Against All Odds

Chapter 7 - Paige's Funeral

About a week after the incident at the sorority party, Emily and I found ourselves getting ready to head to Rosewoods for Paige's funeral service. Emily was nervous, of course. Actually nervous isn't even half of the emotions that she was feeling that day. She was sad, nervous, uneasy, anxious. It's just hard to describe her emotions that day. She couldn't even explain them to me. I tried to help her out as much as I could. All she wanted from me was to be there to support her. After the four hour car drive, we finally reached the church. I started getting out of the car but started having trouble. Emily came around from the drivers side and helped me out. I held onto the top of the car as she got my crutches from the back seat.

"Em! San!" We saw the three girls walking over to us.

"What do I tell them about my leg?" She shook my head.

"Don't say anything about it yet, we don't want to get them all riled up before the service." I nodded in agreement.

"Whoa, San what happened to you?" Aria helped me away from the mud puddle I nearly stepped in so I could get onto my crutches.

"It's no big deal right now, we'll tell you guys about it later." Emily shut the door to the car and we walked up to the front door. The usher at the front gave us the program for the service.

In loving memory of Paige McCullers was in big italicized letters on the front above a picture of Paige from their senior year. I watched as Emily's demeanor changed in an instant. I guess everything started to sink in, because I could see tears filling her eyes. We moved into the church trying to find a place to sit. It was packed, so we decided to walk up to the front to see Paige's parents and the body first. As we move closer, Emily started walking slower. I stopped with her as we reached closer.

"It'll be okay, Em. We're all here for you." Spencer reassured her as she rubbed her back. She nodded and started walking again. But right as we could see her body in the casket, she turned around.

"I can't do this. I can't. I can't see her like this guys." She started crying. She gripped the rose she was holding tighter. I grabbed her hands, nearly dropping my crutches.

"You can do this, Em. I'll be with you the whole time okay?" I kissed her on the cheek, and had her look up at me. "You'll be just fine."

"We'll go up first, if that helps you Em." Hanna gave her a reassuring nod.

"Yeah. You guys go first." Emily wiped her face and stood up taller. I could hear her whispering I can do this to herself. The three girls walked up to the casket and held each other for a minute and then walked to give the condolences to Paige's parents.

"Are you ready babe?"

"As ready as I'll ever be for this." We started walking closer to the casket and finally we were right up next to it. I could feel her body shaking. I turned to see streams of tears running down her face. I moved my left crutch from under my arm and held it in my right hand so I could put my arm around her. I felt my crutches slip from my hands but realized that Aria was just taking them from me so I could hold Emily. I mouthed the words thank you to her, and held her close. She was breaking down. I had never seen someone so torn down like she was at that exact moment. I could only imagine what was going through her mind. Her ex girlfriend that she loved, was now laying in a casket lifeless. There wasn't any way that she was coming back. Just a lifeless corpse there for a viewing. It would be the last time Emily would see her for the rest of her life. I could just imagine the pain and hurt that she was experiencing. I know that if that was Brittany, I'd be losing my mind. I did everything I could to try and comfort her. She places the rose in her casket and touched Paiges face. She bent over and kissed her on the forehead, then started crying even harder. In an instant, Emily's face was buried in my chest. I knew at that point that I wouldn't be able to hold her up on my own. It was a horrible time to be injured. Hanna and Aria came up to us.