This Winter

Chapter 26

Present

I stay in the bench while Savannah is still away somewhere answering a phone call I can only assume is her family.

I find my eyes staring at the large cross towards the front of the room. A darkly painted cross adorned with flowers where wood meets floor.

Growing up my mother and I never really attended church. It was too big of a hassle to coordinate with our busy schedules. We only showed up on Christmas and Easter, the two days everyone else attended.

Sometimes I wonder what it was like. What our churches in this very town preached to the public.

Noah attended growing up; the Anderson's appeared every Sunday. I wonder if Noah ever felt welcomed. If he ever felt targeted or persecuted.

I stop myself before I spiral down a rabbit whole of questions I don't have the resources for answers. Find the murmuring of voices to fade in as my inner thoughts fade out.

My eyes drift towards the back of the room for curly hair. I come up with nothing.

He's not here. Maybe he won't even show.

I wonder if it's etiquette to show. Are you supposed too? Do you have too?

Funerals are never about the dead, but the people who remain alive so what's the point of coming anyways? But Noah doesn't think like I do, I know that for a fact.

Noah's the guy who does the right thing, even when it pains him. He'll show, it's in his nature.

And then I see him. When I tilt towards the left I have a view towards the other room. He's standing by the entrance, dressed in dark.

A blank expression on his face as he shakes the hand of another. His caring best friend behind him for emotional support, and his mother's sorrow expression to the left.

They're all here.

Senior Year

"You're going to need your social too," Noah points out, eyes peering over my shoulder and onto the laptop. "Do you know it?"

"Who the fucks has that thing memorized? Isn't it long?" I exclaim, shoving the laptop onto the coffee table.

"I know mine," he answers like the 'know-it-all' he is.

"You're a robot so it doesn't count." That exact comment causes a slap to the arm.

"This is boring," I sigh. Cross my arms and dramatically lay back into the couch. "I just want to pay the deposit and have it over with. I've got a game to worry about!"

"Well you didn't have to write an essay and this is just basic paperwork, so I wouldn't complain too much," Noah scolds me.

I turn my head towards his blue-eyes, staring at him blankly. With a sigh I yell, "Mom!" And venture towards her room for my valuable information.

She jumps when the door is yanked back unexpectedly. Her hand pulls back to her chest like she was just about to answer the door.

"Where's my social? Do you know it? Am I supposed to have it?"

She blinks at me, "What?"