Luca stares at the card, not wanting to be believe it. It was an invitation to her funeral.

He hated it in California. He was so far from London, and most importantly, the girl he loved. Yet, he had always held on to the hope that he would get to see her again.

Clutching the card to his chest, he runs to his room before anyone can notice that his sobbing. His hands go to the ring dangling from his necklace.

"Why couldn't you have cared about your own safety for once?" he cries. "Why do you always have to sacrifice yourself? Why wasn't I there to stop you?"

He wants her back so badly. He wants to be back in London, sitting on a pile of blankets, and eating a bag of crisps with her beside him.

Luca has been so close to seeing her again. He had made plans with her parents to get her to come to visit him. It had only been one month away. Now, he could only see her at her funeral.

He didn't want to go. He didn't deserve to go.

Instead, he picks up the phone and calls her number. All he wants is to be able to hear her voice.

"Hey! You've reached me. I'm assuming you know who it is as you are calling my number. Anyways, leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!"

Luca hears her giggle before the line falls silent. He hangs up with a sigh before he dials another number. This time, the other person picks up.

"Hey, Luca!"

"Hey, Via." He stops there, not knowing what to say. He hopes that she knows what has happened already so that he doesn't have to explain.

She does.

"Are you okay?" Via asks. Her voice is duller.

Luca buries himself under his blankets. "I miss her."

"Me too."

The two sit in silence. It was the most effective way to comfort both of them. Their companionship and memories with that only the two could have of their friend.

Via finally speaks a few minutes later. "It was such a Mimi thing to do," she says at last. "Remember when she stopped that kid from getting bullied."

"Yeah."

"And how she always protected you and me," Via continues. "Of course she would have protected those kids."

Luka frowns. "Is it selfish me to say that I wish she didn't?"

"Yeah, but I wish she didn't either," Via replies. "It wouldn't be her if she didn't."

Guilt weighs Luka down. "I wish I talked to her. I was so scared, Via. I was so scared to pick up a phone and to figure out what she thought of me. She figured out I loved her and then we ended on such bad terms-"

"Luka. Stop." Via's voice is stern. "She cared about you. You were her best friend. She knows that you cared about her as well."

Luka doesn't know what to believe. Instead, he starts talking about everything that he loved about her. "Remember her laugh? That one time in the fifth grade when she snorted milk out of her nose because of a joke that you told."

"Yes! And she was so good at nerf guns. She could get more hits on is then we could get on her combined."

"And how..."

The two of them go on for hours, before Via is called away by her parents and Luca's phone is almost out of battery.

He stares at a picture of the girl, trying his best to tame the ache in his chest. "Oh, Meira. You truly are one of a kind. And I love you so much, in all ways. You'll always be my best friend. I hope that you're happier where you are now. Maybe I'll be able to see you one day, but until then, I'll be here and try to be half the person you were.

"When I find you again, I'm never leaving you. My Meira, you were the light of my life. Maybe I'll be able to learn to live with the dark that you once loved."

Out of the corner of his eye, he seems to catch a glimpse of Meira, and he hears a single command.

"Dream, Luca. Just stop for a moment and learn how to dream again."

He would.