The Cause of Them

6 months later

Jenna shook with a nerves as Val parked the car. Three single roses laid over her stomach as she looked out the window. Her pregnant stomach was becoming so big recently, they'd found out that they were having a girl a few days ago. "You ready?" Val asks. 

"I don't know." Jenna answers, her eyes remaining out of the car, at the cemetery. It would be her first time coming here to say goodbye to her best friends. The young couple flew into Utah for a few days so that they'd could get some things settled and Val knew that Jenna needed closure. She hadn't been the same, he knew he wouldn't have been if he lost his three best friends. 

"I promise it will be ok." Val says, kissing her forehead as they got out of the car. She stared ahead of her, already knowing where the three were buried. "Do you wanna go alone?" Val asks and Jenna nods her head. She made her way to their graves while Val watched her from the side of the car. Jenna was on the verge of tears as she headed through the grass. Everything in her life was miserable because she lost them, she accidentally tried calling and texting them every day. She'd always hope that they'd maybe answer. 

After a bit of walking, she arrived at the three tombstones. Jenna stared at each of them, only thinking that if the bullet that had been lodged in her shoulder bone, had been a few inches over, she'd be right next to them, six feet under. The first tear dripped from her eye as she set a rose in front of Witney's grave. Another as she went to Lindsay's. Another as she finished at Brittany's. Her bottom lip trembled as she stared at the cold tombstones, thinking about what her friends had been thinking in their last seconds. 

Was Brittany was so scared that she'd been found? Was Lindsay shocked that the first shot was aimed at her? Was Witney afraid that her partner was shot first? These girls got her through so much, she fought through a sob rising in her throat to say something, "I miss you." 

"I can't believe that you're all gone, every single one of you. What am I gonna do? I wish I could hug you guys one more time, or just see you smile, or anything... Something." Jenna sobs, tears falling from her eyes. The silence of the graves killed her inside, but she continued on, "It's girl, we're gonna name her Witney. Emma already claimed Brittany and Hayley claimed Lindsay." 

"I really wish you just could be here to meet her, but I'll always tell her about her aunts, the three kindest and amazing girls I ever knew." Jenna sobbed, falling to her knees. With shaking hands, Jenna pulled a picture out of her pocket. An image of the four them together, the last time they were alive, three hours before the first shot brought Jenna's world crashing down. 

She kissed the image before placing it in front of Lindsay's grave because she was in the middle of the three. "I miss you so much." Jenna whispers as a breeze brushed against her cheek, and she glanced up to see three butterflies, all preached on a the three graves. A smile crosses her face as the butterflies fly away together. For the first time in six months since that terrible night, Jenna got some closure.