Suburban Island VI

The Marshals are Dead (The Funeral)

The Marshals are Dead (The Funeral)

The kids held a funeral for Chester three days later. They all sat around in the house. Nobody spoke at first. Mike stood up from the couch. He held up his cup.

"To Chester," he said.

"To Chester," the others said with their cups in the air.

"We can't keep doing this," Josie said. All eyes fell on her. She sat up straight.

"We're dying here!" she said. "This place is killing us!"

"Josie," Tommy said.

"No!" she said. "You know it's true! Look at all of us! This isn't living! We aren't living!" Nobody said a word. She had a point though they didn't want to admit it. Patience pressed her lips together. She thought back to the time she spoke to her grandma.

-One Week Earlier-

Patience sat up in her computer chair.

"Okay, do you promise not to get mad at me?" she asked. Viola looked at her.

"Why?" she asked.

"Please!" Patience said. Her grandmother frowned.

"Fine," she said. Her granddaughter took a breath.

"There was another slot for Alaska that opened up," Patience said. "So..." She took a moment.

"So I figured that I could get you and Patrice to Alaska while I had the chance," Patience finished. Viola stared at her for a moment. Her granddaughter looked nervous. Come on. Say something. Her grandmother frowned.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked.

"It just happened, really," Patience said. "I got the notification days before the email. Someone changed their destination at the last minute. So I jumped at it."

"And what about you?" Viola asked. Patience leaned back in her chair.

"I will follow you," she said.

-Now-

Patience didn't think the plane couldn't come faster.

"And where would we go?" Robert asked. Josie put up her hands.

"Does it matter anymore?" she asked. "We just have to get out of here. We can't stay here anymore!" No one said a word. She had a point.

"This is not the place to do this," Mike said. Josie raised her eyebrow.

"Then when?" she asked. He stared her down. She glared at him. Patience stood up and cleared her throat.

"Okay!" she said. "We're here to talk about Chester!" Josie frowned as she took a drink. No one said a word.

"Right..." Patience said. "Does anyone else have anything to say?" Nobody spoke up. Patience pressed her lips together.

"Okay..." she said. "I'm going to miss him."

"Yeah," the others agreed. Tommy turned his head when heard Josie mumbling something under her breath.

"Hm?" he asked. Josie gave him a cold look.

"Have we known him?" she asked. Everyone looked at her again.

"What are you talking about?" Annie asked. Patience looked ready to smack some sense into Josie.

"That's enough!" Teresa said.

"No!" Josie said. "I'm being serious here! When was the last time anyone sat down and talked to Chester?" Everyone sheepishly looked at each other.

"And when was the last time you talked to him?" Mike asked.

"I don't remember," she said. "But I don't pretend that I do. We were never that close. I barely even knew the guy."

"Then why did you come here?" Patience asked. Josie shrugged.

"What else could I do?" she asked. "I don't benefit either way. Dammed if I do, damned if I don't. Call it being nice."

"How heartless can you be?" Teresa asked.

"Oh come off it!" Josie shouted. "You weren't really close to him either!"

"That's enough!" Mike shouted. She wrinkled her nose and snorted.

"And what about you?" she asked. "You're supposedly his best friend. Why didn't you see anything wrong?" Mike struggled to say something at first.

"Um... Uh... Uh..." he said.

"See?" Josie asked.

"Are you done?" Patience asked. Steve patted Josie on the shoulder.

"Please stop," he whispered. Josie whipped her head around as she glared at him. Her boyfriend didn't say a word. She threw her hands up in the air.

"Don't stop me!" she said. "Why can't you all be honest for once?" Nobody spoke. Josie finished her drink.

"I don't even know why we're here," she muttered.

"We're here to remember Chester," Tommy said.

"But what's the point?!" Josie shouted as she flared her cup around. A cube of ice leaped out of her cup.

"We were never really that close," she said. "You can't honestly tell me that if it weren't for these trees that any of us would be talking to each other this closely." Josie felt herself getting angrier as she spoke.

"The only reason we're this close is because these fucking trees forced us together!" she shouted.

"So you think we're just friends because of circumstance?" Martin asked.

"Yes!" Josie snapped. She threw down her cup and stormed out of the living room.

"This is some bullshit," she muttered to herself. Martin started to go after her but Dylan grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Let her go," he said. Martin turned to him and frowned. He wanted to say something but nothing was coming out. Not one dared to say a word.

"Well, she is right in a way," Annie spoke up. Everyone looked at her as she sat slumped on the couch. She lifted her eyes at all of the kids in the room.

"This place is really killing us," Annie said. She pressed her lips together after she said that. She let her cup tilt in her hand.

"Are you okay?" Mike asked. Annie shook her head.

"No," she said. Nobody else spoke for the rest ofthe funeral.