Under Clearer Waters

Chapter 2: Cold Hard Ground

Three days. Three days since they found my best friend belly down in the lake, lifeless. The horror of seeing her lifeless body as multiple teens gather around her as she's not breathing anymore.

The images of seeing her flash in my head over and over. Her body. Matthew crying. People shocked. Cops yelling. Hannah's father.

"Why her Lucy?" I stare in the mirror at my reflection. "Damn it! It's all my fault."

Lucy sniffles, "No Jul, please it wasn't your fault. Hannah and I wanted to throw the party in the first place. Nobody knew it was going to involve her ending up in the lake."

"But," tears start to fall down my face. "It feels like it's all my fault. If I wouldn't have said yes to having the party she wouldn't be dead."

Lucy gets up, "Julia, you know Hannah would have found a way to still have that party anyways; regardless if you would have said yes or no. You know she had her way of getting anything that she wanted, no matter the cost."

I hug Lucy, speechless that today is Hannah's funeral. It is the last time that I will see her beautiful face before it's placed six feet under cold hard ground. Everything seems so unreal, like a fairy tale gone wrong. All I could wonder is whether it was my fault or not.

I sniffle a couple of times before pulling away from Lucy, "Come on, let's put on our water proof makeup that way it doesn't get ruined. Hannah would hate for that to happen you know."

"What's going to happen to her blog?" Lucy sniffles.

I glance in the mirror, "We'll run it if you want. It was basically all of ours anyways, I mean, we were the test subjects in it basically."

Her and I stare at each other before more tears slip out of my eyes. It's so hard to keep it together when your best friend is suddenly gone, there's no trace of how she died. No matter what I think, it still feels like it is all my fault that she died. I shouldn't have let her have the party by the lake; she wouldn't have ended up in the lake belly down.

The house phone rings as I slightly pick it up, "Hello?"

"Hello, this is Detective Paul calling. Is this Julia?" His voice asks.

I sigh, "This is Julia speaking."

"Hello Julia, I was wondering if I could speak later on today about your friend Hannah Maison. Is there any time that would work for you?" He asks.

I glance at Lucy, "Well, I have a funeral to attend later today so maybe around six o'clock tonight? I mean, if that works for you sir."

"Thank you Julia, I'll talk to you later," the phone line ended.

I let out a dramatic sigh as I head to the closet, picking out a black dress that Hannah would want me to wear to her funeral. This funeral was going to be huge, Hannah has so much family, regardless if they are blood. I know for a fact that some of her fans were going to show up, her friends from school, and just about everyone else is going to show up at her funeral.

I apply my makeup before hearing a beeping noise from downstairs, knowing it was Felix honking the horn for us to come downstairs. Lucy grabs my hand and leads me downstairs, before we head out to see Hannah for the last time.

Felix opens the door for us as I seat myself up front next to him. Nobody says anything while he drives to the funeral where this is all being held. Luckily, Hannah's father wants us to come to the viewing with the family. Hannah was an only child, so I could only imagine how her father feels burying his only child, and we practically are her sisters. Mr. Maison considers us his other daughters.