Pen & Camera [TASM Peter X OC]

Chapter 12

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It was a cold and rainy day. It was a colorless and bland day. The blue of the sky vanished and the sun was nowhere to be seen. The smiles and laughter felt like a mere memory. Ella had never thought she would stand here one day. She used to think, it happened to others, not to me. But reality quickly slapped her back to life. It could happen to anyone. And now she understood it. Standing here, in a pool of black figures, she understood it better than anyone else. "Don't take everything for granted or it will be taken away from you. Cherish every single moment you shared with your loved one because you don't know when they'll leave you". She used to understand these words, but never really did what they told. Now she felt like she missed things. Things could get out of hand very quickly.

The cemetery was of a ghostly silence. Only the sound of the raindrops colliding with the black umbrellas could be heard. Ella, standing next to her silently crying mother, was waiting for the guests to arrive. "Guests"... it suddenly felt like a strange word to be used for such a situation.

An arm wrapped around her shoulder. It was Gwen. Ella was not surprised to see her. She was her best friend. And the Stacys were family friends. Police officers in uniforms were there too. Rifles in hands, they would shoot. It was part of the ceremony for people like her father. A few of Ella's teachers were there as well, expressing their condolences to her and her mother. Even Flash was there. It was unexpected, but Ella was still moved and grateful. He wasn't that bad of a boy, after all.

But despite all these people being here, they weren't the ones Ella wanted to see. They weren't the ones she needed the most. No matter how much she called or text him, Peter wouldn't answer. She asked him to come, she needed him to come. But he wasn't there. Why? She knew he was alright. So why wasn't he here? Why? Just... why? He knew the pain she was in, so why wasn't he here?

Peter never showed up. He didn't come. The ceremony started. He wasn't there. The ceremony ended. He wasn't there still. Captain Stacy made a speech. He wasn't there. The head of the police made a speech. He wasn't there. Her dad's friends made speeches. He wasn't there.

"Miss Cadogan has requested to say a few words," the clerk man announced.

Ella sucked in her breath and felt the hold of her mother tightening, then releasing. She stood up, picked up the rose on her laps, and walked to stand behind the podium. She still had struggled to believe it. Somehow, she still could believe her father was no longer here. It still felt like a nightmare. A nightmare she desperately wanted to wake up from. But as she stood there, before of these people all dressed in black. She knew it was real. It wasn't a nightmare. It was not a sick trick of her imagination.

Ella took a deep breath. But no word came out of her mouth. Her vocal cords wouldn't produce a sound. She wanted to write a speech to help her go through it. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't write a single word. She thought she could. The writing was her thing. Yet, sitting before a blank sheet of paper, she couldn't formulate a thought.