Bloodline Divine 2-The Rise to Fall

Chapter 36

How We Heal

RIP AFA ANOA'I

We found out a day later that Bray's funeral would be on September 6th and every day leading up to it had me anxiety ridden. I kept telling myself I had to keep it together, I couldn't break down at the funeral in front of everyone especially in front of JoJo and the rest of Bray's family. A lot of the family came and went in the weeks after Bray's death leading up to the funeral. We decided to take the bus down since we had so many of us going and it could accommodate all of us instead of having to take three or more vehicles.

I felt weird getting dressed in a red dress for a funeral but the message was that red was the theme of the funeral and red and black were the colors to wear. So, I wore a simple red dress and black flats since I couldn't wear heels yet. I sat on the edge of the bed ready to go and waiting for Roman to come out of the closet. He emerged in a black suit and red tie coming over toward me.

"You look great," he said.

"Thanks, just wish it was for a different occasion," I told him.

"I know me to," he said adjusting his tie.

"You look really good to," I told him putting my hand on his chest. He placed his hand over mine then kissed my forehead.

"Thanks, Wildfire," he said and we walked hand in hand downstairs to meet everyone else. On the bus we had Solo, Jimmy, Rikishi, Afa, Sika, Paul, Roman, and myself with Rick driving us. Jacob and Zilla had a show they couldn't get out of and I'd talked to Jey and he told me he'd see us there but not to hold my breath on him talking to The Bloodline. As we went out the door Sergeant tried to follow us. I scooped him up and handed him to Linda.

"Sorry buddy but you need to stay here we'll be back later I promise," I said patting his head. I heard him whine the whole way to the bus and it was not doing anything good for my anxiety. Once we were all on the bus we started making the two-hour drive to Brooksville for the funeral. Usually when the family was together it was a good time, laughter, jokes but it was a very somber feeling on the bus. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. I sat on the couch resting my head on the top of it and staring out at the endless road in front of us.

"You doing alright?" Jimmy who'd quickly taken the seat next to me once he saw me sit on the couch. He'd been doing nothing but try to get on my good side knowing I wasn't all that thrilled he betrayed his twin in front of the whole world at SummerSlam. His question made me grit my teeth. I was becoming hateful of that question. What was I supposed to be saying that everything was awesome and I just couldn't be more excited about life right now. I mean really what was he expecting. I felt like I'd now hit the very bottom of the barrel I could get. I mean there was no way life could get any lower than this. It was taking every fiber of my being to keep it together for this funeral. I knew the second the tears started they weren't going to stop again.

Briar?" Jimmy questioned as I now realized I'd been rambling in my mind instead of answering his question.

"What?" I asked again as if I didn't hear him the first time.

"I asked if you are, okay?" he asked and I gritted my teeth once more at that questioned.

"No, Jimmy, no I'm not okay," I stated a bit of bitterness coming out my mouth as I couldn't contain my hatred any longer from that question. All of a sudden, the room that was already fairly quiet went completely silent.

"I'm sorry," I said to Jimmy who looked worried and hurt at my words.

"Can I do something?" he asked.