Another Avenger: Firefly

2

"Where are you taking me mum?" I was sat in the back of her second hand car after Davids funeral. He hadn't survived the accident, apparently his brain was without oxygen for too long when he went under and if I'd managed to save him sooner then he might have survived. My mum and dad had tried their hardest to prove to me that it wasn't my fault but ever since that day 4 weeks ago I couldn't ignore that horrible pressing feeling in my stomach that called out to me, whispering the echo in my mind 'You did this. You killed him' it would say. I stopped crying three days after the accident, knowing that my tears were pointless and wouldn't bring him back. After that, the only thing I could do was muster up enough courage to go to college and come back home.

Today at the funeral, things were different. His family had come down from America to bury him in England, a place where'd he'd always wanted to live. It was only them and his younger brother along with myself and we had a small ceremony. I cried like I did all those days ago when I swore I'd stop and was comforted by Davids mum who, up until three days ago, I'd only ever talked to over Skype. She gave the usual 'David really loved you' and 'his grandmother would have loved to have met you' and I nodded back saying my 'thank you's' and 'you're so kind's' so she knew I was paying attention, but all I wanted to do was go home and sleep, or cry some more. I couldn't talk to anyone about how I felt, only Maynard, and even then I knew that he wasn't truly paying attention. But he rubbed his head against mine and slumped lazily as he licked the tears off my cheeks and somehow that was enough. Within the four weeks I'd managed to pour my heart out to a dog who only asked for a few strokes in return and nothing more, and I felt like I was already beginning to realise that I would survive this.

"We're just taking you to a cafe dear, we have a few things for you." My mum looked at me through her mirror and gave me a weak attempt of a smile. On my lap sat the small picture of David I snapped as he was taking pictures of the lake. He looked so happy.

In the cafe, my mum ordered me a chocolate milkshake, something I always drank when I had a bad day at school or when I read a sad book. My dad was stood outside looking around by the car like he was waiting for something. "Now sweetie, this is for you." She reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out a tiny SD card. "It was the SD card that they recovered from the camera in the lake. Well it's not the same one but we gave it to some man to fix it. His photos should still be on it." I held the card up between my fingers and took a sip of the milkshake, trying to ignore the small few pricks of tears that were slowly making their way up.

"Uhh-" I cleared my throat "-thank you." I looked around, not knowing what to do.

"It's okay sweetie. There's something else too-"

"Another item?" I asked.

"No, it's actually a request."

"A request? What-" the sound of car engines getting closer drew my attention to my dad, who had just held open a car door for a man in black. They shook hands momentarily and then my dad looked to the window and pointed to me.

"Mum, what's ha- what's going on?" I asked, scared. When I looked back to her she had dropped her eyes and was beginning to stand up. "Mum!" I called when she didn't look. "Mum what's happening?! Mum look at me-" the man had walked into the cafe, followed by a few more men in black suits. "Mum!" I called, but watched as she kept her back turned away from me and left the building without so much as a goodbye. The dark man loomed over me and waited for me meet his eyes, or should I say, eye.

He sat down and pushed my chocolate milkshake back to me. "Don't worry." He said, His American accent a lot stronger than Davids. "I'm only here to talk."

"Are you the police?" I asked, trying to remain calm. I looked out of the window to see that my mum and dad, along with their car had vanished.

"No, we pay attention to people like you." He said.
"Excuse me?" I looked back at him expecting him to be annoyed at my ignorance but he was calling over a waitress.
"Can I have the same as the young lady please?"