Your Friend, Jordan

Seventeen

Two weeks later..

The four of us walked alongside each other, close by as our arms were full, gathered with a bunch of belongings. Although the belongings didn't belong to us, they were all of Jordan's, something everyone carried with them.

  Stepping through the woods, we dodged branches and fallen trees while the autumn leaves crunched under our feet.

"Ok guys, now keep a look out. We don't wanna go running into a bear now," I said in a tone a bit louder than a whisper, as laughter emerged right after. However Troy was the only one who didn't laugh, turning towards me with half a glare, half a smirk.

  "Oh shut up! When are you guys ever gonna let that go?" he asked as his reaction only made the group laugh louder, while Ethan shoved his arm in a playful way.

  "Never! That will forever be funny!" Daniel joked as we all remained laughing, continuing to head deeper into the forest behind Troy's house. Our laughs soon died down though, the silence spreading within the group as we kept on going.

  My mind was filled with memories the further we got, as if every step brought back something old from the past. It was a nice reminder, although some things that were brought up weren't that great either. But instead of trying to push those thoughts away like I used to, I let them wander in my head for a bit, I let them replay again. It hurt for a little while, but only for a few seconds to a minute, until it would finally disappear, making room for something else. Some other thought, some other memory, and some other feeling.

  "Man, I tell you I'm really looking forward to our game next week. I have a real good feeling about it."

  "Yeah, and I think it's real cool the whole type of ceremony thing we're gonna have for Jordan. That's a great idea the coaches came up with," Daniel and Troy spoke as Ethan and I just nodded along, all agreeing.

  "Yeah, I like the idea of retiring Jordan's number as well. I didn't think of doing something like that," I said, putting my two cents in as the other guys nodded along, small smiles all crossing our faces.

  These past few weeks had been something else, really. Between the whole tangled thing with Jordan, and then the assemblies afterwards, it felt rather odd in school, even around the community. Days after the investigation was finally closed and put to a rest, the school had an assembly in honour of Jordan, as if a large type of funeral service, and many people could go up and say a few things. Of course the guys and I did. For days I was trying to come up with what to say, and even what I finally did come up with didn't sound like the right thing. I don't know, maybe I figured I should have made a huge speech or something, since I had known him and been friends with him the longest out of everyone there. But I figured what I said was short and sweet, and not at all gruesome like the things happening behind the scenes with us. If I'm being honest, I still didn't know how I felt about him. Even with him being gone and all, I still didn't know how to feel. Did I hate him? Or love him?
I couldn't tell you at all.

  "Well, we gotta win our next game. For Jordan," Troy said as he raised a fist in the air, as if in honour, and those small smiles spread again.

  "For Jordan." The other guys raised in honour, while the silence took over us again.

  "Yeah, for Jordan," I finally whispered, although not as loud like the others, more to myself.

  Approaching our destination finally, the small hill was directly in front of us as the trees cleared up, and the train tracks were lined on the ground. Dried up leaves all around, a small shrine had already been set up near one of the large and noticeable trees near the tracks. A picture of Jordan was propped in front of the wide barked stump, as flowers and small teddy bears circled around. It wasn't us who created the shrine though, however we spoke about it before. But one day a few weeks earlier when the guys and I were going to set it up, we were surprised to see one already made, and we placed our own belongings close by. Heading back to it again, on this very day, Jordan's birthday, we carried more of his things with us, placing them near the tree as well.