Always and Almost Forever. {Harry Styles}

Chapter Twenty Four

“Joanna, wake up...”

I felt someone shake my arm, causing Harry’s face to disappear. I opened my eyes and was greeted by the blinding sunlight. I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hand and stifled a yawn.

“We have to get ready” I heard Lauren say. Confused, I opened my eyes and saw her standing by the door. “The funeral’s at eight” and with that, she turned around and closed the door silently.

It was just a dream Harry’s not here. Realization hit me and it took me a minute to push the thoughts aside. Sighing, I removed the duvet from my body and stretched my arms out before walking over to the black laced dress I borrowed from Lauren. I reached up and traced the outlines of the dress with one hand as my mind wandered off.

I guess the dream was dad’s way of telling me to fix things.

I bit my lip as I listened to Lauren’s final goodbyes to dad. I felt someone tighten their grip on my hand and I turned and saw Mattie sniffling quietly to herself. She and mom arrived minutes before the ceremony started, after losing their way to the cemetery.

I silently thanked God that the weather was fine today, maybe it was his way to telling me that everything will be fine.

But as I looked around us, to the groups of people gathered today, I felt like nothing will ever be the same. I silently prayed to God for one last wish; for a pair of green eyes that would look at me and then tell me that everything will be okay. But I guess I already ran out of wishes for today.

I heard the people clap their hands as Lauren stepped down from the podium in front of us. I felt my breath caught in my throat as I realized it was my time to speak.

“It will be okay, Jo” I heard Mattie whisper to me as she tried to loosen my grip on her hand.

I gulped and stood up, the air brushing past my bare shoulders. I ran my hand through my dress as I walked over to the platform. I took a deep breath as my eyes wandered over to the people in front of me. Lauren was crying as she holds her mom, Mattie was smiling sadly at me and our mom sits beside my sister, her eyes telling me it would all be alright. A dozen more people I do not know if waited for me to speak. I cleared my throat and started my eulogy.

“Hi, everyone” My voice broke “First, I want to thank all of you for coming today. My family and I are very thankful for being with us during this sad time”

I clamped my hand together as I looked at the coffin in front of me “I bet we all knew dad in different ways. Some of you may have known him as a man who likes golfing, or someone who goes to see every basketball game of Miami Heat.

I was fifteen when dad left us and during those fifteen years that I was with him, I learned that dad wasn’t the perfect father. He got really mad at me once when I almost burned the house down because I wanted to bake cookies for his birthday” I smiled at the memory and I heard the audience laugh silently along.