True Colors

Chapter 27 - "Thank you for coming...."

Chapter 27 – Jessica Montez

The days passed by really slowly: Monday I had Colorguard practice for four hours in the morning, then I had to go home and unpack everything in Jessica’s apartment, then Jessica dragged me to a parent meeting for band that night—it was just awful.

Tuesday I spent after school with Katie and she spent most of the day texting that Tomlinson guy—oh my god I’m starting to become like Jackson—I, however, do get texts from him…every single day if I might add; but I just full on ignore them…I don’t need to associate myself with a guy in a boy band.

Wednesday, Jessica took my dress shopping for Megan’s funeral, which was on Friday, and for Homecoming, which was on Saturday.

Thursday I just hung around the apartment as Jessica went for her classes—I knew I should’ve been in school but since tomorrow was my sisters’ funeral, I wasn’t in the mood for any kind of studying.

I sat in the car with Jessica and put on a pair of really dark aviators; Jessica had put me in a black neck dress, black blazer, black pumps, and a black bow in my hair. I sighed as we arrived at the venue; Jessica took my hand, giving in a reassure squeeze, and I stepped out of the car to see everyone that was very close to me and my sister. My dad was nowhere to be found so that was a bonus.

Everyone came up to me at least once and explained how sorry they were for my loss—and at the moment, it was making me cry; I mean why wouldn’t it?

I thanked them as we walked towards all chairs, but I froze as I saw my sister’s casket—it was closed and had a great deal of flowers on top of it. I could feel hot tears rolling down my cheeks as I stared; no one talked as they took their seats.

“Hey,” a voice whispered in my ear. I turned to see Nick who was in black skinny jeans, black Converse, a white dress shirt, black vest and fitted tux jacket.

“Hi,” my voice cracked as he gathered me in his arms, “Thank you for coming.”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” he whispered back.

I lightly kissed his cheek as I took his hand, walking toward our seats.

About an hour later the last speaker had finally finished his speech and I stiffened a little.

“Now,” the Reverend spoke, “our, actual, final speaker—Jessica.”

I let out a shaky exhale; I looked at Nick who took his hand from mine and quickly kissed my hand and gestured for me to go up to the podium.

I stood at the podium for a moment and surveyed the people around me; they all looked sad—as was I—but they were trying to stay strong, “Thank you everyone, for coming today—I’m sure Megan would’ve been very happy.” I paused, taking a deep breath, “For all of you who knew Megan best, you knew that she was a happy, upbeat, outgoing, and generous young woman.” I watched as a few people in the crowd nodded. “She wasn’t ever afraid to speak her mind; She loved to volunteer around town whenever she could—she loved playing sports: soccer mainly, but most importantly she loved being around the people who she cared about most.”

I saw a group of teenagers—who must’ve been Megan’s close friends—crying, most of them were guys but that was Megan for you, “She was always there to make sure that each and every one of them were okay; to make sure that everyone was treated with the up most respect and kindness,” I took another deep breath, my voiced cracked as I continued on, “Megan wasn’t just my sister—she was my best friend: she and I helped each other through heartbreak, helped each other when one of us were down, or even just picked on each other once in a while; but she was always there for me—and now that she’s gone…I feel like I wasn’t there for her at all. Because if I was there for her, to protect her for what had happened, she would still be here right now; but I wasn’t…I was out and about on the wrong night…and it was the one time I wasn’t there for her.”

I noticed more people in the crowd crying as I continued, “But—Megan will always be with us, when the sun shines during the day and the moon brightens up the night, I know that she will be with each and every one of us until the day we join her; I also want to take this time to say that…I love you Megan, you were the best sister and best friend anyone could ask for—I wish that you were still here with everyone, but God is protecting you right now…I miss you.” I was crying, my heart was pounding against my ribcage so hard that I swear I was going to have a bruise, “I love you,” I whispered as I stepped down from the podium and ran into Jessica and Nick’s embrace.

“Shh,” Nick comforted, “It’s going to be okay.”

I felt Jessica let go of me but she was still rubbing my shoulder; Nick was holding my head against his chest, his other arm around my waist with my arms just around his waist. I exhaled into his chest, crying as Megan’s casket went into the ground and when it was over, Nick let me go and I was now in Jackson’s arms.

“I’m so sorry, Jessica,” Jackson whispered as we rocked back and forth.

“Thank you for coming,” I replied, my voice cracking.

Next was Katie who gave me an apologetic look and kissed my forehead, “It’s going to be okay.”

I saw Sam lingering in the crowd of people and ran over to him—jumping into his arms as he hugged me back, “thank you for coming,” my voice cracked again from crying so much; his grip on me tightened a little as he kissed the top of my head.

“I’m sorry about your loss, I always have been,” he apologized with tears welling up in his eyes.

“Oh please don’t cry,” I begged.

Sam blinked hard a few times as his mom walked up: giving me a quick arm hug, “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you, and thank you both for coming.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” his mom spoke, grabbing Sam’s arm and sending me their final goodbyes.

Everyone had offered me their condolences and left, leaving me and Jessica staring back one last time at my sister’s resting place.

“We’ll miss you…” I whispered, as Jessica and I walked hand in hand back to the car; the sun came out from behind the clouds and I smiled a little from inside the car.

Hi Megan—I smiled some more and realized that everything was going to be alright.

Authors Note: So this one was actually very emotional for me, part of the speech was written by my mom a very long time ago when her father had died so i just changed it a little...i hope you guys likes it--i know..it's short, but i still like it. Hopefully an upload with be up later. Until then, chao xx