Hover

Time of Mourning

All of my friends had been cremated, this was due to their injuries they sustained. After about six months of preparation, they all had their funerals on the same day. Naturally, I orchestrated it to where I could go to all of them. I simply would not have been comfortable missing one them.

The funerals where all at least an hour long, with William's being the longest event at two hours. Making sure that I could go to the event, I saw to it that he came first. This was down to the fact that I had promised Lawrence that I would be there. I made sure that I was there an hour early, to help prepare for the event.

Knowing how important this was going to be, I bought a new suit for the occasion. It was just a simple tailor made black suit, but it was well deserved for my close friends. Because while I was not the best of friends, I always provided my best for them. They only saw me as this person that was good for snarky comments.

So when I walked through those doors, I made sure to provide my best for them one last time. The people that were already there were setting up pictures of William. They had to have been at least an hour behind schedule. When I took note, I called out, "Hey! Where are all the flowers at, I'll set those up for you."

Lawrence must have been the first person to hear me, because he hollered back, "They're all in the kitchen, thanks for the help Ryan!"

Making my way to the churches kitchen, I ran into William's mom. She was balling her eyes out, so I made a detour over to her. Trying to console her, I told her, "It's alright, I'm pretty sure he'd appreciate all that you guys are doing for him."

With a hug from her, she thanked me for my words. Then I told her, "You should go have a seat, you shouldn't have to be setting all of this up. Just let us do it, okay?"

She nodded with gratefulness, and made her way to the sanctuary. I then started bringing the heaviest vases in to start. The mourners had all sent vases that ranged from twenty to fifty pounds. Grabbing two of the dozen upon dozens of flowers, I turned it into a workout.

Working up a sweat, I was speed walking back and forth. The vases covered the stage. They were so numerous that they were up and down the aisles, leaving little room to walk. Within fifteen minutes I had every vase set up, and was helping put up the last of the photos.

When the last photo went up, a massive crowd of people came through the doors. Lawrence and me then made our way to the kitchen for something to drink. He was quick to ask me when we got there, "Hey bro, did you make a speech for today?"

Being on my A-game, I answered him, "Yeah, I've made a speech for each of them. It still bothers me, you know? I didn't think I'd be having to do this so soon."

With a face of sorrow, he responded with, "Yeah, I was expecting Will to be doing it for me. Not the other way around. I hope HoverBlade catches that ass soon."

I nodded in agreement before saying, "I hope so too, no more people need to die."

Finishing our waters, we made our way back to the sanctuary. We made our way to our seats, and a pastor walked up and told us, "The service will begin in thirty minutes, please turn off all devices to be respectful to all of the mourning here."

It seemed like as soon as he said that, it started. A gaggle of people had speeches prepared, but they were just drops compared to me and especially Lawrence. When it came to be his time, he got up on the podium nervous for once. His voice cracked a few times, but he did not let that hold him back.

After a slow start, he began, "You know, my brother was one of few words. He generally would anger anyone with this flaw, even me. His time was short, and he didn't deserve what happened to him. But, we can only hope that the person that did this, is brought to justice. He was a kind and gentle soul, who would only fight if the situation called for it. So I can say, that he gave 'em hell before they caught him; I feel it in my gut. I do want to thank each and everyone of you that showed up today... I also implore each of you here, to remember what he stood for. That he was soul that aimed for greatness no matter how difficult, and that he would only aim for it in a righteous manner. So if you remember only one thing about this man, remember what he stood for, I ask you that."