The Elites

Angel

"We dried our tears and we said goodbye
Another angel gone before her time
But she's still alive in our hearts and mind"

"Angel" – Kodaline

I sit in between William and Hunter on Monday morning. I should be in biology right now, but instead I'm at Eleanor Flynn's funeral. I didn't hear many positive things about Eleanor, but she didn't deserve to die so young. I've never been keen on funerals, not after having to sit through my parent's funeral.

Hope was supposed to come over on Saturday, but she didn't because the police wanted to talk to her about something. Her parents were already coming over, so they took her car home. I asked Hope what the police wanted, but she didn't get back to me. I'm not sure if she didn't want to tell me, or if she was busy dealing with the fact her sister's funeral was coming up.

Hope's younger brothers, Mason and Logan, both spoke about Eleanor. The two are fourteen-year-old fraternal twins, they both spoke without getting overly emotion, which must have been hard.

The only funeral I've been to before was the one for my parents. Melissa planned it since she was my dad's sister, we decided to have a joint funeral for the two of them, I thought it was what they'd want. I've never attended a funeral for somebody I didn't know well. It makes this feel a little strange, almost like I'm interrupting.

A few people from school have spoken, including Ashton and two girls on the cheerleading squad. I was wondering if Courtney would speak and make some fake speech to get sympathy, but it turns out she hasn't attended, I have feeling Hope might have banned her from this event.

It's so weird listening to Eleanor's friend and family talking about their favorite memories and them talking about Eleanor, and her best traits and how wonderful she was.

Hunter squeezes my hand and I give her a small smile. It's weird to hear people talking about Eleanor's future and the person she could have become. It makes it feel so much more real, like it's the final confirmation that she isn't coming back.

Hope is sitting in the front row, in between Mason and Logan. Her third brother, Salvatore, is sitting next to Mason. I think Salvatore is ten or eleven, but I could be wrong. There are other people up the front who I assume are relatives. I can't stop my mind from racing. Why would someone kill Eleanor? If they were after the inheritance, why did they let Hope live?

I haven't been able to find out any information, Melissa is still refusing to tell me anything, and she is always keeping her office door locked, maybe she's thinking Hope might have come to me and asked me for help.

All Hope has been able to tell me is that she is pretty sure the kidnapper was always planning to keep at least one of them alive, she said she never saw her kidnapper's face, they always had a mask on. Why would you bother wearing a mask if you were going to murder both your victims?

Once the funeral is over, William and Melissa go up to the front, probably to speak to Susan and Andrew and give their condolences. I glance at Hunter; I wasn't sure if she'd end up coming today.

"She didn't deserve that" Hunter says quietly to me. "Everyone deserves to be able to grow up and get a job and start a family." Not everyone gets what they deserve, it's something that has become crystal clear in the past couple of years.

I'm about to respond to Hunter when I notice that Chelsy is coming over to the two of us. She gives Hunter a quick hug and smiles at me.

"Do you know if Hope is ok after what happened Friday night?" Chelsy asks me. Shouldn't be asking Ashton this question?

"I don't really know her that well" I answer truthfully. I don't think what happened at the party changed much for Hope, she already knew that not everyone held Eleanor in high regard, Friday night just highlighted that for her.