Prince Charming is my Teacher

Chapter 34

I walked slowly behind Mark with my head down, eyeing the dark brown dirt under the feet we walked on. The strong men were carrying the coffin in front of us, and people were lined up, dotting the grass we walked past. It was a week later, and everyone was dressed in black suits and dresses, mourning over the death of this heartless man. A part of me still wanted him alive though, I still wanted that chance to say goodbye. We reached the burial sight, where a large hole was dug in the ground, and my siblings and I lined up around it as the men put it on the platform to lower it into the ground.

"Would any of you like to say any words before we say our final goodbye?" The person who was performing the ceremony asked, gesturing to us.

"I'll go." Mark stated, standing next to the tombstone. "We are all mourning the loss of him, even if he was a heartless man who drank all the time. But he was still a husband, a father, a friend, and a loved one. Even if we won't admit it on the outside, we know he will be missed." He bowed at the grave slightly, returning to the line.

"I'll say a few words." Trisha whimpered, stepping next to him, running her hand up the coffin. "I'm sorry you had to die. I'm sorry you spent all your life drinking, and I'm sorry it had to end like this. I will miss you, my drinking buddy. Now I'm all alone." And she pressed a kiss to the coffin with her hand, and walked back to us.

"My turn." I cried, stepping up to it. "I know we didn't, we usually never got along, but for those few years you were good to us all… thanks. I know I was your punching bag, the one who you thought could never do anything, the one who you always blamed, or just flat-out never loved. But I'm truly sorry you had to end like this, without even saying any word of love to me. I knew you too well, and I'm sorry I couldn't save you…" I lowered my head, eyeing the front of the coffin where I guessed his head laid. "Just be good to Mom if you somehow ended up in Heaven. Tell her all the ways that you should be sorry, and tell her how much you truly loved us, even if you never showed it." I wiped the tears from my face with my hand, sniffing loudly. "I love you, and I'm sorry." I whispered as I stepped back, and Mark wrapped one of his arms around me. 

Abby was the last to go. She didn't say anything while she walked up next to him, just sat down by his coffin, crying her eyes out. I ran up next to her, sitting down and hugging her by her shoulders, and soon the other siblings came too. I didn't know how long this mourning would last, but we now had five weeks until school got out. I never thought this day would come, when we had both our parents, side by side in the cemetery together. But it did, and it left us lost, and had no idea what to do. 

"Come on, let's bury him like the good children we are." Mark told us as the men lowered the coffin into the ground, making Abby burst into a new round of tears. We all watched them shovel the dirt over him, causing us all pain that I could feel coming from them. We were all in pain, even if we weren't going to show it. But soon the large hole was filled, and that was it. All the extra people walked away, and so it was my siblings and I by the tombstone, our arms around each other in some way or another, letting go of the only person in this family who was a higher generation than us.

"What do we do now?" Trisha whimpered as Abby dropped the flowers neatly in front of the tombstone, running her hand over it and prepping them to look pretty.

"We get on with our life, continuing the best we can, and going back to our lives as normal as possible." Mark answered, and he waved in the rest of the group. Lucas, Alice and Alex had been on the sidelines watching us, and they came in closer to our group. The funeral was small, it was only us, but we stood around the tombstone for a while, feeling the breeze in the wind, thinking of his ghost. If I could see Mom while I was in a coma, I could see Dad too… probably. I don't know, but I was hoping.

Lucas wrapped his arms around my shoulders, resting his head on one of them. "You okay?"

"I will be." I whimpered, watching the flowers sway with the wind. "But…" I started, getting everyone's attention. "We shouldn't think of this as goodbye. We should think of it as… see you soon." I said loud enough for the whole group to hear. They nodded as we said our final goodbyes and walked so slowly away from it, the image of him never leaving my mind. We drove away, and I kept my eyes on the cemetery as it faded behind us, until it was gone in the distance.

~~~~~~~~~~

A month passed, and we were now a week away from school ending. It was a Friday, and also the night of prom. I was going, even though Lucas didn't want me to. Although I don't know what his problem was; I wasn't going to find a guy, anyway. But then again, he had to work late again and he said something big was going down tonight, so I was a little scared… but I trusted him, and he didn't trust me being alone in the apartment… and he thought me being around a bunch of Seniors would be so much better. But since I refused to 'stay safe' in his terms, I was doing this.

I admired myself in the royal purple dress over and over in the mirror, loving how it fitted on me. Even though I was pregnant, I was still skinny, surprisingly, but I knew it wouldn't last.

I strapped on my black flats and exited, finding Lucas talking on his phone, pacing back and forth. I leaned against the wall and waited for him to end his conversation so we could get going. I wasn't really paying attention, but I started when I heard him yelling.

"Look, you need to hack it by the cable, not typing in random passwords. The Eurasian are gonna find you soon, but if you can't, stop until I get there. I'll be there shortly, Bryan. Stay there." He ordered, turning off his phone.

"What was that about?" I asked as he waved me along and we exited.

"Nothing, nothing. Just work stuff." He assured me, but I knew it wasn't good.

"Yeah, hacking stuff is so nothing." I muttered, and he rubbed my shoulder.

"Yeah well, someone's gotta do it, and I gotta go help him." He told me, but I still didn't know who the person was.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked finally, waiting for the elevator. He kept silent until we stepped inside, and until the door closed.

"My partner. Bryan's been my partner for years." He answered, and I nodded.

"Oh… how come I've never met him?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I only see him at work, really." He replied, and the elevator beeped. The doors opened and we walked into the lobby and started to head out to his car.

"I still wanna meet him." I whined, and he scoffed to himself.

"Okay, fine. Whenever I see him, I'll tell him my girlfriend wants to meet my partner and let's see how that goes with him." He laughed, but I was being serious.

"Fine, how about I just go to work with you?" I smirked, but his smile faded and he shook his head fast.

"You know you can't. It's dangerous and something big is going down tonight." He answered, leaning against the car, making me stop in front of him. "We're gonna figure out how to disable and destroy the Eurasian's weapon supply."

"Oh, well isn't that awesome." I muttered as he sat down in the driver's seat and I sat down next to him.

"But it's okay, nothing's gonna happen to us." He assured me as he started driving. Somehow though, I couldn't believe him…

He drove up next to the place where prom was being held, which was a restaurant with some sort of dancing area. He stopped the car and I exited, closing the door and stepping onto the sidewalk. I smiled and waved as he waved and drove off, and I watched his car fade away. But he was going to be alright, nothing would go wrong. There was only a week left until school got out, and then everything would be fine.

So I kept the thought in mind as I met up with Bethany and we went inside the restaurant, and hoped to dance the night away worriless and stress-free.