If Tomorrow Comes

Chapter 6

Ow.Ow.Ow. I thought to myself brushing out all the tangles in my hair. I had 20 minutes to blow dry my hair and get ready. It was 4:00 and we were all supposed to meet at Ashley's at 4:20 so we could car pull to the ceremony. Tonight in honor of the Harris family the town decided to have a pre-memorial service. They would talk about the fire and there would be some workers there to help those who needed it. I threw on a pair of black leggings and a long sleeve T-shirt. I didn't even bother with makeup, knowing there would be a lot of tears.

I checked my phone and saw it was 4:15. I headed out the door, walking over to Ashley's. Thank goodness she lives close. At 4:20 we all left. When we pulled into the church parking lot, we could barley find a place to park. I texted Megan, telling her to make sure she saved us seats. She responded almost instantly saying that she had. When we walked in we heard the song "Blessings" by Laura Story. Taking our seats by Megan, we waited for Branton to arrive. Branton was Broderick's best friend. You would never see one of them without the other. They were always side by side whether it was on the way to wrestling, to eat, or after school. Always. When Branton got here he sat next to me. Branton and I were pretty close. Not as close as him and Broderick, but still pretty close.

As the preacher began speaking, tears filled my eyes. Just the thought of Broderick never graduating or experiencing what it's like to go to college or to find true love, was like a knife in my heart. I tried my best not cry, holding back as many tears as I could, but I wasn't strong enough. I sat there, no emotions on my face, with tears just falling and rolling off my cheeks. It felt like they would never stop. I managed to look out of the corner of my eye at Branton, afraid if I saw him crying, it would make me cry even harder. But what I saw was the opposite of what I thought, he wasn't crying. I looked down at his hands, realizing how much he had been shaking. How could I have not noticed this? His hands were covered in scratches, indicating that this was his only way to stop himself from crying. Branton's the kind of person who doesn't back down, the kind that will never shed a single tear in front of anyone. That was what I liked about him. "And that concludes tonight's pre-memorial service for the Harris family. Thank you all for coming out tonight. If you need someone to talk to we have people in the back corner here for you." Oh no. Not this again. I can't believe I zoned half of the service out. I guess I've just had a hard time focusing with the loss of my sister and Broderick.

Heading out side to the car, I asked Ashley if she wanted to spend the night, knowing this night was gonna be hard. "Yeah I haut have to swing by my house and grab my stuff first." She responded. "Okay." I said getting into the passenger seat. I turned on the radio, hoping for some good music to come on and maybe cheer us up a little. But instead, all we got was static and the stations that didn't have static, were talking about the fire. As we pulled up to my house I hopped out and told Ashley to text me when she got here. After saying okay, she drove down the street to her house.

When Ashley got here, we went upstairs, not even bothering to change, and watched some TV. Hopefully this would get my mind off of things. After watching 5 re-runs of Zoey 101, I looked over to see Ashley asleep. How could she already be asleep? I thought to myself. Signing I turned off the tv, knowing this was going to be a long, long night.