Camera Girl

8:00pm - Funerals and Eulogies

Peter's POV

"Boy, that steak got me full," Lily said as we headed out of Wooden Horse.

"Yep," I said in agreement. "So I was wondering, where's your dad's funeral?"

She stays quiet, as if to think whether or not should I go.

"Um Loyola," she said, her voice almost quiet.

"Then I'm coming with you," I said with a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure?" she asks me, feeling doubtful and unsure.

"I'm sure," I said. "I'm here for moral support."

"Okay," I said as we head to the car.

Lily sits beside me at the front seat as I sit on the driver's seat.

As I turned on the ignition, I started everything up and turned on the radio. And as we got out of Molito, Like I'm Gonna Lose You by Meghan Trainor ft. John Legend was playing.

It was starting to rain when the song started. Lily just looks at the window, contemplating I guess.

It was going to be a silent and rainy drive.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When we reached to Loyola Memorial Park, we parked near the guard house.

"Um, where's your dad's funeral?" I inquired as Lily zones out a bit.

"Second funeral parlor," she said as she pointed at the middle door between the first and third funeral parlors.

"We can do this," I whispered warmly and reassuringly as I held her hand.

"Okay," she said in a small smile of hope as her tears threatened to fall on her face.

Without a word, I hugged her for a good minute, then pulled away. We started walking up the porch and onto the steps that lead to her dad.

When I opened the door, there were a few people. A couple of ladies and men talking, drinking, and laughing. I guess they're remembering things with her father.

The next thing I observe is that kids would be playing around and enjoying themselves. The way they play their toys and gadgets.

And the last thing I observed was a lady who looked really tired. I guess this must be her mom. She's wearing a white summer dress, a sheer shawl, and a pair of black sunglasses perched on her head. She has her head down with her hands on her nape for a while until she angles her head a bit as we approach her.

"Hey honey," she says to Lily in a tired, almost whisper voice as Lily sits beside her and hugged each other.

A moment later, they pulled away from each other.

"How was the exhibit?" she asked Lily.

"It's good," she answers with her normal smile as her mother cups her cheek.

"Mom," she says as she gestures me. "This is Peter, my friend."

"Oh! You must be Peter," her mom says in a warm, tired voice.

"Yeah," I said as I shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Chanster."

"Please call me Elizabeth," she says as she gestures a place in a pew next to Lily. "Please have a seat."

"Sure," I said as I sat down while I saw a man putting on his white robe and a purple sash around his neck. This must be the priest.

"You're in time for the mass," she says as she turns to face the coffin.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"The mass has ended. Go in peace and always have faith," the priest said as he ended the mini mass.

"Thanks be to God," the crowd said in unison as the priest bowed down to the coffin, turned on his heel, and left.

Then it was back to being the noisy crowd.

Suddenly, Lily is gone. Maybe she went to the CR or somewhere.

When I looked at the platform, she's there, adjusting the mic.

"Excuse me? May I have your attention please?" she asked as she cleared her throat, preparing a folded piece of paper which she unfolded. It was the size of a stationery, but I bet she has a lot more to say than what's written there.

Everyone was looking at her. The silence coating up the deadly environment.

"I'm Blair, the daughter of Clark Chanster. I'm here to say that my dad is a great one. He is imperfect, but a great one. He took care of me ever since I got out to see the world and today, I would say a few things to him.

"When I was 5 years old, he took me and my mom to Japan for a couple of days. I really had a fun time there because we went exploring on new food to breath taking scenery. In that moment, I started to enjoy life. The way it is simple to be happy to see the things you wanna see and feel.

"He would take me into photo exhibits and would let me get lost into the pictures and I got fascinated on how people would take different images on different angle. And that's how he started to support my passion in pictures. He wasn't the type of dad that would say too much and do little or nothing. He bought me my first camera on my 15th birthday and would let me just experiment with it because he wanted me to learn (with guidance, of course).

"I know this eulogy is lame because I ran out of ideas, but no words can express or feel the disappearance of my dad. He was a great dad. He didn't leave us or anything. But when I hears about what happened last week, I wasn't able to believe it. Maybe I was hallucinating when we got the news, but it felt like a planet could crush down and bits of it would be right on my shoulders.

" I love you, dad. Hope to see you soon whenever. Thanks for everything. I love you. I promise to take many pictures to make you proud of me. Thank you," she finally said as she went down to the podium with everyone staring down at her.

That was the last time I hugged her.