Paper Hearts [Book I: Homecoming]

t w e l v e

I AM SEATED ON THE FIFTH ROW, BETWEEN ELISE AND HARPER. Elise keeps a hand on mine, trying to reassure me as best as she can. Wilhelmina refused to leave her side until an hour ago, when Elise left to change for the funeral mass. Wilhelmina is on the front row, her father's arm around her, who's trying not to cry himself. You're strong, Darcy Byrne always told me, so cry away all your pain.

So that is what I exactly do. I let my tears fall, onto Elise's hand on top of mine, but she doesn't look at me. Instead she puts her left arm around my shoulders, as I rest my head on her shoulder.

After about three hours, I am back at Wilhelmina's house again.

Her father and some of his friends are seated downstairs, so all of her friends are here in her bedroom. Her bedroom was a mess and Harper took some effort an hour ago to clean it up, so now it looks at least presentable. Willy and I sit beside each other, trying to be comforting to each other, whilst Harper is sitting on the carpet down on the floor. Ginny is there too, looking down at her perfectly manicured nails. Aiden and Jeremiah are there too, standing beside the door.

I watch Jeremiah strain himself to run over to Willy, when she lets out a sob. When I shift my eyes over to Aiden, he is already looking. I give him a small smile to tell him that I appreciate his presence. I know he's not here because of Willy, he barely knows or talks to her. He is here because of me, and the only comforting presence in this house.

Ginny turns to Willy and asks in a low voice, in contrast to her usual annoying tone, "Tobias and others are on the call, can you talk?"

Wilhelmina nods and Ginny hands over the phone to her. Wilhelmina leaves my side and goes to the window sill to talk to the boys. She talks for a minute or two, and when she is done talking, Elise returns with some chips and water for everyone.

Ginny asks, as Elise sets down the tray on the small side desk beside Willy and I, "What did Tobias say?"

"Nothing, the guys will be back from their trip this evening and they will see me tomorrow at school."

I see Elise glance at Wilhelmina for a single second, but Elise is back to having a stone face in a flash.

"Why are you coming to school tomorrow? I think you need to rest." I say, as Willy keeps fiddling with the hem of her dress.

"No," Elise says, for the first time in so many hours, "Let her come."

Elise deems it right for all of us to leave for Willy to rest, and all of us agree. However, she stops me from going, "Stay with her. You both need each other the most."

I try but fail to stop a tear from escaping. Elise gives me a long hug before leaving, "Promise you'll call me when you wake up. Aiden is staying over at Jeremiah's today, right across the bedroom window. If you need anything, just call the boys, alright?"

"Alright," I say, "Thank you El, I don't know what I would have done without you today."

Elise smiles, before leaving.

The last thing I look at before going off to sleep is Aiden changing his shirt in the room, right in front of Willy's room window.

THE NEXT MORNING, ELISE BRINGS OVER SOME CLOTHES FROM MY HOUSE. Willy looks relatively better than the last two days, but we still haven't talked about her mother and how she is feeling. The most annoying thing about Willy is that she doesn't vent out her feelings until someone asks her to. That means she would not tell a soul about her feelings of recent events until someone makes her sit down and asks her about it. This habit of her is annoying because she could be going through a lot of things that we wouldn't have a clue of. We are always hanging on a loose thread of constant guessing. I don't know, however, if she really wants to talk to me about how she's feeling. Last time she told me about her feelings, I ended up taking Elise's side.