An Astronomer's Guide to Falling Angels

Chapter 33

The funeral service was held on a sombre day, the sky heavy with clouds that seemed to mirror the weight in everyone's hearts. Hundreds had gathered, filling the small chapel to the brim and spilling out into the churchyard. Teachers, students, neighbours, and friends—they all came to pay their respects, to mourn the loss of two lives that had been taken too soon. But for Lukas, Louis, Meredith, James, Tyr and Oda, it didn't matter how many people were there. They felt utterly alone, as if the world had hollowed out around them, leaving nothing but a deep, aching void.

They sat together in the front row, barely holding it together as the service began. The pastor spoke words of comfort, but they barely registered, drowned out by the overwhelming grief that clouded their minds. Pictures of Astor and Arty were placed at the front, surrounded by flowers—Astor's gentle smile, Arty's fierce determination captured in those still frames, now nothing more than memories.

Tyr sat in silence, her hands clasped in her lap. She wanted to say something, but the words never came. What could she say? She hadn't known Arty like the others had, hadn't been there for her or Astor the way she should have. She felt like an intruder in her own sister's life, and now it was too late to change that. She sat down quietly, the knot in her throat tightening.

When it was time for the eulogies, Meredith stood, careful and deliberate; as though one wrong move would shatter the world.

She cleared her throat, her face pale and drawn, the words weighing heavily on her tongue. "A few months ago, Arty she called me, out of the blue. I hadn't spoken to her in a long while and I was confused when she told me that she needed help. Arty never needed help. Yet, for the first time since I'd known her, she'd asked for it. All to protect Astor. I didn't know Astor then, but in that moment I knew how much he meant to her. She would do anything for him... and he would do the same for her." 

Meredith's voice cracked, and she quickly stepped back, unable to continue. She held herself together just long enough to sit back down, where she dissolved into quiet sobs.

James followed, her posture stiff, her jaw clenched tight to keep her emotions in check. She approached the microphone with trembling hands, taking a deep breath before speaking. "Astor and Arty were... some of the last good people on this earth." Her voice was sharp, clipped, as if the weight of her feelings could only be expressed in the simplest of statements. "We didn't deserve them."

That was all she could say. James turned away from the crowd, barely holding herself together as she returned to her seat, her face expressionless but her eyes red-rimmed.

Louis was the next to stand. She looked so small and fragile as she made her way to the podium, clutching a piece of paper with trembling hands. There was a long, painful pause as she gathered herself, trying to find the strength to speak. Her voice, when it finally came, was thin and brittle, as if it might break at any moment.

"The first time I met Astor," Louis began, her eyes misting over as she forced herself to continue, "he was tutoring me in history. I wasn't the best student, and I used to be terrified of failing. But Astor... he never made me feel stupid. He was patient, kind, and always knew how to make learning fun. He had this way of making everything seem less scary, like you could do anything as long as you believed in yourself."

A shaky breath, and then Louis turned her gaze to Arty's picture, her voice cracking. "And Arty... I met her during basketball tryouts. I was so intimidated by her, by how fierce she was on the court, how she never backed down from a challenge. But then, after practice, she came up to me and said, 'You've got guts, kid. Keep at it.' It was the first time someone had ever said something like that to me, and I didn't realize then just how much it would mean to me. They were both... they were both so special, and the world is a darker place without them."