Memorıes Lıke These

Chapter Twenty-One

One week later.

"Thanks for coming everyone." Noah smiled as he greeted people at the door. Friends and relatives of Lorna piled into the church and took their seats. Some were already crying. Noah hugged a few people that immediately told him ‘but it’s just so sad’ and he just smiled before replying ‘go take your seat’.

It had taken me a lot to prepare for this day. I would have never thought that I’d be at Lorna’s funeral so soon, helping her brother greet guests and holding my speech that I was going to read out later on, in my hands. 

It had been a week since Lorna died, and it was the worse week of my life. Every night I would cry, staying up all night just because the thought of sleeping scared me. I would dream about Lorna and just wake up in a sweat, so I rarely slept at all. I hadn’t talked to many people at all and when I did, I gave one worded answers. 

Everything I did reminded me of her.

And it wasn’t just in the memories we shared in which we had done things together, it was in the way I looked at myself and I saw her. Or when I spoke, I heard her voice. Or when I breathed, I remembered her heavy breathing in the hospital and I would just get so angry that I would build up enough anger to break something. 

It took me lots of strength to even come here today. 

"If everyone could please take their seats, we’ll get started." Lorna’s dad yelled out as he stood behind the podium in the middle of the room. He was leading the service because everyone thought it would be better. I reluctantly took my seat in the front row next to my mum. Noah joined me on the other side and took a deep breath before turning to me.

"We can do this." He said, giving me a shaky smile.

"Yeah, we can."

"If I start crying, hit me okay?"

I laughed. “I’ll be crying before you, don’t worry.”

"I’ll hit you then." Noah grinned.

"We’ll hit each other okay?" I smiled.

Noah laughed and nodded. “Okay.”

"Thank you all for coming down today." Mr Smith started, gripping the edge of the podium with his large hands. "Lorna would really appreciate you being here."

"I can’t believe it." Noah whispered.

I turned to him. “What?”

He was looking across the room in anger. “That’s Cara.”

"Cara as in Lorna’s ex best friend?"

He squinted his eyes. “What the fuck is she doing here?” He hissed, not answering my question.

"And so to start us off, Lorna’s cousin, Mira, has a poem to read out." Mr Smith said.

"She has a lot of nerve showing up here…" Noah said.

I actually couldn’t believe she was here either. She had chosen that she didn’t care about Lorna when she left her when she was first diagnosed. She can’t just come back when she’s dies and act like she’s always been there.

"To the stars and back…" Mira started.

I looked at the small, thin, black haired girl that sat a few rows down and on the opposite side to us. She was looking ahead like she was genuinely interested in what Mira was saying and I couldn’t help but feel a bit angry.

"She’s just ruined everything." Noah spat. "She needs to leave."

"Noah, just leave her. She’s not worth ruining Lorna’s funeral for okay?"