Teenage Kicks - Steve Harrington

'Will's funeral'

When Steve and I arrived at my house, we both noticed someone else's car outside. My dads.  "Who's car is that?" Steve asked, as we both stayed in the car. "My dads." I reply in barely a mumble. "Oh." He nodded, just as confused as me. My dad hasn't called here in years, and now, he decides to start acting like a father.

"See you tomorrow?" Steve asked as I opened the car door. "Maybe." I smiled, stepping out. "Night, Steve." I shut his car door as he called back at me. "Goodnight, Avril."

I slowly twisted the doorknob of the house and could already hear my dad stomping around. He was walking out of Jonathan's room when I stepped through the door. "Dad? Why are you home?" I asked and he looked up at me, caught by surprise.  "Will's funeral. I wouldn't miss it." He smiled, going over to hug me. I pretended like I knew about all the details of the funeral as he talked about them with me.

We said our good nights and I slowly crept into my bedroom, lifted up my white duvet, climbed into bed and fell asleep after around a hour of staring at my poster covered walls.

My brother woke me up gently and told me to get ready for the funeral, so I did. I found a black dress that went to just above my knees which I layered with black tights, black boots and a black trench coat, covering the dress. I stared blankly at myself in the mirror in my bedroom as I brushed my messy hair.

"You ready?" My dad asked, walking into my room without knocking and disturbing my wallowing. "Uh yeah. Knock next time." I nodded at him as he walked back out to the hall in his black tuxedo.

I stood next to my brother and mom at the ceremony, a lot of people turned up. Steve, Carol and Tommy didn't, which is good because I don't think that Will would like them to be there..even though he might still be alive.

Raquel turned up and gave her condolences to us before it started, which was nice of her. Will and her always had a good connection. She would help Jonathan and I babysit him sometimes. Will liked her a lot because she was really interested in art like him. She always knew what art supplies to get him for his birthday and Christmas.

Many other people turned up, but I was too busy arguing with myself if this is real or not. Will talked to my mom and i through the lights. That is a fact. So Will was alive then. Will's body turned up in the lake, dead. Which is also a true fact . A monster came out of our wall. That is a fact as well. Nothing makes sense.

"It's times like these that our faith is challenged. How, if he is truly benevolent...could god take from us someone so young, so innocent." The priest said with a copy of the bible in his right hand. I started to tear up, remembering all the little moments Will and I shared together.

Wherever he is now, I need to be with him. He needed me when Jamie from his pre school kicked him off the slide. He needed me when I taught him how to ride a bike. He needed me when he couldn't do his homework, which was very seldom because he was..is one of the smartest boys in his middle school. Wherever he is now, he needs me. I need him.

When the ceremony ended, some people walked by his grave and threw white roses down. Will never liked white roses all that much. He's more of a colorful type of guy. We should've sent out something to say to bring different roses. Some red, some white, some orange, some pink some purple, some yellow, some blue and definitely some green.

Karen Wheeler and her husband came over to give their condolences to our family. My dad shook their hands and talked to them while I stood still with my arms crossed, looking identical in positioning to my mom who's standing next to me.

Jonathan dragged me over to some curb in the graveyard, where Nancy was sitting. I waved at her awkwardly and sat down at arms length from her as Jonathan took out a map. "Avril, we believe you." Nancy said, smiling and looking at me with her doe eyes. "What?" I breathed looking in between both Jonathan and her.

"The monster that came out of the wall. Look" Jonathan handed me a photo, and in the corner of it. There the monster was. I suddenly started breathing faster and looking around, starting to get jumpy. "Oh my god." I whispered under my breath in disbelief. "Okay." I handed the photo back to Jonathan while he opened a map.

"This is where we know for sure it's been, right?" Jonathan gestured towards the red x's he has drawn on the map. "So that's..." Nancy said, looking at a certain point. "Steve's house." Jonathan finished her sentence. "And that's the woods where they found Will's bike." I acknowledged pointing at the X. "And that's our house." Jonathan explained as we all looking down at the map.

"It's all so close." Nancy said, looking into Jonathan's eyes. "Yeah, exactly" Jonathan replied looking back into her eyes. I've third wheeled enough to know what it feels like...and this certainly feels like third wheeling. "It's all within a mile or something. " I shrugged, trying to be helpful.

"Yeah, whatever this thing is, it's not traveling far." Jonathan looked in between Nancy and i as he spoke. "You want to go out there." Nancy stated as the breezed brushed the autumn leaves off the ground.  "We might not find anything."  Jonathan said, staring in awe at Nancy's beauty.

My brothers always liked Nancy. I remember in 7th grade he came home on the first day of school  telling my mom, Will and I about his new amazing lab partner in chemistry. Ever since then, I think he's liked her. Even though he never admitted it.

"What if we do see it?" I asked, not really wanting to face the creature that climbed out of my wall. "We kill it." Jonathan replied, confident that we could actually kill this beast.