Beginning of an End

This story is an adaption of Mary's graphic bookcover for it

I've tweaked Mary's initial idea for the story a bit, such as the details of the plot that Mary came up with. The cast are all based on the book cover above. Hope you enjoy it.

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Foreword

Three days after his disappearance, to his friends and family’s shock and horror, Jonathon Phan’s body was finally found banked along the winding creek that flowed pass the small town. His bloated body became unrecognisable to even his own mother.

Miles down the edge of the creek bank, between the local park and the slippery creek bank, the police found his car. Inside, they made more discoveries. Littered inside the car were scattered pills that were carelessly dropped on the passenger seat and the floor in front of it.

A note was found wedged in between the dashboard and the front window, typed in clear Times New Roman font 12 letters were the last words that Jonathon left for his friends and family:

“I must repay for what I’ve done and this is the only way that I can lift the guilt. Goodbye.”

***

Cardin. Trish. Chosen. Anh Minh. Jonathon.
A group of friends, who lived a normal life, hanging out and studying, dispersed after one of their death.

Cardin chose the path of studying to work away his pain and sorrow, toiling away under textbooks. Little did he know that he would be learning more than just the standard subjects as one by one, the pages unfold...

Trish coped by moving away, leaving the sad past behind her but instead of distancing herself away from the incident, Trish had moved right into the heart of the mystery of her friend’s death.

Chosen, in his anger and hurt caused by the death, chose to drown himself in the company of drop outs and alcohol. Through his drunken phases and careless blurts of words, Chosen soon realised that maybe he had found an end to the loose strings of the suicide.

Anh Minh, the only one who never wanted the group to split, remained by herself. She wanted to hold onto the remaining feelings of what the group had, the laughter they had shared, but she couldn’t do it alone. Then...a discovery threw her into a spiral of investigations which turned obsessive.

Maybe it hadn’t been a suicide after all.

Whoo!
I can't wait to read it! (:
Sounds soooo good. & I love the characters that'll be in it. [:

Will there be any couples? Hehe. (;

haha..of course...all stories will have love relationships somewhere

but who's paired with who?..you'll have to find out

i'm only posting the foreword for now...i won't be posting chapters up yet because i haven't actually finished the story yet.

Just giving you guys something to anticipate

Helen, I better be seeing Trish&Cardin & AM&Chosen pair here. XD

Dude, kinduh scary, I was watching Jonathan Phan's videos yesterday. Hint, hint, his last name is Phan. XD

But man, can't wait to read this.

That's just oh so nice of you to keep us waiting. D< LOL. (x
Can't wait to see who's paired with who! Yah! Hahaha.

Like I said before...in our PMs....I freakin i'm soo excited about this story! You've adapted it sooo well! the anticipation is killing me...I can't believe you would even think about posting this...just to make up wait! DX Anyhoo....I'll forgive you if you post a chapter up soon! ^__^

Chapter One: The Funeral

Mrs Phan collapsed onto the dark blue carpet on her living room as the policeman slowly broke the horrifying news to her.

“I’m terribly sorry madam,” the policeman stated again with the sympathetic voice that he began with.

At that moment, her husband walked through the door, dropping his briefcase before rushing over to her side. The two parents held onto each other as they gradually began to accept what had happened.

Their son had committed suicide.

***

Trish dropped her cup of hot chocolate as the news on TV informed her about the latest death in town. She swore she had heard the right name but maybe it wasn’t him. It couldn’t be Jonathon.

***

Anh Minh and Chosen were putting the finishing touches onto their science project when Trish called them. Ignoring whatever they had in their hands, the two friends dropped everything and ran out of the small room. They needed confirmation.

***

Cardin was the last to know. His phone running out of battery at the most inconvenient time and thus he was the last to arrive outside the Phan’s house. The other three had been waiting there for him. None of them wanted to enter without the others.

It was true.

The shock on their faces showed as Mr Phan answered their question in place for his wife who was still in no state to speak.

Jonathon Phan had committed suicide.

***

One by one, his closest friends stepped up to the closed coffin that was lowered into the ground. If Jonathon had taken a guess, he knew that the first to break into tears would be Trish. Her gentle nature made her sensitive to every little thing around her and he would have been right. Her tears reached the maroon painted coffin lid before the lonely daisy hit its wood.

Anh Minh stepped up next, her tears welling up at the sight of Trish crying. She made an effort to stay calm but broke down as his coffin came into sight. Her lone daisy fell onto the coffin, lying diagonally on top of Trish’s one.

Cardin turned so he would not see the darkness that his friend’s life would enter, the six feet hole that stared at him like a gaping mouth. He let his own flower slipped through his fingers and they fell daintily next to that of the girls.

Before Cardin could take his step back, Chosen had walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder in comfort. Just like Cardin and the rest had, Chosen let his daisy fall, ending the funeral with his last flower.

“Why did he do it?” Trish asked through her faint sobs, her face buried into Anh Minh’s shoulder for support, “He’s such an idiot! Why did he do it?”

Mr and Mrs Phan stood a distance away, letting their tears flow as they grieved for their lost son. It fell hardest on Mrs Phan to see her only child away at such a young age. Mr Phan stood by her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders, his hand effortlessly patting the side of her shoulder every few seconds in comfort.

They were glad that Jonathon had such good friends who had turned up to the funeral. The Phan were not well known in town and never really participated in community events thus even their son’s funeral had seem bare. The loneliness of it all was added by the roaring grey clouds that looked as though they wanted to cry for the Phan’s lost.

“We never even knew,” Cardin said in disappointment, mostly at himself, “Maybe I should have noticed something.”

Anh Minh shook her head sadly and looked up at Cardin who held his head in his hands, “None of us knew. He just didn’t say anything.”

The four remaining friends walked over to Jonathon’s parents and huddled around to share their condolences. If only they had looked around, they would have seen that there were more people attending the funeral than they thought.

***

She stood behind a large oak tree and looked on at the grieving family and friends. Jonathon didn’t know her but she sure knew him. His death brought her no closure nor did it bring her any sorrow. Not a single tear drop shed down her pale cheeks. Her tensed fingers grasped onto the trunk of the tree that concealed her from view, it was not fair. Even in death, Jonathon was grieved for by many. She furrowed her eyebrows in anger and glared at the tombstone that had been erected, it was just unfair.

A little further down from where she hid, another figure looked on at the funeral process. The smaller girl sat in her car and stared out her window to catch a glimpse of Jonathon before he left the surface forever. In her hands, she held a small red tulip that she placed on her lap. He had been good to her but she could not bring herself to see him one last time.

***

“What is he doing here?” Chosen asked curiously as a tall male figure loomed into view.

They all sort of knew who he was but none had expected him to show up for Jonathon’s funeral. Evan wasn’t the type to feel emotions and it was unlikely he would be there to grieve for Jonathon’s death. They hadn’t ever spoken to one another let alone knew it each other well.

“I’m sorry for your lost,” Evan’s voice was soft and almost sincere.

The four friends were somewhat shocked by Evan’s appearance and then his unusual manner. He had always been known as the invisible man at school since he was hardly ever there. They eyed him suspiciously as he walked towards the open grave and bowed his head slightly in respect.

Trish wiped her tears away and held onto Anh Minh’s hand for strength as she too bowed her head in respect for her deceased friend. He was such a baby of the group and yet he was the first to go out of the five of them. Trish was still in denial but she knew she would have to accept his death somehow.

Cardin followed the same gesture of respect and did a small speech in his head to Jonathon. Out of the five of them, Jonathon had always been the smartest one and the one with the brightest future. They had all teased him of being the perfect son and would have probably become a doctor or lawyer to fulfil his parents’ dream. Now he couldn’t be either.

Chosen turned his baseball cap the right way, the first time he ever did so. That was the least he could do to show his respect for Jonathon. It was just too depressing and Chosen felt a surge of anger in him. How could Jonathon do this to them? Chosen felt a sense of betrayal in that Jonathon had not trusted them enough to confide in them his worries. Torn between grief and anger, Chosen tilted his head downwards so that the others wouldn’t see the expression on his face.

It had only been days ago since the five of them had been together. The five were down to four and there was nothing any of them could do about it.

On exact cue, spits of rain fell down onto them, blending its icy liquid with the salty tears that were shed. The scene marked the beginning of a drastic change; it marked the beginning of an end.

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Krazim: haha, not telling you guys the paring as yet.
luckiiegiirl: haha..hope i didn't keep you waiting too long
Mar: i'm really glad you like the adaption () and here's the first chapter! *takes mary's forgiveness*

actually, i'm not yet done with writing the story but i'm far ahead enough to start posting now so...ENJOY! (i'll try not to make it too draggy)

Awesome first chapter! I feel so bad for everyone...funerals are so depressing! DX Anyhoo....I can't wait to see the story unfold.....the little bit that i got from PMing you back and forth has me hooked! I'm getting so anxious! Anyhoo...I'm curious as to who the girl holding the red tulip is....HEHE* I hope she's not the one who killed him....cuz according to her "he had been good to her".....You're so good at writing! Update Soon!

BTW....Whenever I get the time...I'm gonna make you a knew poster...LOL* I just realized that it has MARY NGUYEN really big on that one! LOL* And the pics are okay...now I have new pics so I'm gonna use them! ^__^ Well...of half the people...the other half are still old pics! LOL*

I love the first chapter! (:
I'm dying to know who the two girls are /=
x)
update sooon! :]

^argh.that was me; forgot log in.

btw. will the rest of the characters (on the poster) be introduced sooon?

So the other two: DNY and CTH? o_O or Cat Tien? Hmm.... Me thinkish CTH is the rose girl. XD I dunno, something in the back of mind says so.

Man, sucks that the beginning had to be like this. So sad. =(

Chapter Two: Ends of the road

[A month later]

Anh Minh sat by the park bench that the group had always chosen to hang out in the past. She had taken her usual spot by the end of one of the benches that rest beside a flaky green picnic table. It wasn’t the same.

Trish was no longer sitting beside her, comfortably squeezed in the middle between herself and Cardin. Jonathon and Chosen were no longer sitting opposite them, telling the odd jokes that only made them laugh because of how lame they were.

Anh Minh sighed and ran her index finger along the table, the skin underneath feeling the scratch marks that the five of them had carved into the wood, upturning the green paint that the council had tried to cover them up with. She could feel the crooked ‘T’ that Trish tried to carve when they decided to embed their names into the wood.

Now, it was just Anh Minh left.

Slowly, they had all gone their separate path. The death of Jonathon was like the absence of glue that used to bind them together.

The cold winter air wrapped around her lonely figure and Anh Minh shivered. Why had it come to this? She couldn’t understand why their firm group had dispersed. She was still determined to make it normal again but she couldn’t do it alone.

***

Cardin stalked out from the classroom as the bell rang for lunch but instead of heading to the cafeteria like the rest of the students, he stalked into the library with his hands full of books. That was all he cared about now. If Jonathon couldn’t achieve what he had been destined to, Cardin made a promise that he would try his best for the guy.

Unlike Jonathon, Cardin had never been blessed with natural intelligence so all he could do is try that much harder.

“Cardin,” a female voice called him as he was about to sit down at his normal isolated spot in the large library.

He turned around and saw the familiar face of Anh Minh who took her seat opposite him. Cardin tried to smile but nothing showed. Even after so long, the death still felt new to him, the pain was still there. He had been close to the poor guy and Cardin felt as though he had lost a brother and it had been his fault. If only he had paid more attention, maybe he could have prevented Jonathon from doing something so stupid.

“The group...” Anh Minh started but her words were cut short by Cardin’s husky voice.

“The group is gone Minh,” Cardin explained sadly, “It’s never going to be the same with just the four of us and we all know it.”

“But can’t we do it for Jonathon?” she asked in desperation, her eyes begging Cardin to help her, “He wouldn’t have wanted the group to be like this...”

“Well,” Cardin opened up his Maths textbook and stared at it while speaking, “We’ll never know will we?”

***

Trish heaved the heavy suitcase onto the four wheel drive that her family had rented for the move. She gave the town one last look as she remembered the happy memories that had happened there, the friends she had made and the friend that she had lost. Trish knew she was the weakest of the group, her heart shattering at the smallest jolt of emotion and maybe that was why she just couldn’t cope being there anymore.

Everywhere she looked, she saw Jonathon’s ghostly shadow that had once been with them. The only way she could move on was to move and her parents agreed.

“Trish!” a voice called her before she climbed into the passenger seat.

Trish turned around and saw Anh Minh running towards her. It was nice to have at least one of them see her off and Trish smiled gratefully for Anh Minh’s appearance.

“Thanks for coming Minh,” Trish smiled but the sadness in her eyes were apparent.

“Do you really have to leave?” Anh Minh asked through her puffing breaths.

Trish nodded but took out a pen and a piece of paper, “But you guys can visit me if you want. It’s only to the town next to ours. ”

Anh Minh held the paper in her hand but she didn’t want it. It was bad enough that they had all left but for Trish to leave the town completely was more than Anh Minh could handle, even if it was just to the town next door. They were the closest of friends since they were the only two girls in the group. She could feel a tear shed as the car drove off with Trish sticking her head out the window and waving frantically.

Another friend was gone.

***

Anh Minh couldn’t catch Chosen at school since he was never there anymore. He never returned her calls or message her back when she messaged him. There was no way that Anh Minh could contact him unless she came there to face him herself.

The loud music was beating loudly into her eardrums and she had to clap her hands over them just in case she would go deaf from the volume. Looking around, all she could see was flashing lights lighting up identical top of heads, lighting it blue, red and green.

“Chosen!” she screamed loudly to the bartender who had come to ask her what she wanted to drink.

He hadn’t heard her the first time she had asked him for her friend’s whereabouts and Anh Minh had to scream the name out several times before he pointed to a space by the back of the club. She walked over to where she was directed to, squeezing pass dancing bodies and dodging the grasping hands that touched her in uncomfortable places.

Finally, she reached a large table that was propped up for the group that sat lazily along the lounge around it. Chosen was tangled amongst the drunken bodies of his new mates, his eyes closed and his hand grasped loosely on a half empty bottle of alcohol.

“Chosen!” Anh Minh screamed out his name but he either didn’t hear her or had chosen to ignore it.

Frustrated with the sight in front of her, Anh Minh pushed pass the drunken guys and grabbed Chosen by his right wrist and pulled him roughly until his was propped up. He gave a sudden jerk as his body reacted to the action, his eyes slowly opening and saw Anh Minh.

“Minh...” his voice came out as a slur, struggling to get up to his feet.

“Come with me,” Anh Minh shouted angrily as she pulled him along, dragging him out of the disgusting club.

Once they were out of the place and could finally hear their own voices, Anh Minh let go of Chosen’s hand. He stumbled backwards unevenly and almost fell down, his hand still grasping on the bottle of alcohol.

“What are you doing!?” Anh Minh screamed at him but Chosen just smiled through his drunken state and tried to take another gulp of his liquor.

“Give me that!” Anh Minh yanked the bottle out of his hand and threw it away where it hit the floor and broke into small pieces, the liquid spilling out onto the cold ground.

Chosen made no effort to resist; instead, he let himself collapse on the ground and closed his eyes. He was sleepy.

Anh Minh sighed and helped pick him up, her hand holding around his waist as she pulled him onto his feet. There was no point even talking to him, Anh Minh thought, he was not even awake. She dragged him slowly, her arms aching but she kept going, until they arrived at a dirty bench where she sat him down. Anh Minh took a seat next to him and buried her face into her hands, hiding the sobs that escaped from her.

Chosen opened his eyes slightly and saw the scene beside him. He could tell that she was crying but he did nothing. He couldn’t do anything. Nothing was ever like how you wanted it; Chosen screamed inside his own head, nothing ever went according to plan. That was how it was for Jonathon as well. They had planned on so much for that weekend, to go on a trip together to the bay south of the town. Chosen had even planned on dunking the four of them in the water but that scene will never happen. Instead, all he got was the scene of Anh Minh crying in front of him.

He closed his eyes and listened to her stifled sobs, allowing the cold air to numb his body in hope that it would numb his heart as well.

-----

The rest of the characters will appear later in the story, I just want to build some character into the main group first.

OMG! That chapter was soo depressing! Every scene....made me cry! DX Its so depressing to see a group of friends break up like this...and the reason is all the more sad....*Sigh* I don't know what to say! All I can say is that you're really good at evoking emotion! Now imagine if I had sad music playing in the background......I'd probably be bawling! I think the saddest part was Chosen & Anh Minh scene.....(My brother was kinda like Chosen when he lost his friend....except not as extreme....so I can kinda see why Chosen is like that...and it really hit me the hardest right there! XD) Anyhoo....you're doing an amazing job...I can't wait to read more! Update Soon!

Oh my, I remember when a group of old friends split up after two huge break-ups. After that, everyone just went their own separate ways. =( Honestly, it's sad, and sometimes, I just want to see all of us back together and have some laughs.

But man, can't believe how extreme everyone went after Jonathon died. He was like the duct tape of the group, always sticking everyone together and fixing problems. =( Awwww.... T^T

T_______T