Johnnie wasn't like the other kids. Something had gone wrong inside of him; his demons had taken control of him. But one day, a mysterious girl arrived with no clear story, but manages to make Johnnie happy again. Still, he is left with one question...
"Thank you," Johnnie said through tears as he made his way back to his chair, and upon sitting down again, he couldn't control his emotions and he started balling his eyes out; just like he had done since that dreaded phone call from Detective Mills. After Johnnie's eulogy, Tiger went up to speak, and then Josh. Both of their's were sweet and meaningful, and by the end of Josh's tribute, the reverend got everyone to pray for Lilly, and then Johnnie spoke again, making people aware of the wake that was taking place at 4.00, where everyone in Agloe was invited.
The 45 minutes between the funeral and the wake was spent by Johnnie and Tiger, with help from Josh and Juliet, moving all of the chairs and taking the casket back to the funeral directors, and then moving the gazebo to the top of the hill, connecting fairy lights to bring some subtle colour to the wake. They then connected the speakers and started playing classical music through them, and they started up a barbecue and set out the rest of the food. By the time they had finished and people had started arriving, the sky had gone a pink colour, with streaks of orange, purple and blue creating the picturesque scene.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
3 hours later, the entire hill was buzzing with the entire population of Agloe, and the barbecue food had all been demolished, and the sky was now turning a deep navy colour, with stars so close they could almost grab them. And that's when Johnnie attached a microphone to the speakers and caught everyone's attention, and the hill became silent.
"My mother, Lilly Smith, had always told me she wanted to go out with a bang. And tonight, we are going to make that happen to her. Me and my siblings are putting the 'Fun' in funeral, and we are going to give you all a firework display. Mom got cremated, and we then took her ashes to a firework store and got them to create our own firework, using those ashes. Tonight, our mother's wish will come true." With this, Josh signalled to a pyrotechnic handler, who set off the first firework of the night, as the music changed to something a little more upbeat. The first firework was the one that contained Lilly's ashes, and it was followed suite by hundreds of other, extravagant explosions that lit up the nights sky. Bursts of greens, blues, oranges, reds, pinks, whites, purples and yellows streaked and fizzled above their hill, as the attendees stood and watched in awe and amazement. Johnnie, Tiger, Juliet and Josh sat together right on the edge of the hill and watched the display, admiring the way everything, for a few hours at least, was completely perfect.
The wake seemed to last forever, as the last group of people left at half 11, as it had started getting cold. The four young adults then packed everything away and cleared up the mess that was made, before dragging it back home to their apartment. When Johnnie locked himself in his room, he saw Amelia laying under his duvet. "I'm so sorry I couldn't come today, there was a family crisis and I couldn't get out of Cincinnati. How was it anyway, did you do as you said you would; with the fireworks?" Amelia badgered. "Honey its okay, I just hope you sorted out your family problems. And yes, I did what I said and we had the most beautiful fireworks display every to commemorate mom. I'll tell you about it?" Johnnie replied, and to that, his girlfriend nodded her head, so he got under the duvet with her and and held her in his arms, and then told her everything that happened. Eventually they both fell asleep, and everything was...bliss.
The day had gone better than planned. Everyone attended the funeral, and it was a stunning ceremony with Lilly's favourite flowers, the firework display couldn't have had a better reaction, Tiger and Juliet ended the night making out in Tiger's room. Josh had met a boy at the wake and they became best friends almost as fast as Johnnie and Amelia did. And talking of the two lovebirds, they had fallen asleep holding each other for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
So i tried writing a more descriptive chapter, taking into consideration what worldsinmywords suggested i do to improve my book. i hope you all enjoy this chapter!
ill try and update in the next week, but i cant guarantee everything because schOOL IS APPARENTLY MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVERYTHING ELSE. ugh. i really hate school :(:
anyways i saw this morning that i had over 100 votes now. thankyou so much to all of you! it means so so much to me, so please let the votes (and comments) keep rolling in!
thankyou again to all of you still reading this book :)
