For Our King | fkac ✓

👑 30; r e a l . l i f e 👑

Joanna swallowed as she stood with Joel, Luke and Colton. Funerals were never easy for her, since the death of her father. She couldn't fathom the pain of losing a child, but she could fathom the pain of losing immediate family.

Joel leaned over, gently nudging Joanna. She sniffled, looking up at Joel as he offered her a sympathetic smile.

Though the two often teased each other and joked with each other, they loved each other like siblings.

"You okay, Jo?" Joel asked, raising an eyebrow. Joanna smiled softly, nodding.

"Yeah. I'll be okay, Joel. Don't worry," Joanna whispered.

The four of them watched the people up front from the back. Slowly, painful memories for all them came back. Joanna with her father, Colton with his brother-in-law, Joel and Luke when they nearly had to start planning Luke's funeral just a couple years ago, but he survived. All painful on different amounts, different times and different for each other.

Joel nodded gently at her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. Joanna smiled appreciatively up at him.

"You worry me, Jo. I care about you." Joel chuckled quietly .

Joanna grinned, "Thanks for being a great big brother."

~*~*~

Joanna glanced up, hearing her name called from the front. The pastor up at the podium smiled softly at Joanna.

"Mrs. Harris would you to say a few words about Hayden." The pastor repeated.

Joanna swallowed and nodded. Joel leaned over, squeezing her shoulders one last time. Slowly, Joanna forced herself to walk to the front and take the place where the pastor previously stood.

She sighed, and quickly cleared her throat.

"I'm sure some of you recognize me or have heard of me. My name is Joanna Shaw, and I'm apart of a band. This band helped Hayden. I knew her for two weeks, but we connected." Joanna sighed, "I was nearly in her position at a younger age. I watched my father fight lung cancer for almost all of my childhood. But when I met Hayden for the first time, I saw that spark of hope in her eyes. She wrote a letter to me and Colton, explaining how our music gave her enough hope to carry on. I nearly lost it. Hayden didn't deserve this, but I can tell you that she's happy. She's embracing her Lord, the same Lord that loves us and cherishes us. I can tell you that she's looking down at us. It's cheesy, I know, but Hayden wouldn't want us to be sad. In her situation, she had hope. Whether she was told that she had two weeks or not. She had hope for survival, but she also had hope that she was going to be happy soon. From those two weeks, I knew a lot about Hayden. She'd want us all to hope."

Colton, in the back, sniffled and attempted to keep any tears. This was hard, for all of them.

Joanna looked down, wiping at her cheeks as tears fell. Hayden never deserved to die, she only deserved to be happy.

"Too young, too old. Too shy, too bold. Too average to make a difference. The worlds too big and you're too small. If you try to fly, you're gonna fall. They're shouting, but we won't listen. We're Limitless." Colton began to sing.

Soon enough, it wasn't just him. Joel an Luke joined in mere seconds after. Joanna tried through the tears.

The person least expected stood up, and sang with the group. No one expected Tori to get up and sing, but she did for her sister.

Joanna simply looked at Hayden's family, and could see the pain as they sang along with every one else. Slowly, she stepped away from the podium and neared the youngest Harris; Tori. Joanna kneeled down in front of her and simply smiled at the young girl.

"Please have hope like your sister did. Hayden talked about you so much, and she loved you so much." Joanna whispered, "You have a bright future, Tori."

Tori whimpered as she threw her arms around Joanna's neck and hugged her. Joanna sighed softly, gently holding the young girl against her.

"Thank you," was whispered from Tori. She didn't speak often, but when she did, her voice held such emotion.