Together Burning Bright

The day was warm-not too warm and there was a light breeze flowing through the air. It would have been the perfect day to be out in the garden, but no…no there was something else important that needed to be done. Groups of people-young and old-were walking down the sidewalk towards the funeral home and their black clad bodies all began to blend together. A funeral was in progress and the mourners stayed quiet as they mingled outside, waiting for the doors to open. It was sad to be here and as kids ran around, enjoying the sunshine and the adults watched over them, everyone could sense the depression hanging over the building.

A family was inside, all of them sitting in a row in the very front of the viewing room, with the casket sitting front and center. Arabella-her gray hair pulled back and out of her face, her wrinkled blue eyes brimming over with tears as she looked down at her hands. She couldn’t look into that casket, couldn’t bear to see the person laying inside-lost forever. Oliver was sitting beside his sister, his suit jacket tight around his slumped shoulders and his moss green eyes were also brimming over. He, unlike Aria, was looking right at the casket sitting in front of them and yet he knew that just looking at it was making him cry even harder.

Camellia was next, her black skirt sitting just above her knees and she was shaking as she held her hands in her lap, looking down at her shoes. She couldn’t imagine what her brother and sister were going through-their whole lives had ended when they had gotten that terrible phone call a week ago. Sitting beside her was probably the one person in the entire world who was hurting the most. It’s funny when you lose someone who always felt like they were your better half-it’s like losing a part of yourself. You do everything together-eat together, sit on the porch together and sleep beside one another every night. Now that was all gone-the better half was gone and all that was left was a shell. A beautiful, kind and wonderful shell that Andy would never get to sleep next to ever again.

Odessa Annemarie Montgomery Biersack had passed away in her sleep at the age of ninety and her husband Andy was beyond devastated.

Andy and Dess had gone to bed, laughing and joking about their day the next day. Andy had plans to get out in the garden and at eighty-nine he was still pretty spry. They were still living in the house that he had bought for her-Odessa refused to sell it and Andy refused to live in a home. Neither one of them felt their age, most of the time, but their children were almost adamant. They had had dinner that night, watched some television and then sat on the porch until two-recounting old times when the kids were young and before they even had gotten married. Andy had woken up the next morning, surprised to see Dess laying beside him as she usually was up at the crack of dawn and sitting outside with her coffee.

He remembered laughing, saying out loud that she must be getting too old to stay up as late as two in the morning. But when his wife wouldn’t stir Andy felt his heart begin to pound as he noticed that she wasn’t breathing. He cried out for her, cried out her name, screamed for help and finally picked up the phone and dialed 9-1-1. They were sending someone out and he was told to stay on the line, but Andy knew it was too late. His Odessa was gone and as Andy came to terms with that fact the only thing he could think to do was to curl up beside her and run a hand over her back.

They had finally showed up, rushing in and as the paramedics noticed that Andy was in the bed with her, they seemed to stop for a moment and looked out on the couple. Andy wasn’t screaming, he was just laying there softly crying as he rubbed his wife’s back gently. Finally one of the female paramedics was able to convince Andy to get up and allow them to get to his wife and as he moved from the bed and headed to the door, Andy stopped at the frame and looked back into the room. Odessa had passed in her sleep and she still had that small smile on her lips that she got whenever she was having a good dream. Andy just left them to it and he then made himself a cup of tea, wrapped a blanket around his frail shoulders and went to sit out on the front porch.

He watched as they wheeled her body out and the female paramedic who had helped him, asked Andy if he had anyone to call. His kids, he replied and handed over his phone-he couldn’t do it…he couldn’t tell the kids that their mother had passed. He only sat there and listened as the sweet paramedic-she reminded him of his granddaughter Katrina-called first Aria, then Oliver and finally Cammy. Oliver was living out in LA still and Andy felt his old heart break as he could hear his son sobbing over the phone. He and Dess had always been close and Andy knew this was going to be hard on his only son. Cammy was just down the road-she and Pierce had taken his parent’s house when Ashley had died.

Aria was the first to arrive, sobbing as she rushed out of the car and saw her father sitting there on the porch, silently crying to himself as he looked at the rising sun. She went to him, holding her aging father as he cried against her shoulder. Aria couldn’t believe it, but she knew that her father would never lie to her-he hadn’t her entire life and he wasn’t going to start now. Cam finally pulled up, not even bothering to turn off her car as she rushed towards her sister and father, embracing them tightly as they all cried. They all knew that they would need to go to the hospital and so Aria and Cam both worked to get their father out of his rocker, but at first he refused. He was going to sit right there and wait for Dess to come back home.

An hour of begging, pleading and crying and finally the three of them were in Cammy’s car with Pierce driving them all to the hospital. They were sent down to the basement where the morgue was located and Andy was given a chair to rest in. He sat there, cane in hand and his knees were aching, but he had to see Odessa one last time. Her death had been ruled natural-her heart had just stopped beating…she had lost her fight with old age. It wasn’t a monster like cancer or the cause of bad choices when she was younger…she just passed on in to another life and there was nothing to be done.

Andy was taken to Aria’s where Katrina had been there to take care of him while Aria and Cam went to the airport to pick up their brother. They would handle everything-calling those who needed to know of their mother’s passing, the funeral arrangements and her legal affairs. Their father wouldn’t see any of it-they were all scared that if he handled it that it would kill him and they couldn’t bear to bury both parents at the same time. All the appropriate people had been notified and Alternative Press Magazine, Comic Fair Magazine and even People Magazine had run small articles on their mother and her life.

Finally the day had come for them to say goodbye and as the four of them sat in front of that casket and looked down on their mother-they knew it really would be goodbye.


“Everything looks really nice Aria-you did a good job. Mom would be proud.” Oliver said, wiping at his cheeks as he looked beside him and noticed that Aria was still looking down at her feet. Being the oldest-Aria had taken the most responsibility for their mother and both younger siblings knew it was going to be hard on her.

“Yeah Bell…mom would be happy with all of the flowers…” Cammy said softly as she scanned her eyes over the back wall behind the casket and took them all in. Daisies, Camellia, Lilies and even more flowers that she couldn’t recognize. Their mother had loved flowers-knew their language and everything they had to say that people normally couldn’t.

“Dad? Dad are you doing okay?” Aria asked and Andy only grunted, never taking his eyes off of his wife who was laying before him. People had begun to file in and yet Andy remained seated-he didn’t care who was here or what was going on around him.


As all of the people-friends and family-came into the room and walked up to pay their last respects, Andy couldn’t help but think things over in his mind. He should have known that something wasn’t right-there had to have been a sign. He played their day over and over again in his mind and as he sat there, Andy finally realized that there had been nothing. Their day had been completely normal-out in the garden, lunch, out in the studio and then inside for a rousing night of watching the sun set from the porch, some television and then bed. They had laid in that bed together, joking about their exciting day the next day and yet as he looked back on it, Andy wanted to relish in that last conversation.

They had also talked about their lives together and maybe that had been the clue, but it was normal for them to think back on younger days. Days of running around on stage, running around after a two year old Aria and running around after three teenagers who thought they knew everything. They’d had a good life together Andy and Dess, but now Andy didn’t know what was going to happen. Would Aria make him move out of the house? If so then he was putting up a huge fight-Dess had died in that house, as had Moira and Andy was bound and determined to follow in their footsteps when the time was right. As he sat there, not paying attention to the speaker who was standing over them all, he realized something…

He was the only one left…everyone else had died and left him for a better place.


“I would like to thank everyone for coming out today to see that my mother has a proper send off. Odessa Annemarie Biersack was quite a woman and an even better mother. Most of you knew her as Aunt Dess, Grandma, Granny or just Dess, but my brother, sister and I knew her as Mom. My mother was an artist, just like my brother Oliver and together they would spend hours down in our basement just drawing together and spending time with one another.” Aria was at the podium now and at the sound of her voice, Andy looked up and a smile graced his crinkled face.

“Mom was always a planner-she had our days planned out the best that she could, but she was always okay if we ruined those plans. Most of us in this room-The Band Kids-knew my mom as someone who you could always go to if you needed something and she was always there, even when other mothers were not. Mom loved life and she loved life with my father-they led a simple existence of gardening, painting and sitting in their rockers to watch the run set or rise behind the tree line.” Andy smiled, his memories flooding his sight as he thought back to all of those nights where sometimes they watched the sun sink and then would sit up until it rose once again.

“My mother was always there for me-for us-and I know she was there for some of you as well. But as we say goodbye to our beloved Mother, Friend, Aunt, Grandmother and Granny-we must keep in mind that she is in a better place. She is in Heaven with her sister, Moira, her mother and father and many others who have left us. Ashley and Katrina. CC and Christy. Jinxx and Melissa. Jake and Ella and a few others whom she loved and admired. Today is a sad day, but it is also a happy day because our mother is free from her age-she is high in that wonderful place filled with music, laughter and love. Thank you for coming…” Aria said, but stopped as she noticed that her father had stood. His shoulders were stooped over and his hands were gnarled from years of playing the guitar and piano, but it was obvious that Andy Biersack had something to say.


Everyone grew silent as they watched the old and newly widowed man climb the small set of stairs. Oliver had jumped up to help his father, but the old man only grumbled further as he swatted his son’s hands away and finished climbing up himself. He looked down on his wife, laying there in her casket and Andy knew that this was it. They’d had such a wonderful life together and it was a shame that she had to go first…he always thought that Odessa would out live them all. He cleared his throat, his deep tone had grown deeper with age and Andy knew it was going to be hard to hear him, but he had to get this out…he had to say goodbye to his one true love.


“Odessa was the love of my life. She-she saved me in more ways than I can count and I know that if it weren’t for her…none of this would have been possible. It was summer time when I met Odessa-hot and humid but as she bumped in to me and then I looked in to her eyes…I knew none of it mattered. I chased her-man she loved to tease me-and finally she gave in, making me the luckiest man on the planet. We had a fine time together-even though the loss of her sister had devastated us both, but we got through it and we lived a good life together. Odessa once said something to me-something I’ll never forget…” Andy stopped, taking in a deep breath as he looked down at his wife and realized that he would never look in to her moss green eyes ever again…they were closed for all eternity.

“As we grow up. We learn that even the one person who wasn’t supposed to let you down, probably will. You will have your heart broken, probably more than once and it’s harder every time. You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You’ll fight with a best friend. You’ll blame a new love for things an old one did. You’ll cry because time is passing too fast and you’ll eventually lose the ones you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much and love like you’ve never been broken, because every sixty seconds you spend upset, is another minute of happiness you’ll never get back.” He was crying now-he could remember exactly when she had said those words to him and Andy had made it his personal motto after that.

“We lived by those words-our kids are proof of that-we took too many pictures and fought with so much passion that it was thick like butter, but at the end of the day all it took was a cup of tea, a long conversation and lots of laughter. Dess was everything to me-she was my moon, my stars and even my sky. We loved one another fiercely and I can say with total honesty that I have not, nor will I ever, love another the way I loved her. She was my everything and I would go to the end of the world for her…except now my world is gone and I am left before you…broken and alone.” Andy finished up, his old blue eyes filled with tears and he knew that his children were sobbing at his words.


Cammy came up to the small stage, tucking his arm under hers and slowly they made their way back to the front row of seats. Everyone around him was getting up, off to head towards the cemetery and even though Andy didn’t want to go, he knew he would have to. His children gathered him up, walking slowly as they all made their way out to the limo that would follow behind the hearse carrying his wife to her final resting place. The drive over was slow, they were given a police escort to the cemetery and as they entered through those wrought iron gates, Andy took in a deep breath. He had been to this damn cemetery too many times-Moira, Mrs. Montegomery, Kit and finally Ashley. The car wove around the tight path until finally it came to a stop.

Two of his grandsons, along with Oliver, Pierce, a great grandson and Potter all moved to pull out the coffin, but Andy was already headed towards the tent that sat off in the distance. The flowers had been brought from the funeral home and as he took his seat front and center, Andy knew that Dess was up in Heaven, smiling down on them and loving every minute of this. He looked to the left and Andy felt his smile grow-Moira. It had been so long since they had buried that little girl and he knew that Dess was probably greeted with a big hug from her little sister. She had told him once that Moira had visited her in a dream-telling her that her sickness would be worthwhile and that it would change their lives.

Arabella had been born six months after that and it had changed their lives in so many ways.
They’d had a good life together-filled with love and laughter. There had been times of sadness and sorrow, but those times never outweighed the good. Together they had braved every storm thrown their way-losing friends, living a part and raising three amazing children. They had done it all and together they had learned more about life than they had ever thought possible. Andy knew that Dess was being lowered into the ground and while Aria, Oli and Cam all cried around him, holding one another-Andy couldn’t help but smile.

He had been taken back to that first summer-where they had fallen in love, caught fire, learned how to burn through life together and then they had burned brightly-for over fifty years they had burned together and Andy knew…they weren’t done burning.

They never would be…

Notes

There's nothing for me to say. I have no witty comment to place here-just my apologies. It's not easy letting beloved characters go and to be honest this isn't the last you will see of Andy, Dess, Moira, Kit and other's. I have spent the past eight months writing a love story that I never knew could have existed, but for so many of you it seemed real. I've had plenty of people tell me that they wait for Andy to mention Dess or Moira on Twitter or that they can just imagine what's going on in this world I have built. This story, in it's entirety is over 1000 pages long-that's amazing to me and it's all because of you, dear reader.

You guys have given me the strength and courage to keep on writing and I truly appreciate every single one of you. We all have been through this story together-you aren't the only one crying right now. I cried when I wrote the ending for this and I cried when I wrote the Epilogue that will be posted in a few minutes. It's over, but not really. Dess will forever live in my heart and in my mind.

Again, thank you to all of you who reviewed, subscribed and voted and most of all...thanks for hanging in there with me. Please, stay around and read the Epilogue, I do think you'll like it and I will also be posting small bios for all of the band kids so that you can meet them, especially the ones I only mentioned once or twice.

Review...one last time<3

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