Groupie ; c.h

twenty-nine - funeral

The day was cold and wet. Calum looked up at the sky as he walked, it's raindrops shooting down like gunfire. The sky is crying for you, Maely, Calum thought.

Someone placed a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see who it was - Luke. He offered the black-haired boy a sympathetic smile, but it only angered Calum. Luke had always loved her, and the thought made Calum sick to the stomach. He glanced at the bushes at the side of the wide pathway and considered throwing up in them, but decided against it.

Ashton and Michael walked slowly behind the other two, sealed envelopes clutched tightly in their shaking hands, Maely written as neatly as possible on the outside. The writing was still messy.

The four boys were dressed in all-black suits, despite Calum's arguments against it earlier in the day. He knew that Maely wouldn't want them to be dressed all fancy for her - that she'd just want them to be dressed like them. The boys had a vote and, unsurprisingly, they voted against Calum. He looked down at his attire - black suit, black tie, white button-up shirt. It was nothing like him.

"She's just down here." The groundskeeper turned on his heel and began walking down an aisle of tombstones that all looked the same to Calum. He inspected the names as they walked by: Thomas Daniel, Jean Stevens, Sandra Myers. Underneath the names read their death dates before titles such as; loving mother of two, or; cherished best friend, or; beloved daughter.

Calum cringed away from the tombstones as they continued walking. He couldn't help but wonder what would be written on Maely's tombstone - would she become another beloved daughter or cherished best friend? Calum didn't think he could bear seeing those words etched into a slab of stone above her dead body. They were so vague and... un-Maely-like. She deserved much more than anything that could even fit on a tombstone.

"Well, here we go." The short, fat man stopped in front of a grey tombstone that looked awfully identical to all of the others. The man smiled happily down at his work before looking proudly up at the four boys. "Did a good job, don't ya think?"

Calum's faced paled as he realised that Maely was down there - underneath all of that dirt and mud, trapped inside a black coffin with silver rims. He wanted to drop to his knees and dig through it all, with his bare hands if he had too, until he uncovered that coffin and popped it wide open - his heart told him that Maely would jump out and yell 'surprise', but his head told him to stop being such an idiot. Calum's stomach swelled, seeming to flip inside out (and not in a good way), and he had the sudden urge to throw up all over the floor.

The man's face dropped as he took in Calum's expression, and he quickly coughed, regaining himself. "Right, well, you lot take ya time. Sorry for ya loss. I'll-yep, I'll be goin' now."

Leaves crunched beneath the man's feet as he took steps back towards the small hut that stood across the cemetery, leaving the four mourning boys alone.

Luke sniffled, and let out a choked cough. "Does anyone want to speak first?"

"I'll go." Ashton croaked, stepping to the front of the group and slowly unfolding his letter, tears already welling in his eyes. Calum had never seen Ashton look so broken. The boy cleared his throat and began speaking. "Maely, the first time that I met you, you called me 'curly'. I remember thinking that you were funny and smart and pretty, and that you seemed so much better than the job you were working. I'm so glad that those men came to you in the alleyway - not because I wanted you to get hurt, but because if they hadn't then we never would have rescued you and taken you in.

We have so many memories together, Maely, even though we've known each other for only a couple of months. I wish we had more time together. I can't believe-" Ashton choked out a sob, and Michael clapped him on the back comfortingly. "I can't believe you're g-gone. I don't want to believe it. I can't imagine a life without you now Maely, and I don't want to. I don't know how any of us are going to go on without you. I love you, Maely, so much. I wish I could've d-done something - I l-love you. I'm sorry."