Uriah's Eulogy

The Lost Pansycake

As most of you will know, my name is Tris. What most of you won't know is how much Uriah, one of my dearest friends, meant to me. I don't think it is possible to calculate how many people Uriah Pedrad affected over his lifetime but I do think they were all positive effects.

Our society is split into five factions; one of each we all call home. There are the Selfless, the Honest, the Intelligent, the Peaceful and the Brave. Uriah Pedrad was born on the first of February 1997 right in his parent's apartment; he was so desperate to enter the world there was no time to get to the hospital. He was born into the brave and daring society, Dauntless; the faction he chose to stay in at the age of sixteen.

Mr Pedrad, Zeke and Uriah's father, passed away shortly after Uri was born so he never really knew his father. Zeke, Uriah's older brother by two years, became man of the house and Uri respected this.

Uriah was always a wild and truly Dauntless child; brave and daring. To his mother's horror, he was constantly running along the clifftop above the underground chasm, that is the heart of our home. Due to his wild behaviour Uriah had many children lining up to be his friends when he was young. He was popular at school because he was defiant and brave. His teachers were not fond of him due to his defiance and punishment in our faction is brutal. Uriah was sent home from school many times with bruised skin.
Uriah never got into fights like most of the other young boys. He was boisterous but made his mother proud when he knew the right time to stop; besides, no one dared to pick a fight with him because they knew they would lose. Uriah graduated from school half a year early, mainly because his teachers had had enough of him.

Uriah and I met at the age of sixteen after we had chosen which faction of society we were going to devote our lives to. He squeezed a brightly coloured paintball that burst, accidently, right onto my face. Our train carriage, the only transport system we have to get around our faction, was buzzing with pride that night. Our team had won the traditional and violent game of capture the flag that is special to our brave faction; the paint plastering my face was an additional laugh. It was thanks to Uri that we did win the game. He, and a couple of other teens who had older siblings in Dauntless, knew from his big brother where the best hiding spots for the flag were.

Being in a different training group - trained to be strong and brave to fit into our chosen social sect - I was set to have nothing else to do with Uriah, but we became good friends. There are many stories I could share that occurred during the short time I knew him. One being when he took me ziplining - a tradition only our faction would have; an ultimate flying fox that is not for those with a fear of heights. I have no idea what was running through Uriah's head at the time but he screamed like a strangled cat the whole way down; for that he was always teased. Along with screaming like a coward, which we all know he wasn't, Uriah nearly forgot to pull the brake cord that is set to stop the zipliner from plummeting into the wall at the end; I'm glad he got to it in time.
While training and hanging out with other teens our age it slowly became obvious that Uriah had a crush on one of our other friends, Marlene. Once Marlene found out about this there was no going back, the pair became inseparable. Uriah and Marlene carried a steady relationship but they never forgot about their other friends. At the age of sixteen, only months earlier, right at the beginning of the war, Marlene was killed. With this news Uriah lost his spark. Bright, cheerful and bubbly Uriah lost his meaning for life but he remained strong and loyal for the rest of us. His broken heart partially mended over the time he had left.

I was with Uriah when he experienced his first plane flight; it was my own too. On the plane, Uriah became a child again; bug-eyed and opened mouthed at something new and exciting. It was the first time he looked handsome and alive again, like Uriah, after Marlene died. It was here we knew Uriah would recover from his heart break.

Uriah was daring, daring enough to shoot a blueberry muffin off the top of his girlfriend's head - with plastic slugs though, incase he missed. He was strong and enduring, he ranked second in overall training results. Uriah's forwardness and cheeky nature often embarrassed people but the boy never cared what others thought of him. He never failed to lighten dark moods, put a spark in an awkward situation and, most certainly, never failed to have us clutching at our cramped sides caused by laughter. One of Uriah's favourite pastimes was to call people 'Pansycakes.' When he first came out with the ancient, but supposedly very offensive, insult used to name call, we laughed until tears came to our eyes. It is a name the Dauntless children use, not the teenagers, so the immaturity of it was hilarious at the time. But, as childlike as it was, Uri loved the insult - of course he didn't actually mean anything by it, it was just a bit of fun.

Uriah will always be remembered as a loyal friend. He was always sure to check on and look after his friends; he knew when to be comforting or encouraging, he knew when to feel sympathetic toward a person's weakness and he always knew when to judge them for their strength. When I was accused of being a traitor to my own family, the Dauntless, Uriah stuck by me when almost nobody else did. This is what best friends should be like, they should always hold faith and trust in you; Uri was a perfect example of this. Many will also remember him for being the one to introduce them to our faction's legendary cake: Dauntless cake. Uriah knew that the rich chocolate cake, original to the Dauntless, was truly the best thing one could ever taste so he made sure all his friends tried it.

Wherever Uri is now, I know he will be missing his family and friends. Hana, I hope you are a proud mother. Uriah achieved so much in his seventeen years for you to be proud of. I have already said he was one of the top trainees and this was confirmed when he was offered training to prepare to be a Dauntless leader. Zeke, you were Uri's father figure. Uriah, although one of his favourite things to do was tease you, looked to you as a mentor and a best friend, rather than the goofy big brother you are. Shauna, you count as family too. Uriah already loved you as a sister-in-law, he would have done anything for you and Zeke to live happily ever after. Lynn, Uriah's sister by friendship, would be glad not to be here today; she couldn't handle losing the boy she shared her lifetime with. Christina, like me, you hadn't known Uri all that long but he loved you, and our late friend Will, to pieces.

We will all miss Uriah's positivity and strength. We have all lost loved ones due to the current war between our sects of society and adding Uri's name to those lists is hard for many of us.

Uriah, at only seventeen years old, died in an explosion that he wasn't meant to be near. He died fighting for good and would be glad to know he went down in a brave and honourable way. He would want us to move on, to fight and win this war in his name. We must remember him for the way he died in a right and respectful way, he died in the way any Dauntless would want: strong, brave and fighting. The boy with warm, brown skin and a wide smile went down with a strong fight, let us never forget that.

You were a truly treasured friend and we will remember you always, you Pansycake.