Dancing With Forever

Chapter 1

I was sat front row. I kept fiddling with the hemline of my black dress. It was old and tatty, but I had nothing else to wear. My uncle stood at the front of the church, rambling on about how my mother, father and brother were the best people he knew. He was blubbering, trying his very best not to cry. Though he was able to hold it in, the silent tears were already cascading down my reddened cheeks. I felt my brother, Lucas, squeeze my hand trying to console me. I lent my head against his shoulder. I just needed things to stop. I needed everything to stop.

Thankfully, the funeral service was over two hours after it began. Now just me, my two brothers, my sister and my uncle were left. We were sat in front of the newly placed gravestones. My brothers, Lucas and Noah, were stood to the right of the graves, whereas me and my sisters, Analia and Cara, were huddled on the left. Cara wrapped her arms around my neck. I tightened my hold on her and sobs racked through her body. She was only five and life had been so cruel, so soon.

"I'll give you guys some time alone with them, before we go. I'll be waiting in the car," my uncle Jamie chocked out. His eyes were bloodshot, and his cheeks tear stained, just like the rest of us. We all nodded.

We all stood silently for a while until Noah broke the silence.

"There really gone, aren't they?" He mumbled, kicked the ground with his shoe.

Despite how funerals are usually shown in movies, it was a beautiful day. It was late august, the mid-summer sun still grazing down on us. The leaves of the many trees around us rustled with the breeze. We all sat down, beside them.

The first stone read; Here lies Mark Anderson, 01-09-1973 to 18-07-2019. A loving husband, father, brother and son. Forever missed, but never gone.

The second stone read; Here lies Hannah Louise Anderson, 18-03-1976 to 18-07-2019. A loving mother, wife, sister and daughter. Forever missed, but never gone.

The third stone read; Here lies Mason Anderson, 07-10-2003 to 18-07-2019. A loving son and brother. Forever missed, but never gone.

I scanned over each stone, then nodded my head. I bit my lip in an attempt to hold it in. I looked at Mason's stone and broke down. He was so young and didn't deserve to have to go so soon. He had a future ahead of him. But he'll never experience any of what he planned to. He wanted to move to Chicago and work for a publishing company. Mum was a painter, the whole house full of her pieces. Dad was co-founder of a banking company, but he always made time for us.

My parents were young when Noah was born, nineteen and twenty-one, but they continued to have more kids, despite what everyone told them. Noah is twenty-five, Lucas is twenty-one, I've just turned seventeen, Cara is eight and Analia is four. Despite the drastic age differences, we were all incredibly close. Me and Mason were the closest of us all. We were only just a year apart in age, we did everything together. Every experience we shared. But now I was alone. Now I had to go through it all alone. The though of it was killing me, but I knew they would've wanted me to go on.

So, as the sun started to set, and a golden hue settled across our faces we made our way to the cars. Then we left, because that's all there was left to do. Go home, even though, home would never be the same without them.