William, Melody, and I huddled close to each other as we stood underneath the canopy tent. The rain was supposedly coming, so everyone wanted this to be relatively quick. But I don't know if it will. I did not feel anything that day. I was mostly numb from everything that has happened. To be honest, I did not want to be here. But here I was, at Oliver's funeral. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair! Why did it have to be this way? Why did he have to die?! I was kind of angry, but I couldn't show it, not at a funeral with friends and loved ones here.

I'm glad that I am not speaking at the funeral. I wouldn't know what exactly to say, and I don't think my friends would know either. The three of us were given a choice to speak a few words, but we all agreed not to. I think it would be too much for us to talk about a dear friend like him. A few of our other friends have checked up on us to see if we were doing okay. Of course, we probably lied to them, or at least I did lie. I was not okay. I turned to Melody, who has been crying for most of the funeral service and hugged her tight. Ever since we were young, Melody always showed her feelings and can easily express it, other people, whether it was close friends or with complete strangers. I wish I could do that, but I have had to prove that I was strong, despite what people now call my "special skills". It felt like the social requirements of being a man, strong men don't cry. Personally, I do not believe it because William is in tears, and I think of him as a strong person.

"You know, I was kind of looking forward to teaching him when he got to high school." All three of us were surprised to hear someone say that, or at least surprised that the voice was extremely close to us. We turned to the sound and found a man in a black suit, with his hands in his pockets. I recognized him in an instant.

"You were, Mr. T?" I said, curious about his intentions. From what I have heard from my two brothers, Mr. T was a pretty good high school teacher. He seemed to make history interesting, but when something serious occurred or if something needed to be talked about, he stops class for a bit to talk about real life issues. I guess that is what makes him cool.

"Yeah I was," Mr. T said with a sigh. "He would have been a good student and besides..." He stopped and looked at the three of us before continuing on. "I won't have the entire group dynamic of the four of you. That's a bummer."

"Why are you even here?" William muttered underneath his breath. I glanced over at my friend and was a bit shocked. He did not usually say something like that. "Shouldn't you be teaching a high school class or something?"

"I came out as a favor from Lizzy's older brother," Mr. T explained with a small smile. "I used to babysit him, James, and Lizzy when their parents were away. You remember, right Liz?"

"Yeah," I said. "You would play games with the three of us all the time. But did you only come out as a favor, or just a way to support us?" I heard him kind of chuckle at my question.

"You have always had a mind of your own," Mr. T said. "That's one of the best things about you."

"You didn't even answer her question," William blurted out, almost harshly. "Why did you come out here?"

"Will, you shouldn't be this rash," Melody said softly. "We are all here for Oliver, remember?" I saw William take a deep breath, probably to calm himself down. Ever since Olly passed away, Will has been more temperamental and angry, willing to lash out at anyone. That would include Melody and me, and Will told us after he calmed down that he regretted the words that he spoke to us. However, we would forgive him every time. He is our friend after all, and he was suffering just like we were after Olly died.

"You are right, Mel," William said. He turned to Mr. T and apologized for his behavior. Mr. T replied that Will shouldn't have to worry about it, that he tried to understand what the three were going through. The three of us smiled and thanked him for the support. It was the first actual smile that I was willing to give anyone, ever since the funeral started.

"I think it is almost time for the lighting of the candle," Mr. T said, looking at the casket that had a candle at the top of its lid. "I am assuming that you will be joining in?"

"Yeah," William replied. "It's probably the only good part about this entire funeral procession. Besides that, I hate how gloomy it can be. So, let's at least give it a good end." Holding onto Melody and myself, we journeyed closer to the casket, where a few other classmates, some parents, and Oliver's family were at. One of our classmates, Aaliyah, approached and asked,

"How are you guys feeling?"

"We are okay," I replied, deciding to speak up for the group. "We are not in the best shape, but we are as good as we can be. Right, guys?" My two buddies nodded, and Aaliyah gave us a small smile.

"I'm really sorry about what happened," she spoke. "I-I truly am." She then walked past us, leaving us to question her motives. Aaliyah loved a good talk and to get involved in some gossip, but she seemed to be genuinely sympathetic to our loss.

"That takes a lot of guts to say something like that," I mentioned. "Especially if it is coming from her."

"That was exactly what I was thinking," Melody said, turning to me. "I guess our look-alike powers are still working." The two of us smiled, making William a little embarrassed that he was still holding onto us. The man in charge of putting Oliver in the grave called for everyone to gather around the casket, making a circle around the big object. As we did so, the man lit the candle on its stand, which was on top of the casket. In Yuina, we have a way of celebrating the departure of a person to the ground, in which we lit candles and talk about one or two things that we will always remember about that person. In this case, there were a lot of us at the burial, so I was sure that we were going to talk about more than just a few things. I guess it will make the situation a bit livelier and happier to talk about a person's life. Papa Ron, who wore his military uniform for the funeral, took individual candles and gave it to each one of us. When he got to me, William, and Melody, he hugged all three of us and gave us our candles. William had to let go of us when the man in charge started to light each of our candles. I could have easily lit my candle with my magic, but I think using actual fire would be appropriate because Oliver never had any powers. He knew that we had powers, but he did not fear us. In fact, he loved to see what new tricks we have learned.

As my candle was lit up and I helped to light Mr. T's candle, I looked around me to see who was here. There were my best friends, my two brothers, my parents, a lot of classmates, Mr. T, and Oliver's family. I only met his parents but I never officially met his older brother, who already had a life of his own. His brother did not look too much like him, dark brown hair with the same color of eyes, and I could not figure out what type of person he was from just looking at him. I guess that he was hard to read, but I should not have to do that. I should be more focused on thinking about what I could say about Oliver during the candle ceremony. But why can't I? Shouldn't I think about the good times that we had together? Why can't I even think about him? That is so strange...

A few people began talking, saying a sentence or two about either the good times they had with Olly or a characteristic that they admired about him that will always be remembered. A minute or two passed before another person said something good about Oliver. Perhaps it was difficult to come up with the words since Oliver was only thirteen when he died. He still had a long life ahead of him, but cancer took that away. I am sure that it would be hard to say anything good about that. Even his mother broke down in tears when she began talking, making the mood sad and gloomy. I wish I could tell at least one thing, but something prevented me from doing it. Was I sad? Was I too scared to think of the right words to say in front of all these people? Or maybe I felt like I did not have the right to say anything? No, I had the right to say something at least! I knew him ever since childhood, my two friends and I go a long way back with him. I needed to say something!

"I..." I spoke loudly in the midst of a little silence. Everyone else looked at me, and I shut my mouth instantly. I did not expect everyone to stare at me. It was intimidating for my nervous self. I wanted to say something, but now I don't want to. It was too scary. "U-Um..."

"Go on," my brother said quietly. He was the person right next to my two friends and me. "Say what you want to say." What I want to say? I wanted to say that I wish Oliver were back, that I could have saved him if I had just used my magic in time. I wanted to say something sentimental about him, maybe the good times that we had or specific things that will always remind me of him. But I didn't say that. I only told everyone one thing.

"His smile," I said aloud, with a sad smile on my face. "I will always remember his smile."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I knew it...I just knew it! I knew he would probably die at the end of it all, but I didn't want to believe it! Also, to think that I could have stopped this from happening, to heal him from his cancer. Could I have actually done it? I honestly do not know, but I could have tried! Maybe it could have worked! Ugh, I hate this, I hate this! This anger, why is it boiling in me? Was I this angry at myself after the funeral, or was I just numb from all of my feelings? I'm an idiot from not trying to heal! I could have only tried it without other people looking. It would have made things better!

Lizzy growled in anger and threw her journal towards the wall, smothering her face on a pillow and groaning loudly. This was hard for her to think about, but she had done it before when the memory was not so far away from her.

"Hey Liz, you okay?" Jarod yelled from the game room. He had heard some loud noise from Lizzy's room and wondered what had happened.

"No!" Lizzy yelled with her face still in the pillow. "I am distraught!" Her brother did not correctly hear what she said since her voice was muffled by the pillow, so he went over to her bedroom.

"Sorry Sis, I did not hear you that time," Jarod apologized as he entered the room. "Could you repeat that?" Lizzy took the pillow off of her face and exclaimed,

"No, I am NOT fine!"

"Whoa, take it easy. I just asked if you were okay."

"Isn't it obvious?" Lizzy then crossed her arms and pouted in frustration. Jarod sighed softly and put one of his hands behind his neck.

"Girls can be difficult to deal with sometimes," Jarod thought to himself. He sat on Lizzy's bed and asked, "So, what is on your mind?"

"Just a bad memory-dream," Lizzy said softly.

"What was it about?"

"Olly's funeral."

"Oh. Now I see why you are upset." Jarod took a deep breath and said, "So, you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know," Lizzy said quickly. "I don't think I can avoid the subject, but it is difficult to talk about. All of these feelings I have not had before the accident, it all feels so weird for me to experience all over again!"

"That makes some sense. But if you ever need someone to talk to, there's always us." Lizzy only nodded at Jarod's statement. It was true though. If she ever needed a person to talk to, she had Jarod, James, and her stepparents. At that moment though, she only felt anger and discontent.

"It isn't fair, Big Brother," Lizzy said sadly, leaning onto her brother's shoulder. "It isn't fair at all! Why did Olly have to die like that? Why couldn't he have lived longer?!"

"I don't know, Sis," Jarod responded honestly. "I don't know. There are a lot of people that say that when someone dies, it is for the better."

"Why?!"

"Maybe it is because the road ahead may be too tough for them, so they are taken away from us sooner than most people would expect."

"B-But I wanted him here," Lizzy said with tears staining her eyes. "I-I wanted him with me, Will, and Mel! I wanted it to be that way until we all die naturally." She suddenly hugged her brother's arm and wept bitterly on his shoulder, screaming that it still was not fair. Jarod hugged her in response, rubbing circles on her back to comfort her.

"Dude, I am hearing lots of screaming!" James yelled, running to Lizzy's room. "What hap-" He immediately stopped speaking and looked on at the two siblings. "Is Liz okay?"

"It is a bad memory-dream," Jarod explained, still comforting Lizzy. "It was about Oliver's funeral."

"Oh...should I call in more friends for backup?"

"Not right now, dude. I think she just needs time to recuperate. Besides, who knows what the next memory dream will be about. Let's just take care of her for now." James nodded but could not help to just stay in the background of the situation, standing at the doorway and watching his friend comfort his younger sister. "James, that means you are in on the hug too."

"Am I?" he asked.

"Well, duh! You are family too, and this pretty much what we did last time this happened. You got to be in on this too."

"Okay, okay." The standing boy sat with the other two and joined in on the hug. Lizzy stopped screaming and clung to both of the boys tightly.

"You guys are the best," she whispered softly. "Thank you."

That's the end of the chapter! Sorry that this one is a sad memory and I'll be honest, the next few are going to be that way. But that's how memories work, there are sad ones and happy ones. But if you still enjoyed the chapter, put down a vote for it and I'll see you on the next chapter of Sentimental Memories! :)