"It's perfect, Gerard."
It really was. This beautiful church captured the sorrow we were looking for. This video had to be perfect for the both of us. I don't talk about how much her death affected me. Everybody knew how hard Gerard took it.
"C'mon let’s call Marc and tell him we've found it."
*A WEEK LATER*
Everyone was in the entrance area of the church, the rest of the guys, Marc, Tracy, and a few of the extras even. The lighting and camera guys were all set up inside and everything was ready but for some unknown reason nothing was happening
"Gee, why aren't we, you know, doing anything?"
“Someone’s still in the church and we need her to leave, but no one wants to, you know, ask her to go."
“I guess I can do it"
"K, she’s in there"
He gestured to the main area where the alter was. I walked inside. It was dead silent and freezing in there. I looked for the girl who was still here and finally spotted her on the right side. It was a young girl 'most likely in her teens, with red hair. I walked down the aisle and through a few rows of benches toward her. When I reached the bench where she was sitting, I saw that she had a sketchbook next to her. It had a half drawn picture of the church we were at now and a hearse in front of it. At the very bottom it said in miniscule writing 'rest in peace' . She had her face buried in her hands and was obviously crying. I sat next to her and said "ummm hi"
She looked up with her red, swollen green eyes
"What?" She asked in an extremely soft voice, almost like a whisper.
I didn't know what to say, I've never seen anyone this sad in my life.
After a long pause I asked "why are you sitting here in this cold, damp church?"
She handed me an old program from a week ago. On the front cover it said 'In loving memory of Gina, David, and Lucy Wilder.' On the inside it showed the dates of birth and death and also the story of what had happened. Apparently the family had been driving and been hit head on by a drunk driver. The mother, father, and youngest daughter had died instantly. Leaving another daughter, who was not harmed permanently. I looked at it a little more, and then looked at the girl.
"Were they your family?"
She nodded softly, tears falling silently. I felt awful, she obviously had nowhere to go and now i had to make her leave. I thought for a while.
"Well umm I gotta shoot a video thing so i think we're not using the benches in the entrance area you could sit there for a moment if you want."
She said nothing in response. I sat again and placed my hand on her shoulder.
"I've very sorry about your family I recently lost my grandmother and my brother and I took it pretty hard, well him more than me, but i still know what you’re going through just not as intense i guess."
i finished my awkward speech and removed my hand. It wasn't like me to reveal my emotions so openly esp. to a stranger. She looked up at me and gave me the saddest smile on record, and gathered her things together.
'musta said something right'
She walked toward the entrance and I trailed behind her. I followed her until she sat on a wooden bench in the entrance way. I stood awkwardly beside the bench, and noticed that she was shivering a little.
"Here you can use this, I don't need it."
I placed my jacket around her shoulders. She stared at me for a moment.
"Why are you being so nice? People usually just ignore me."
“I guess you remind me of my brother after we lost our grandmother died."
She nodded as if that made perfect sense.
"What's your name?"
"Laura."
"I'm Mikey; I guess I’ll see you in a bit."
She nodded again and returned to her drawing.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"K, let's wrap it up for today." yelled Marc.
'Finally'
I put my bass down and walked to the entrance area. I looked at the bench where she was sitting and all that was there was my jacket and two pieces of paper. The first was a note. I sat down and read it, it said,
Mikey,
'Thank you for the use of your jacket. My Aunt is moving me to New York; I hope you don't worry about me.
You have more important things on your mind.
Tell your brother how you felt when your grandmother died; he probably doesn't understand how you really felt.
Remember we who left here are here to carry on the legacy of the ones who died.
Laura
The second piece was the drawing she was working on, but she had added two people (me and her) looking sadly at the hearse and on the bottom it now read 'Rest in Peace Helena'. 'She's right I should talk to Gerard.' I put my jacket on and walked over to my friends and brother with two pieces of paper in my hand and determination and grief in my heart.
