It's June 12th. The day June went missing. I never thought I'd be mourning her. At least not until we were older, but I am and I can't change what happened. I force myself out of bed because June wouldn't want me to wallow in self pity. She'd want me to go on with life and be happy. Even though she was the happiness.
My phone has been getting blown up since 8 a.m. The memorial is today and I have to be in town square by 3 p.m, so I can help decorate and what not. It's not that I don't think June should be remembered. I just hate seeing everyone from high school. They'll all act like they knew June, which the majority of people didn't.
When I leave my room my mom smiles at me from the stove, "Hey sweetie! You want some pancakes?"
"No thanks", I say, grabbing a banana.
"It's going to be a good day", my mom smiles at me.
"Yeah", I do my best attempt at a smile, but it fails miserably.
"June was a special girl, and she'd want you to be happy Henry."
My voice cracks when I respond, "I know mama."
She comes over and wraps her arms around my shoulders, "I love you."
"I love you too." I say, my vision blurring.
I'm not due at the memorial for another hour, so I decide to drive around. I need to get my head straight before I say something I regret. Especially after hearing Victoria on that cassette yesterday. It's like her name keeps popping up. I need Victoria to talk about that night.
The hour is up in no time. I head for town square. When I arrive everyone's there except Victoria.
I walk up to Isaac, "Hey man."
He looks up from the computer, "Hey! I'm glad you came."
"I kinda had to." I say, laughing.
Isaac laughs at my attempt at a joke, "Yeah. Maggie's over there, she can tell you what you can help with."
I look over to the table holding a few hundred candles. Maggie is talking with Connor. I haven't talked to her since I stormed out of the cafe the other day. This shouldn't be awkward at all.
Maggie looks up as I'm approaching and her eyes widen, "Henry."
"Hey Maggie", I reply, looking at the candles. They got the most cult-ish ones. The ones that are long and white.
Connor looks at me and smiles, "Hey!"
I smile at Connor but look back at Maggie immediately after, "Isaac said you'd tell me what to do."
Maggie clears her throat, "Oh.... um yeah. Since you and Connor have the most muscle we need y'all to move the podium. Then after that just help blow up balloons."
"Doesn't sound too hard, right?" Connor bumps my shoulder.
"Yep. Not hard at all." I respond.
Moving the podium was supposed to be an easy job, but after you keep being told to "try it over here" it gets tiring. By the time they got it in the right position I was sweating. I needed something to cool me off, so I walk over to the table with refreshments. After I pour some sweet tea I see Victoria arrive. She's only 45 minutes late. I roll my eyes.
"She's alright when you get to know her." Connor says, taking a sip from his glass.
"I didn't say she wasn't." I reply.
"I know. But I also know Victoria. She definitely plays by her own rules."
"Why would you say that?" I ask, hoping to get more information about June and Victoria's feud.
"It's nothing", Connor says, throwing his cup in the trash can.
I guess asking about Victoria won't give me anything to work with. I need to jump right to it, "You were close with June?"
Connor looks surprised by the question, "Yeah. She was always around because of Mags."
I nod my head, "Yeah, they seemed pretty close."
Connor agreed, "Definitely. When she went missing Mags would cry all the time."
How could Maggie feel that bad about June going missing, and not want to help now? It just didn't add up. "Yeah. It was a rough time for everyone."
We sat there a few more minutes before Maggie called us over to work on balloons. The color theme is blue and gold. June's favorite. I'm on my tenth balloon when I look around. Things are really coming together. There's lights and a big movie projector to play the video. I look over some more and see Debbie. I think back to her kissing me. I should apologize again, but she probably doesn't want to see me right now. I'll reach out another time.
"Hey! It's Henry right?" Penny asks.
I stop blowing air into the balloon, "Yeah that's me."
Penny looks around, "it's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Absolutely, June would've loved it." I say, and she really would have. She would've asked me to dance and called me "Grandpa Henry" when I told her no. She would've eventually got me out there though.
"Guests should be arriving soon."
"I better get to blowing then." I say, holding up the airless balloon.
Penny laughs, "Yeah."
It's been 20 minutes and people are starting to get here. I look around and see my mom. She waves at me and goes to stand with some of her friends from church. More and more people arrive. I see June's Aunt Emma and walk over to her.
She sees me and her face lights up, "Henry! I'm glad to see you."
"Glad to see you too Ms. Emma", I say hugging her. "Where's-"
"She passed."
June's mom had passed away and I didn't know about it. She was such a sweet person. "Wow. I'm so sorry."
"Yeah, we knew it'd happen before long", Ms. Emma's face looked aged with grief.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there." I say, swallowing the lump in my throat.
Ms. Emma puts her hand on my shoulder, "It's okay."
"I should've been there."
"You don't need to be bogged down with all this regret Henry." She says, in a whisper.
"I know. I should be going now, but it was good seeing you." I know she's right, but I can't let her words sink in right now.
I walk towards Isaac, who looks like he's freaking out. "What's wrong?"
"Penny just said she wasn't giving a speech anymore." Isaac says, running his hand through his hair.
"What? Why not?" I ask, in shock.
"Something about "too many people being here"."
"So she just backed out at the last minute?" I ask, feeling my anger grow.
"I don't know who's gonna fill her spot. You think Maggie would do it?" Isaac asks, desperate.
"I mean she should." I think back to the schedule, "Wait. She's gonna be picking up the cupcakes from across the street when the speech was supposed to happen."
Isaac sighs, "we need someone to say something. We have it on the agenda that we handed out to everyone." He looks down at his watch, "which will start in about ten minutes."
I try to think of someone, anyone who could make a speech about June. I can't push that on June's aunt, and no one else really knew June well enough to make a speech. Maybe Jalen could do it. I look over and see him and Maggie talking. Then I see them walking toward the cupcake place together. I guess Jalen's out of the question.
"Can you do it Henry?" Isaac asks, basically pleading.
"Me? I can't. I haven't even prepared anything." I say, trying to convince Isaac.
"Just say something about her personality. Please Henry. I'm asking you to do this as a friend."
I take a moment to answer. "I guess I will."
Isaac smiles and hits my back, "I knew you'd do it. Thank you man. I'm fixing to go over there by Bailey. You can just head for the podium. I'll come up there in a minute to introduce you and what not."
Isaac leaves before I can respond. What did I just agree to? Basically the whole town is here. I can barely talk about June with my mom and not choke up, how am I supposed to do it now?
I make my way over to the podium. The sky is starting to dim. Isaac is there a second before I am. I stand awkwardly beside it while Isaac speaks.
He taps the microphone once, "Hello. Can everyone hear me alright?" There are lots of head nods from the crowd. "Okay, so this is a memorial for June Layton. June went missing on June twelfth, two years ago. A few of her friends, including me, came together to remember her. Our first event for the night is a speech. This speech is going to be made by her good friend Henry Dawton."
The crowd begins to clap, but the noise is muffled as I walk behind the stand. Isaac smiles and hands me the microphone. I look out across the crowd, it's filled with old friends, teachers, neighbors, it's like everyone I see I know. I go to open my mouth, but it's dry. I swallow. The crowd stays silent. Where do I even start to describe June? I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
The words just start flowing, "I knew June since sophomore year. I was the one who showed her around her first day here. It's like even then I knew she'd be a part of my life forever. Her heart was kind. Her smile made me smile. It's like I was a part of some special club when I was with her. I felt so lucky she chose me. The electricity that went through my body when I heard her voice could be used to jump start someone's heart, I swear." The crowd laughed, "If someone asked me to describe June in one word, I'd pick Summer. She was like the relief of no school. She was like flowers blossoming and bees buzzing. She was a day at the lake when you came home worn out and happy. She was the sun, giving life to everything on the earth. I could say every word and it wouldn't be enough. June was like the breath to my lungs when you've been under water too long. June has been everything to me since the day I saw her. I will never forget her."
I give the microphone back to Isaac and walk toward where I was standing earlier. The crowd claps for my speech, but I'm looking down. My eyes are full of tears. I quickly blink them away and focus on the rest of the memorial.
After my speech Isaac read out a poem. I didn't really pay attention to it. My eyes were focused on Victoria talking to Connor by the drink table. It's not suspicious they're talking since they are in the same friend group, it's just everything Victoria does is weird. Her black hair whips around her face while she's talking, and Connor laughs. Victoria seems at ease with him. Out the side of my eye I see Jalen and Maggie carrying two boxes of cupcakes each. They set them down by the drinks and I take that as my cue to focus back on Isaac. The poem is done and the next thing we're doing is the candle lighting.
I help pass out the candles. The people who had lighters helped get everyone's light, so it didn't take long for the whole group to be ready. Isaac was at the front with his computer ready to play the video. By now the sky was dark, and the video being projected was clear. Isaac announced he was fixing to play the video and everyone went quiet. The first picture before he pushed play was June smiling under a desk in high school. I took that picture. It was during a half day and we we're all so excited for winter break. Isaac pushes play and the song Debbie picked out begins to play as pictures of June flash. The lyrics hit me in the gut.
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you
Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine
Seeing June so happy in the pictures makes the, already there, lump in my throat grow. Knowing I was the one to take the majority of the pictures also adds some other kind of sadness to it. Just as a picture of June hanging upside down on the monkey bars pops up, the screen glitches. The crowd starts to mumble questions, and I can see Isaac start to freak out at the computer. Just then the glitched out screen turns into a picture of.... June? It's a picture of June and someone kissing. The guy is wearing a tie and is on a desk. What? It looks just like a classroom, but that can't be right. That would mean this is a picture of June and a teacher kissing.
Just as the thought occurs a deep voice bursts through the speakers, "Do you know who you mourn? June was no saint. It looks like she had a thing for teachers, but don't you worry, her-." The audio and video is cut off completely. Debbie is at the front holding the cord for the video projector. I'm shocked at what just happened, and so is the crowd. I look for Victoria, but she's gone. I'm pushing through the crowd searching for her but it's no use. I finally give up and walk over to Maggie and Isaac.
"What just happened?' I ask.
Maggie looks annoyed, "I don't know Henry! Who could've hacked Isaac's computer?"
Isaac swallows, "We have to do something about this crowd guys."
Maggie sighs, "I'll deal with them." She responds, walking over to the microphone. "Hello everyone. That was not planned and we want you all to forget about it and grab a cupcake and drink." The crowd follows Maggie's instructions and heads for the cupcake table.
I look back at Isaac, "Where's Victoria?"
"I don't know. She probably went home. This whole thing was a mess."
"Why would she just go home?" I ask, trying to make Isaac see how weird she was acting.
"Look, just go get a cupcake and chill out. I need to work out what happened on my computer and figure out who hacked it." Isaac says, never looking up from his computer.
"Fine!" I say, a little harsh. My head hurts and I don't want a freaking cupcake! I'm going home. This memorial has been ruined by whoever that mystery voice was. I get in my truck and head home. My mom calls a few minutes in asking where I'm at. I tell her I'm headed home and she tells me to be careful.That deep voice has everyone shaken up. Could that voice be Victoria? She would want to paint June in a bad light. She also disappeared after the video was shut off. I should've talked to her sooner. Maybe I can figure out who hacked into Isaac's computer.
I pull into my driveway and head inside. The house is dark and empty. I head to my room, but hear some kind of noise coming from it. What? Did I leave my computer on or something? I slowly crack the door. It creaks with every movement. There's a light cast onto my bed. Yeah, it's definitely my computer. I walk all the way in and freeze. The video playing is the same one from the memorial. I walk closer and sit down in front of it. Suddenly the same glitch comes across the screen. I'm paralyzed with fear. "Do you know who you mourn? June was no saint. It looks like she had a thing for teachers, but don't you worry, her romance troubles didn't end there. Why don't we ask Henry Dawton about that?" The video replays again and again. I finally snap out of it and try shutting it off but can't. I press the power button again and again, but it's no use. I finally just unplug it. The darkness fully taking over now.