Alamort | Troy Otto

1.5

[1.5]

"I hate funerals..."

"You hate everything, Thena," whispered Alicia from her left.

The girl rolled her eyes and looked down at her lap, waiting for the tear spilling speech of Charlene's mother to end. Her leg was bouncing up and down and her hands were playing with the now wilted daisy crown she made.

Her eyes surveyed the people in front of her, mostly the ones that were facing the crowd that gathered for the bodiless funeral. Pat, Charlene's mother, was the one giving the speech. She was standing next to a small coffee table with a picture of younger Charlene and a pot of flowers. Jake, who was sitting next to his father and the closest to Pat, nodded at her every word. Thena eyes switched to Jeremiah and then to Troy when the older man didn't interest the girl. She watched him carefully. He was trying to remain composed, but Thena could see his bored state very clearly. He sighed and diverted his gaze away from the grieving mother, only to meet Thena's eyes. She glared at him when he raised his eyes brows and looked away, her eyes falling at the flowers in her lap. However, the young woman couldn't take the image of his damaged eye out of her mind, now that he ditched the bandages.

"And she would have," finally said Pat and Thena thanked the universe, knowing the speech was ending, "if she wasn't risking her life for the unprepared."

She froze. Her leg stopped bouncing and her eyes unfocused. She felt almost every one turn to look at them, and then heard them whisper, and if it wasn't for Madison getting up to talk, she would have probably stormed off.

"Hello," she said, making everyone turn to look at them again, "I just wanted to introduce my family. I'm Madison Clark and these are my children, Nick, and Alicia... plus Thena, Thena Grimes, who's a very close family friend. We wanted to offer out condolences for Charlene and for the others you lost. We've lost loved ones too. Thena's family, Travis..."

At those words, Thena raised her eyes to look at Madison, while Jeremiah's interest seemed to pick up. She did not lose her family. Not yet. She didn't know where they were, if they were safe or not, but she knew they were not dead. Her mind wouldn't think otherwise. Still, Madison used her persona to create pity amongst the people in the crowd, and Thena felt her blood crawl.

"Travis, he was our compass and he..."

Thena sighed and looked away while a small smirk danced on Troy's lips.

"We just wanted to say thank you for sheltering us and thank you for your generosity. We will repay it."

Everyone nodded appreciatively at Madison's words while the three young adults looked done with their lives. Thena rolled at her eyes at Jake, who was trying to regain his emotional self after the two speeches, but a man from the crowd didn't let him finish.

"More important to prepare, Jake," he said, rising to his feet, "I'm sorry, there is a time and place for mourning, and Patty is owned that. But who brought down the helicopter?"

The crowd started shouting, all agreeing with the man.

"We aim to find out, Vernon," stated Jake, trying to calm the crowd.