The Town

Chapter 2: Remembrance Day

"It's 9 PM, we should start heading down to the town pond." I said to everyone as the room got a little gloomy.

"Well, let's do it." Ian said as I spotted Alicia eying me down suspiciously.

"Hey, I'm Sandy." I said to her not knowing if she knew my name or not.

"Alicia." She said as we all got up to go to the lake.

The lake always looked beautiful at night, there were lights that someone always turned on after dark that illuminated the water that was just amazing.

It was 9:30 and the only other people around were a few cars driving back and forth.

A few of us had balloons in our hands, Amanda had bought balloons for Derrick Kelly Kylie Holly Cole Bella and Justin.

Brooke had Bella's, I had Cole's, Jared had Kelly's, Amanda had Holly's, Becca had Derrick's, Henry had Kylie's, and Matt had Justin's.

Once they were all filled, we all said a few words about the people before we released our balloons.

"Holly, you were my best friend in the entire world. I know nobody else knows you, but I still included you in this because you will always mean the most to me. There's no possible way I'll ever forget you." Amanda said as she released the balloon. As it floated away the H on the balloon became smaller and smaller until it was completely gone.

"Goodbye." Jared said after everyone else had said some words for Kelly. He released the balloon with a K on it.

"You shouldn't have died, all that you had were good intentions." Matt said before letting the J balloon go.

"Cole, I went onto the cruise having the biggest crush on you and the biggest rivalry with Bella. Out of the three of us I was the only one who survived and I wish every day I could change what happened that day. I miss you so much, and even though we barely ever talked there will never be a day where I don't think of you and Bella." I said as I let the balloon go as the C floated away.

It's crazy to think that there's only four survivors of the cruise and im one of them, and the other three are right here.

"You were smart, and only 11. In my mind it became my job to protect you, to help you survive this. In the end I failed, and I'll never forgive myself for that." Henry said before letting go a balloon saying KY on it.

"You were my cousin, you were a bitch sometimes, but I still love you. We grew up together and we were always close until I had to move away in sixth grade, I'm so glad that Sandy reached out to me so I can say a final goodbye to you." Brooke said. She then very slowly let go the B balloon.

"You were a jerk, but you were our jerk. I'll see you eventually." Becca said as her eyes started to tear up. I looked up to see a D balloon getting smaller within time.

Becca's dam had finally spilled and she started sobbing her eyes out and she sat down on the ground.

"That was so genuine, so... beautiful. I've never seen feelings so strong like this before." Ian said to us.

"You guys must have really cared about them, were so sorry that this happened to you guys, you all seem like such great people who don't deserve any of this." Jake said to us.

"Thank you." I said as I sat down next to Becca.

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We were back in Amanda's house that used to be mine Kelly's Justin's Matt's Henry's and Becca's, but now it just belonged to Amanda.

I went to the bathroom and when I came back I saw Amanda with her head against Matt's chest and he had his arm around her.

It's been over a year since Matt and I broke up but it still stung to see him with someone else, I had no idea they were together until just now.

"Hey." Matt said to me.

I smiled at him and sat down next to Jake.

Jake was really cool, he reminded me of Justin a lot. I wanted to get to know him more.

We were all watching a movie when there was a really loud sound that came from outside.

"What was that?" Jake asked me.

"Oh no." I said looking at Henry.

"What?" Brooke asked looking at the six of us who survived.

There was the noise again, and people screamed.

At this point we were all terrified. "What was that?" Alicia asked us trying to stay calm.

"Gunshots." Jared said, he seemed scared. That was the first time I saw his emotion change all day.

I felt my phone buzz from a text.

Janet 🕶: Sandy, where are you?
Sandy ✨: At Remembrance Day why
Janet 🕶: Ok but like WHERE are you?
Sandy ✨: omg I'm at the old house and I'm busy.
Janet 🕶: quit being busy and get out here.
Sandy ✨ What do you mean get out here you're in Seattle?

After I sent that text the doorbell rang and no one wanted to open it.

Three more rings happened right after the other really frantically.

I got up and opened the door, completely terrified of what was gonna be there.

"Janet?" I asked as she bolted into the house and slammed the door shut.

"We need to block all exits." She said as she tried to push a fridge but had no chance.

She was terrified and heavily breathing, running around wide eyed.

"Janet what's going on?" I asked her practically yelling.

More gunshots rang out and everyone was horrified.

"There's so many of them, so, so many." Janet mumbled running around looking for things to block the door with.

"How did you get here?" I asked her putting my hands on her shoulders.

"I flew here, I wanted to remember Kelly." She said as Jared grew sadder.

"Who's shooting guns outside?" I asked her.

"The terrorists, they're back, there's so many of them, so many, they're surrounding the town, they have barricades everywhere, there's an unimaginable amount. They're closing off the town, looking for you guys." Janet said before there was a knock on the door.