They Could Care Less

45: Final Goodbye

"Are you sure you can do this?" Jackson asked and stopped, the coffin was less than fifteen feet away from them and Thea's palms were clammy and her body trembling.

"Yeah," Thea said and walked herself to a seat in the front on her own. She clenched her fists in the lap as she sat sternly staring at the the coffin. People that Thea had never met suddenly arrived. Some knew Christina, some knew Becca and others even knew Damon. And then it all began, the ceremony and the speeches. Thea didn't listen to any of them because in her head they were complete crap and meant nothing to her. She knew none of these people and she didn't want their pity, she had it bad enough already without another mass of people paying their condolences to her and her family. There was no need for that, it wasn't going to help the case Thea thought as a childhood friend of Maria made her way onto the stage to deliver her speech that she had most probably practiced for weeks now. And after that, the priest said something else that Thea paid no attention to and the moment Thea had dreaded was here. Thea walked up to the closed casket and stared at it, hoping that maybe her mom would wake up and climb out of it and that this was all just a bad nightmare. But it was as real as it got and Thea gently placed a hand on the casket. It was cold and smooth Thea realized. She turned around to leave when a suddenly overwhelming feeling of heartbreak made her heart ache physically. She fell together on the grass, and everyone rushed to her. But Thea could only stare blankly. Jackson held onto her hand, and the longer he looked at Thea's heartbroken face, the tighter his grip got. Suddenly his face went red and he looked dangerously upset. He relaxed his grip when he realized the pain he was causing her stood up all in just a few seconds.

"This is your fault!" he hissed loudly and looked at Christina with murderous characteristics. "You shouldn't have put your nose into people's business. We all agreed that Thea was to plan this, but then you came along and happily took over without even asking! And now she has mental health issues because of you! I won't even stop you from blaming yourself, because I blame you too!" he shouted and Thea squeezed his hand until her knuckles turned pale.

"I-I..." Christina said, and trailed off without ever finishing what she wanted to say. Thea sat on the grass until everyone were on their ways to the cars, but before they left they all said what Thea had heard a million times already as she sat on the grass, with a blank and distant stare. When everyone had left but Thea, her grandparents, Becca, Christina, Heather and Jackson, Thea sat on the grass and leaned her back on the coffin. Jackson calmed down, but he continued to send Christina hateful glares.

"I'm gonna get the car, why don't you all join me? Damon can stay behind and wait with Thea," Jackson suddenly suggested, he sounded extremely determined on getting out of there. Thea knew he was doing something suspicious.

"Sure!" Damon agreed and handed his car keys to Rebecca. Becca looked at Thea for any protests, but in that moment Thea honestly didn't care. They left in silence, but before that Thea saw Damon giving Jackson the slighest little nod. Thea sat in the same place as before when Damon suddenly joined her on the grass, and most probably ruined his expensive suit by doing so, though he didn't seem to care much.

"Did you know that your mom did some modelling when she was around your age?" he casually dropped and Thea smiled at the thought of her mom posing in front of the camera.

"No, was she good at it?" Thea asked.

"She was amazing," he answered and smiled. "I'm a hundred percent sure she could've become as famous as Cindy Crawford if she had continued."

"What made her stop?" Thea asked curiously, and squinted as the sun made it's way through the green leaves on the oak just a few feet away. It shone down on her and Thea closed her eyes momentarily, soaking in the sun.