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The Optimal Post Time

Elegant, classy and refined, Sandy's funeral was the opposite of everything she embodied. Baby photographed projected on the front wall seeing her grown up to the age she would always be; seventeen. As they marched into the modest church chosen by Sandy's family, Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind' played to highlight the absence of her.

"As we gather here today, we remember Sandra Quinn, a girl gone too soon." The priest's voice echoed through the church, his forehead knitted together in anguish. He'd never read funeral rights for teenagers before.

"The death of a friend and a daughter, a life taken too soon for an unknown reason."

It all tasted sour in Autumn's mouth, bitter and wrong. Sandy should have grown up to realise her dream of fame or to change her dream completely. Someone took that away from her.

She sat in the second row in the enclave of Sandy's friends with Ryan by her side. The pain painted on the faces of everyone around them, but Autumn couldn't help but wonder who was wearing it as a mask.

The pastor's voice echoed around the old church, his words lyrical and comforting. Practically everyone Sandy knew was there, family, friends, students of Doves End, summer camp friends and of course those rubbernecks who just wanted to holiday in their misery.

And possibly the person who killed her.

The thought clawed at her throat, the phone call in the back of her mind, the social media account, their threat and the game. Whoever this was, they weren't playing around.

Autumn turned around to get a good look at the people in the church. Cassie was a few spaces away from her, flanked by her boyfriend Jason staring blankly ahead. Jessica was on her other side, sobbing without any tears.

Carl Harris sat on the other side of the church with the teachers, in the row behind him Luke and Ben sat with a couple of other stragglers. She recognised a couple of other students, some people from around the neighbourhood but in a church of two hundred, she barely knew half.

"Receive the Lord's blessing. The Lord bless you and watch over you and give you peace; In the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit." A murmur of 'amen' travelled through the congregation, and that was suddenly the end of it all. Sandy was put to rest.

Lilies adorned the church aisle. The flower bloomed with a thick smell that mixed with the heaviness of the bodies in one space. It turned her stomach too acid. Getting up and leaving, Autumn's hand found Ryan's again. The congregation shuffled towards the door where the Quinn's stood ready to greet the mourners.

"We're so sorry for your loss." Ryan shook Mr Quinn's hand as they left. Autumn nodded along blankly, her head still throbbing from all the crying, she passed by Mrs Quinn, her face drawn and pale. Would they ever recover from this?

The wind whipped against her face with an icy intensity, any last remains of summer had truly fallen away from Doves End. She bunched the long black coat tighter around the modest chiffon dress she wore to her mother's funeral a few months before. She was looking out to the thick forest of evergreen trees that circled the outer corners of their town. When she was a kid Autumn always thought of them as protection for Doves End, like a coat of armour now, they were like bars on a jail cell.

"Come on, the wake is at Morley Hall; I'll drive." He took her arm, but she shook her head, refusing to move.

"I want to go home." She whimpered into the collar, the thought of being around people, what she'd have to do, it made the idea of her darkened room seem so appealing.

"We can go for an hour, just to pay our respects then I'll drive you home." He suggested. Ryan never pressured her into anything but she knew he was right, even in her old therapist said you need to fully see through the whole process to begin grieving properly.