Three Little Words

The Funeral

Lauren's POV:

I walked through the large archway into the church, staring at the coffin as I did so. My heart was thumping in my chest and a lump was stuck in my throat. I looked around at the sea of people as they turned to look at me with sad eyes. The rows were full of people. People from school, family and friends from a few towns away.

I made my way right down to the front, where my mum and dad were seated on the first row alongside Jake; he looked up at me with blood shot eyes and arms covered in dried blood. I felt sick; he looked like some sort of crazy terrorist as he sat in the church with a black hoodie to cover his features.

I sat at the end of the pew, right next to the coffin and took a deep breath. My eyes flicked to the coffin and I fixed my gaze on it. The smell of varnished wood filled the church, mixed with the over powering scent of dead roses. The flowers that sat on top of the coffin were dried and wilted into each other. It made me sad, sad to see that someone was that careless to place dead roses on my sister's coffin.

I rose from my spot and took a few steps towards the coffin, gently gathering the flowers into my hands. Crisp petals dropped easily from the flower and danced down onto the coffin once more.

I stood there for a minute, eyes fixed onto the roses as the petals all fell from the flower and landed on the floor, leaving only the stems in my hands.

But I was distracted by a knocking sound coming from the coffin. I frowned and locked my eyes to the petal as it jumped from the vibration coming from the coffin.

"Get me out... Hello" it was Erin. My heart was beating faster in my chest as the lid slowly slid off. My eyes widened when I saw Erin sit up from inside.

My eyes started to water, but I just stared. She twisted her head to the side to look at me and a smile broke out on her face. She extended her arms and leaned towards me.

I was startled at first but then I leaned in but didn't hug her back. She didn't exactly hug me though; she held my shoulders and looked me straight in the eye. The next thing that happened almost made me cry. "Lauren, Lauren honey, wake up"

The words came from Erin's mouth, but it was not her voice. It was my mums. Erin started shaking my shoulders. "Lauren? Come on, you've got to wake up. It's time to get ready" I shook my head as I felt the tears welling up.

Erin lightly touched my cheek, but I knew it was mum. I moved away from her touch and shook her hands off of my shoulders. A tear slipped from my eye and I shut my eyes tightly.

"Sweetheart. Wake up" My mum whispered again.

I slowly opened my eyes and cried out, remembering my dream. "Mum, she was alive, she woke up" I struggled to get it out because I had such a dry throat but I managed as I sat up and wrapped my arms around my mum.

"It ok honey, just take deep breaths and come get some breakfast" She whispered into my ear. I just nodded and unwrapped my arms, wiping my eyes with my PJ top as I did so.

We walked down the hall to eat bacon and eggs on toast before we had to get dressed for the funeral.

I looked in the mirror to see a person of sorrow. A person of grief. A person of loss. I stared into the eyes of the reflection in front of me, telling her that we would be happy. I stood in a black knee length dress with a black knee length coat. It was freezing outside with the wind blowing the autumn leaves around and leaving the streets a mess.

When mum sent me the text message, I didn't want to even think about her funeral. But now, it's all I can think about and I really wanted it to be over already. Matt and Lilly are joining me, and I sent Jake a message as well. I shouldn't have bothered, knowing that he wouldn't want to attend because he was in a dark place at the moment. But he was close to Erin and deserved to at least receive an invite.