S.H.A.D.E. [{ Completed }]✔ (#Wattys2018)

Memorial

27.

I wake up with my head resting on Copper's shoulder. I would feel embarrassed, except his head is resting on mine and he's snoring like a freight train.

With as much delicacy as possible, I remove myself from him, sliding out of the truck.

The desert has gotten hot again with the rebirth of the sun, and I pull off Copper's hoodie that makes me feel as though I am in an incinerator. Sweat coats my entire body, the back of my head and shoulders blades damp.

I look out over the horizon, the white brightness of the sun unrelenting, it's heat buzzing over the cracked earth. I ball up the hoodie in my hands, feeling anxious.

Because today is the day.

While the others continue to sleep, I roam around the truck, finding as many sizable rocks as I can. Once I have found four decent ones, I climb up the little hillock, right to the top. It seems to be the only lifted part of this flat desert, though it is still small. I place all four at the top in a straight line.

This is all I can do for them. No one else knows that they are gone, no one else will remember them, or memorialize them. They deserve better, but this is all I can do.

I kneel down in front of the rocks and bow my head. I can't think of much to say, but I begin anyway. "I... I know that I didn't really know you. I don't even know me. But I will remember you, and most of all, I will get justice for you... y-you mattered." My lips start trembling, so I stop speaking, because I am done crying. 

I feel him come up behind me more than I hear him. Copper sits down next to me, looking down at the rocks. He places two more with them.

We exchange a look, and I understand.

We sit there in silent contemplation until Scarlet and Iris wake up. Then, it's time to go.