Arabella Academy: Perfectly Imperfect

11. Of Things Kept Under Wraps

Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.

~André Malraux

***

"What do you mean the investigation's been cancelled?!"

"Yap. That's what he said," Marcus replied.

Jeff finally put two and two together and told Marcus, "Now I understand why everyone is wearing these 'Justice for Sheila' t-shirts. Wish they had given me one though."

They were at Sheila's funeral. It seemed like the whole of Middlewood had attended. It was exactly four days since school was closed and the Perkinsons had decided to hold Sheila's burial as soon as possible so as to minimise the grief period. Every Arabellan was present at the function. Marcus had managed to convince his mom to accompany him to the burial and they arrived just as the hearse was also arriving. Luckily for Marcus, Jeff had saved him a seat and Marcus left his mother to go and see what was happening.

From where he sat, Marcus saw it a little difficult to identify people. Everyone was donned in black, making it look like the devil's cult had gathered, if they wore black at all. The wails of Sheila's mother were however very significant and filled the atmosphere. Most of the parents sympathised with her and supported her as her daughter's coffin was brought up for display. None of the family members had the courage to see Sheila's body and therefore it was unanimously agreed that the coffin would not be opened.

When it was time for speeches to be delivered, breakdowns were the order of the day as the people who came forward to speak started crying in the middle of their speeches. Two hours and many shed tears later, the speeches were finally over and it was time to finally put Sheila to rest. Handkerchiefs were seen being fished out as the choir sang an emotional tune. Marcus was on the verge of also crying himself. All this was too much for him to handle and his heart felt overwhelmed. He spotted his mother and noticed that she was wiping her tears. Indeed, this would be something that would remain in the hearts of Middlewood's residents for a long time.

As people were leaving, Marcus was with Jeff debriefing him on what he saw.

"Jeff, I didn't picture burials to be this...emotional," Marcus confessed.

"You're saying that you haven't been to a burial before?"

"You know that I don't exactly know my family tree."

"Oh yeah! You told me."

Marcus didn't come from the normal structuring of an extended family. His mother had been raised in an orphanage and consequently did not have any knowledge of her family. She had given up on the thought of trying to find her real family claiming that if they didn't want her then they probably wouldn't want her now. On the side of his father, Marcus didn't know much except that it was a topic that was barred from being discussed at that home. All Marcus knew about his father was that he was an irresponsible young adult at the time he made Jane pregnant with Marcus.

"Marcus, have you also noticed that Michelle wasn't present for her best friend's burial?"

Now that Jeff said it, Marcus also noticed that Michelle had missed the whole ceremony. Her position in Sheila's life was quite dominant and therefore it was somewhat odd that she opted not to attend the burial.

"It's not only that," Marcus added, "She has also been behaving rather oddly nowadays. Do you remember the incident with Mr Stevens? I'm hearing from other students that she ran away when she met him again."

"Maybe it's the grief, as you said."

"No. My gut's telling me it's something else. Maybe she knows something about what really happened to Sheila and she's hiding it."