty crier am I?" She asked wryly, watching herself cry herself dry.
"No you aren't." He breathed, not really thinking about his words. Luckily she laughed.
"I suppose I wasn't really trying to look good."
"Understandably." Jeremy was still transfixed by the sight of his mother.
"Shall we move on? Jeremy?" It took him a beat to respond.
"Yeah. Lets get out of here."
The next few scenes were pretty normal. They all included his mother sobbing over memories of Jeremy, receiving condolences from other people. His brother flitted in and out, never really knowing what to do to help his mother. With every passing moment of crying Jeremy became more and more on edge. With all the foreshadowing that his mother had been doing before, the end of this had to be more monumental than her crying. Sure, the crying was heart wrenching, but it wasn't anything that he hadn't seen before. Then they were in the graveyard, standing in front of his grave.
"This is the last scene." Angel-Mom said quietly, after being practically silent for the previous couple sequences. Jeremy watched as his real mother walked over to them and stood there, watching the grave. Unsurprisingly, she was crying. Then she started speaking.
"I failed you son. I really failed you." Jeremy heard two voices, and realized that Angel-Mom was also speaking the words. "I wasn't there for you when you needed me. I didn't even know about everything going on in your life. I was so preoccupied with your brother that I couldn't see what was happening right in front of you. But I'm here now baby. I'm here now." With that she sat down by the headstone, and pulled out a shiny, silver knife. Jeremy gasped and everything clicked. This is what Angel-Mom didn't want him to see. His mother was about to kill herself.
"No. No. No!" Jeremy sprung forward and tried to tug the knife out of her hand. But he just passed through her, making no impact at all.
"I'll see you in Heaven honey. And I'll always be there for you." She wasn't crying anymore, but instead was smiling, the first real smile that he had seen from her so far. With that she sliced the knife down both her wrists, and Jeremy screamed and tried frantically to press his hands to her wounds, crying almost as hard as she had at his funeral. He saw the life drain out of her along with the blood. Then he tried to cradle her, continuing to sob.
"Come on, Mommy please come back."
"You can't help her Jeremy." Angel-Mom tried to touch his shoulder, but he shook it off.
"How could you do that? How could you kill yourself?" Jeremy shouted angrily. but the angel just shook their head.
"I did nothing that you didn't do." Jeremy felt as though he had been punched in the stomach.
"Will you get what I got?" He asked quietly.
"No. I don't get a second chance. But you do. And I beg that you take it." The angel was now holding his hands, and he noticed that a growing amount of blood was pooling around them.
"Take me back." Jeremy whispered, and with one last look at his mothers body, the metallic scent returned, and he recognized it this time. It was blood.
Jeremy wasn't feeling very optimistic about the next person after what he had just seen. After what felt like forever slow footsteps came from behind him.
"I promise that my future won't be nearly as heavy to see." Of course, Jeremy recognized the voice, but was not expecting to hear it here. Normally he heard it at school, taunting him in the hallways. When he turned around, he was looking at his own personal bully, Brett.
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I am very sorry about the lack of updates. My life is getting kind of crazy, but I am going to try very hard to get regular updates out. As always, thank you all for reading and remember to vote, comment, and follow.
Cat
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Seven Minutes in Heaven
Teen FictionAfter Jeremy Donovan swallows his entire medicine cabinet, he wakes up in a place that isn't quite what he expected. He is soon greeted by an angel, who explains why he is here. Jeremy has seven minutes for the paramedics to save him. Once those sev...