The FIVE

Chapter 17- Gone But Never Forgotten

Jakes POV
"Ann, I'm really worried about Alex"

"I know. She's been so on edge lately, and ever since she had that dream last week, she has cried herself to sleep. I hear her every night and it brakes my heart"

Right now the three of us are walking to the funeral home where they are having a joint ceremony for Josh and Alex's family and Alex doesn't look so good.

A car honks the horn causing her to jump. We all cross the street and stop short when we see all four faces in picture frames outside of the church. Alex, along with Josh's mother are doing a Eulogy.

"Alex, Ansley, Jake, it is the funeral of one of your classmates and family members how do you feel?" Alex looks broken as hell so I answer. "No comment"

"Oh come on, we haven't gotten a comment from you in two weeks-"

"And you're not gonna" Ansley scoffs angrily.

I grab both of their hands as we walk in together. Everyone looks at us with all different emotions, anger, joy, sadness, fear, and pure hatred.

We sit next to Josh's family and give them our condolences, except Alex. She hugs Josh's mom tight and says "I'm so sorry that I couldn't save him"

"No honey, it was not your fault. The putrid human being that did this to all of you is at fault. There was nothing you could have done" they both start crying until Alex hugs Josh's dad and finally his sister. "Do you think Josh is in heaven?" A tear falls down Alex's face as she replies "yeah I do. He was a great boy"

The service starts and I can tell that Alex is zoning out. I'm really worried.

Alex's POV
I zone out because this is not real. It cannot be real. Josh is not dead and neither is my family. I am just waiting for all of them to come out and yell surprise! We are not dead!

But I know that it would all be just to good to be true. I blame Andrew for this. He did this and he is yet to be found which puts me more on edge than I should be.

Every noise, every sound, every little thing reminds me of that island and no matter what I do I cannot escape it. I am lost in the world all by myself because nobody feels what I feel. I can tell that Jake and Ansley are worried about me but there's nothing I can do about it. I can't change how I feel, or how I react to things. I swear one of these days I am just going to blow up at the media.

Who the hell do they think they are invading our space. We survived on an island for a month big deal. Do I think they will catch the killer? No because the stupid cops think that one of us did it. I'm sorry but how stupid do they have to be not to notice that someone else did this to us? There was a frekin torture chamber that the people helped us out of! Speaking of which, they just dropped us off at the hospital and left, yeah they were some "nice" people.

The minute I woke up from the hospital everyone was questioning me and asking me all these different things, I had cameras in my face until I freaked out about Andrew.

"My son was a very good man, along with the Hanover's, I knew them very well considering that their youngest daughter Alex was Josh's best friend" Alright Alex, time to listen. "My son was always full of energy, always playing around and always had to make friends with everyone. Sandra (my mom) was a great woman, she was my best friend since high school. When she married Dave I was so happy for her. Everyone lying in these caskets today did not deserve to die. But I guess everything happens for a reason and this was sure a messed up one. But one thing is for sure, they will never be forgotten"

Josh's mom walks away from the podium signaling that it is my turn to go up. I take a deep breath and look at everyone. I spot the media out of the corner of my eye causing me to get angry.

"I don't even know where to start... Everyone lying in these caskets are very close to me. My mother was a beautiful hard working woman who always wanted to make us smile or happy and that was what I most admired about her. I admired that no matter how hard things got, she was always there to provide us with a smile on her face without a worry in the world and I wanted to be just like her"

"Carson was my sister and you know how the saying goes most sisters are best friends? Well that's wasn't really the case with me and Carson. It's hard to explain, we had a love-hate relationship. Sometimes we would be happy and others, we would be at each other's throats trying to kill each other, in the end we always made up and I am glad because throughout it all, she was a great sister and I couldn't have asked for a better one"

I take a deep breath before continuing. You can to this Alex. "Max was the best brother a girl could ask for. We also had our ups and downs but no matter what happened, we always went to each other for anything. I guess we had a better bond because we were twins but we were complete opposites. I always got him to do wild things and take risks, and he always got me to study hard. I will really miss his nervous switch. Whenever he was nervous, he would always fix his glasses or do extra homework and I always teased him about it. I'm really going to miss those times"

I look at Josh and continue. "And finally Josh. Josh and I have been best friends for as long as I could remember. We have done pretty much everything together. Concerts, parties, swinging on the monkey bars, you name it we've done it. I loved Josh through it all. I'll miss the way that whenever I was upset he would become over protective. Whoever I was upset with, he was upset with. I'll never forget the day that we met at our mothers' fasion show, he was coloring and I interrupted him to talk and we basically talked the whole day about small things. It's the little things that you remember, but I will remember them all. I will miss everyone dearly but as Daniela said, just because they are gone, it doesn't mean that they will be forgotten. They will be in our hearts forever" A tear slips down my face as I walk back to my seat. Josh's mom grabs my hand as we cry together.
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We walk to the cemetery where my family is being buried and I lose it as they are being put into the ground because this is it. This is the last time I am going to see them again. Josh's parents fulfilled his wish and got his ashes.

Everyone gives me their condolences before they leave until it's just me, Jake and Ansley left. "Alex it's getting dark, we should go" Ansley says causing me to get up and walk away.

Once we got to my house, the media was there again. "Alex, do you have a comment?" A reporter asks causing rage to fill in my body.

"Yes actually I do" all of them fall silence and look at me and raise their cameras and recorders. "I wish that everyone would leave me the fuck alone! Have you no decency?! What is wrong with you people? We just lost our loved ones, we've suffered for a month on that island and for what? The police aren't doing anything! The guy who did this to us is still out there and until he is found I will have no part in the media. You want a real story? Then go find Andrew King. He's the guy who did this to us" I shout angrily while walking inside.

I see Carson, Max and Josh again which causes me to freak out. "Alex what's wrong?" Jake asks worriedly.

"How are you here?! This is not happening! It's not my fault I promise!" I shout with tears falling down my face.

"Alex nobody is there" Ansley sighs causing me to turn to them.

"They are right there! All three of them! It's like they are haunting me! And everyday and every hour that goes by I only feel more guilt because it's my fault! If I could have saved Sarah then none of this would have happened! None of them would have gotten tortured or bled to death. Sarah would be alive, my dad would be alive, Josh, Carson, Max, everyone on that damn boat would still be alive! It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault" I fall on the floor and start rocking back and fourth again.

"Alex?" I look at my hands and notice that they are shaking uncontrollably

"Alex!" That was the last thing that I heard before it all faded into darkness.