Riverdale The cult

He will always be with you

All I heard were screams and a lot of crying that night. Mr Keller and Fangs cried, for they had lost a son. Florian cried, for he had lost a lover. My sister and I cried, for we had lost a friend. When my father saw our hands covered in blood, he knew something was wrong. The ambulance was too late. Penny Peabody went to jail, finally. The Greenbergs disappeared. Thomas Keller died. His funeral was four days later.

Ivy, Mika, Aurelia, Jay and Florian sat up the front row at Thomas's funeral. They listened to family members talk about Thomas and how much he meant to them. Then it was Mika and Ivy's turn to speak. They got up and while Mika started to speak, Ivy started twisting with the end of her black dress. She didn't care about wearing a dress to this funeral. "I.. I won't be saying what everyone has been saying.." she started. "Thomas meant a lot to us. To me. He pushed me into certain situations that I would've never been through if he hadn't been there." Mika looked at Ben, who was sitting in a corner, wearing a tie. She smiled. "I'm sorry.." Mika said as she started crying. "I rest my case here. He was a good person." Ivy now stepped up, stopped twisting her dress and tried to speak. "..In 4th grade, Mika and I used to call him music-a or music box.  He was so smart, even back then. He was able to play the guitar, the piano and his voice. He was a real life music box. To us he was." Ivy looked at her parents and wiped away the tears that were coming. "I feel so guilty.. so fucking guilty..." She continued while crying, wiping her tears had no use. "I could have done something.. instead of focusing on so many other things.. If I would've just asked him what was going on would he be alive? I just can't help but think that he wouldn't have died if it wasn't for my lack of attention for him. This could have been anyone's funeral. But it's his... and... it's my fault.." Ivy started crying and Mika came hugging her. They walked back to their seats and Florian walked up. He started crying once he got there.

Florian didn't read his speech. He just cried. My sister and our friends and I hugged him right there, in front of the entire room. We went to Pops after the service.

"We started out in this booth." Mika said, looking at the booth they had sat in the first day of Summer. "With Thomas." Aurelia said. Ivy stared out the window. She didn't touch her milkshake. "We could've asked him. We could've intervened sooner, than maybe he wouldn't be dead." Ivy said. Mika took a big gulp from her milkshake and put her hand on Ivy's shoulder. "We couldn't have known." "YES! We could have! If only we wouldn't have focused on love or the Serpents or anything else!" Liz, who sat across Ivy, wiped away a tear. Florian proceeded to get up and yell: "YOU DIDN'T KNOW HIM! HE WASN'T YOUR BOYFRIENDS WAS HE?!" Florian stormed out and Ivy ran after him. She found him, his head berried in his knees, sitting against the wall op the diner. He was sobbing. "Florian.." "Go away!" he yelled as a response. Ivy sat down next to him. "I get that you're upset. He was important to you. He was important to me too." Florian looked up at Ivy. His face was wet. "It's different. You wouldn't understand." "I know I will never have a connection with him like you had. But Thomas was my best friend. In 1st grade, Mika was sick on the first day of school, so I had no one. He walked up to me, shook my hand and later that day he broke somebody's nose because he didn't want one boy bullying me. He was like a knight in shining armour. He defended me. Do you remember when I  got into a fight in middle school?" Florian nodded. "Someone pushed Thomas because he had told a few people in class he was attracted to boys. I took the next punch." Florian looked surprised and wiped away his tears. "He will always be with us. With you."