Unforgettable (OLD COPY DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 26

"This uh...I'll admit that I've never taken a girl to a funeral after a first date," Shawn mutters nervously as he flips up the collar of his coat to protect his ears.

The graveyard is quiet and the grass is damp from a misting rain that is hanging over this part of Salem as we silently approach the gathering of black-clad people who have yet to take note of us, the ground squelching under our tread.

I can't help the fact that my lip curls into a wry smile as I nod along with him. After 'meeting' with Astrid's aunt and leaving her house I didn't have too much time to get around and prepare myself for the funeral, yet here I am after rushing to get here.

"We both knew her, it's not too strange," I assure him even though my heart is pounding in my ears and my tongue feels dry and tasteless in my mouth.

I feel distant and at the same time too close to the reality that I'm about to enter as we draw closer to the mourning people. Cynthia's casket is still out, as it has yet to be lowered as a man in a suit holds a bible in his hands and recites several passages from it. I reach out and stop Shawn as I duck behind an oak tree, its massive boughs squawking and creaking like the sides of a wooden ship as a chilly breeze tugs my hair away from my face.

I don't want to get any closer because in retrospect, all I did was find Cynthia, I didn't know her and if Luke really did murder her then I was responsible for not stopping him sooner. I sigh as I gnaw the corner of my lip, what am I expecting to gain from this?

"Kara?" Shawn starts to say, but I'm not listening to him as I shake my head.

I can hear some of the mourners crying, a man and a woman standing the closest to the casket appearing to be the center of this and I immediately notice them from my Facebook search as her parents. My throat aches at the realization and I feel guilty for being here to snoop around, but Finn said I needed to be here.

Now I just have to figure out why.

I search the crowd from a distance and pick out faces and start to assume their relationship to her. A group of girls around her age may be swim teammates while a young boy who has similar colored hair might be a brother.

Movement just past the cluster of mourners catches my eye as I spot a large pond that has a light layer of ice still clinging to its surface. A couple of geese are out walking on the ice as I start toward the pond and make sure to keep my distance from the funeral as I walk the long way around.

"Kara?" Shawn's voice is hushed as he jogs to catch up to me.

I ignore him, the urge to walk over to the pond keeping my focus away from everything else as I navigate past granite headstones. The only hesitation I have is when I step over bouquets of flowers that have been laid out, their petals long since shriveled as the color has bled from them. Twigs snap under my boot-steps as I shiver and pull my coat closer to me, a chill rolling off of the pond making me cold.

I stop at the edge and look down at the ice before I scan the shoreline across the pond. The geese that are out on the ice pay no mind to me as they continue to waddle across, a distant squawking coming from them as I glance around.

"Kara, what are you-?"

I look at Shawn when he abruptly stops talking, his eyes focusing on a spot that is just past my head. His brows furrow and I turn to follow his gaze.

Up on the shoreline maybe twenty-paces away there is a face peering around the dark trunk of a tree. They step out when I notice them and I realize then that I recognize them.