Flowers For Your Grave

Chapter One

She was gone. She was never going to come back. I knew she was dead I just couldn't believe it. Standing underneath the willow tree watching my best friend being burried six feet underground was one of the hardest things I had to do in my life.

I looked across to the other side of the cemetery to see Carrie's mom crying and her dad standing behind her with his hands gently resting on her shoulders. This was the first time I saw Mr. and Mrs. Harper near each other without fighting or causing a big scene. It was actually nice to know that they could get along after announcing their divorce.

Carrie's older brother Shawn looked completely lost and stolid. Her nine year old sister, Brooke, was trying not to cry but a couple tears escaped her brown eyes. Her four year old sister, Samantha, had no idea what was going on. Lucky her.

I felt someone place a hand on my shoulder and looked up at mom. She looked sad and worried for me so I gave her a small, faint smile to let her know that I was okay. For now. Later on tonight I would lock myself in my room and cry myself to sleep.

When the ceremony was finished, and the congregation began to walk away I decided to stay behind. I have never felt so empty and lost in my life before. It felt like someone had came up to me and ripped my heart out. I kind of wish someone would do that right now. I watched as everyone went up to the Harper family to give them sympathy and apologize for the death of their daughter.

Slowly, I made my way to Carrie's coffin and placed a white daisy, her favorite flower, on top of it. My legs felt weak and my head was spinning from what has happened this week. It took all I had to not break down and cry right here in front of everyone.

"I'm so sorry,'' I whispered barely being able to get any words out of my mouth. "It's all my fault. I should have known what was really going on. It's all my fault."

"I'm sorry to," someone said behing me. Didn't people understand the concept of wanting to be alone?

I turned around to see the person who had spoken to me. I was surprised to see it was a boy about my age. He had jet black hair and baby blue eyes. He was actually cute. Wow how low could I be. It's my fault that Carrie is dead but now I'm at her funeral checking out some guy.

"Excuse me?" I said confused.

"I'm sorry that your best friend is dead."

"And you are?" I asked sounding meaner than I intended to.

"I'm Logan. You must be Hayley."

I nodded. "Not to sound rude or anything but what do you want?"

''You're mom sent me over to come and get you."

"My mom?" My mom would send some complete stranger over to get me? That was so unlike her.

"Yeah you know the woman with brunette hair brown eyes? Sound familiar yet?" he said jokingly.

How could he joke at a time like this? Couldn't he see I wasn't in the mood. Logan saw me glaring at him so he stopped smiling and started looking serious. We just stood there staring at each other not moving or saying anything.

"Hayley!" My mom shouted while waving her hand to get my attention.

Logan cleared his throat and gestured for me to go to my mom. With every step I took Logan was following right behind. Within a few seconds he started humming and singing, mixing different songs together. I couldn't help but laugh and right away he stopped and looked at me confused.

"Something wrong with my humming?" he asked trying to sound appalled. I quickly shook my head no.

"Hayley, you remember Steve," mom said pointing her finger to her right.

When mom said Steve's name he turned around and smiled at me and apologized for Carrie's death. Turns out the boy, Logan, that my mom sent over to get me was no stranger. He was Steve's son. Mom also introduced me to Steve's six year old daughter, Molly. But wait it get's better, Steve and my mom we're engaged and we we're going to be moving in with Steve, Logan, and Molly.

I've only met Steve a few times and during those few times I've met him he never mentioned that he any kids. But now I had to live with them. We just burried my best friend and my mom couldn't give me a few weeks before telling me that we had to move this weekend. Could this day get any worse?

Instead of leaving right away like everyone else was doing I asked my mom if I could go talk to Mr. and Mrs. Harper first. She nodded and told me that she'd wait for me at the car, then we'd go get something to eat.

I took a deep breath before I went over to Carrie's parents. I've known them since I was five but I felt nervous and scared now, as if I was meeting them for the first time.

"Hayley," Mrs. Harper said before pulling me into a big hug.

"I'm so sorry..." I whispered into Mrs. Harper's chest. "I can't believe she's gone...It's...my fault."

Mrs. Harper shook her head roughly. "No it's not. It's nobody's fault. Don't blame yourself."

I couldn't speak because I knew if I opened my mouth tears would start pouring out. I shut my eyes to keep from crying and swallowed the lump in my throat and just nodded instead.

She pulled my head away from her chest and cupped her hands on the side of my face, forcing me to look her in the eyes. She use to always do this to Carrie whenever she was trying to make Carrie promise her something. This only reminded me of the time Carrie was doing this to me and making me promise her that I would never forget her. I wanted to pull my hands away and run, but instead I forced myself to stay here and listen to what she had to say.

"Promise me you'll come and visit. See the family. I'll always think of you as my daughter."

I nodded, feeling that lump rise in my throat once again. It was nice to know that she still cared for me and wanted me in her family, even though I was the reason why her daughter was dead.

_________________________________________________________________________________

This is my first time writing a story and I want to thank everyone and anyone who took their time to read this. Sorry about any grammatical errors. Again this is my first time writing a story. Pleas comment :)