Chapter 5 - Fancy Funeral

The oil had dried up, and the shirt was in my hand all morning. As I sat in my room wondering, why would Emma do such a thing? She seemed like such an innocent girl when she came over. So quiet, so peaceful just like her mother. Could she have actually killed Nathan and that girl? All these questions came to mind, and I could not just sit there without doing anything.

The doorbell rang, and I heard my dad welcoming someone in. A few seconds later, someone knocked on my door, and walked in. It was Sam; he had just come from Kim’s house. He asked me how I was doing, and told me that there was going to be a funeral held for both Nathan and the girl. The girl’s name was Nicole and she was not in any of my classes, but was a good friend of Emma’s once before. Her and Emma stopped speaking beginning of senior year, when Nicole got into the volleyball team, became popular and made new friends. You could guess how the rest of their story goes. Popularity just gets in the way of two friends, as always.

Sam knew quite a lot about people from our school, from the clubs he was enrolled in. I signed up for some clubs as well, but not the same ones as him. Even though we were really close friends, he and I had different interests. He was signed up for photography, drawing and design. I, however, signed for math, literature and Japanese. I never really had the time to stay after school for any clubs, because of my family. The only time we got together was for lunch, and I could not miss that.

In addition, my brother did not like hanging around school much, and since he was the one old enough to drive, I used to go back home with him. My brother did not hang much with the people from our grade; I guess it was because they were younger than him. He probably found them to be very immature, and would only see them during school time. Most of his friends were abroad for college, and the rest stayed to study in universities around the city. He would either spend his time with them, or with my cousins who were around his age.

Sam and I played video games, and I had no interest in playing. It was obvious that I was feeling terrible about something, and he could tell. He asked me, “What’s wrong? You okay?” I got up, walked towards my desk, and took out a shirt from the drawer. “What’s up? Is that the shirt Emma wore yesterday?” he then asked. I threw it at him, and pointed at my noise for him to smell. He started laughing and said, “Look’s like someone gave an oil rub yesterday. Haha” I lifted my board from the floor and wrote, “No stupid. Emma left that shirt in the room, and yesterday before the fire, Nicole was covered in oil as well.” He looked like he was trying to solve a math problem, as he went quiet for a few seconds. “Oh my God! Are you saying that Emma started that fire?” he asked loudly. Running towards him, I put my hand in his mouth for him to shut up.

Slowly pulling my hand away, he said: “Dude, this is a big deal. We should tell someone.” I wrote, “No we can’t, we do not know yet. We have no evidence.” “What do you mean, no evidence? Her shirt is filled with oil, and she was not around yesterday. She must have done it.” I wrote again, “No it is my shirt, and I do not believe Emma would do such a thing. She is the sweetest person I know.” “This is messed up, we need to find Emma and get it out of her”, he replied. Just as he said that, my phone vibrated, and it was Emma. She texted, “Hey I am sorry for leaving, but my mom was calling me all morning and I had to leave. Hope you are having a good day, and are you going to the funeral?” Sam took my phone and texted, “Yes, I am going. See you there.” Great, now I was getting texts from a criminal and going to see them at a funeral. I hope I survive this night.

I hated funerals; I hated being around a bunch of people mourning the dead. The atmosphere would be so depressing, and I would be the only fool not shedding tears or showing any emotions. I would cheat though. How? Well whenever someone would cry, I would somehow feel the need to cry too. So the best way to get the tears out would be witnessing something sad. I hated that as well.

Sam had an extra suit in his car from the night before, so he wore it. Dressed in all black, we left my house headed towards Kim’s to pick her up. We had to leave early because the funeral’s reception was held in Nathan’s house, which was about twenty minutes outside of town. Nicole’s family was also around that neighborhood. I heard only rich people lived there. They combined both funerals to make it easier for people to visit.

We picked Kim up, and she seemed to be upset. She started crying just as she got in the car saying, “First Mary, now them. Why is this happening? It is not fair. We are graduates, we should be happy.” I got even more upset upon hearing Mary’s name. I agreed with what Kim said. This is not fair. I thought these were supposed to be happy times, but truthfully this start to the summer was just getting worse and worse.

We got to Nathan’s and I could not believe my eyes. His house gate was gigantic. It took us five minutes to drive all the way to the house, and the house had it’s own beach. We parked the car by the door, and got out of the car. Someone came up to Sam and took his key to park the car in the parking lot away from the door. They had their own valet service. This place was like a five-star hotel to me.

Both families’ servants greeted us by the door, guided us to where the event was held and asked us if we wanted any refreshments. It was in a huge room, which was the size of a wedding ballroom. Butlers and maids were going around holding trays that had drinks and mini bites to eat. The rest of the room had this dull, depressing aura and everyone shared it. I did not know any of the deceased very well, but I grieved for them as well.

Kim spotted her friends, and went to them to say hi. Sam and I just sat in the room looking around, like we have never seen such crowd. Did all these people know each other? It seemed like I was at a celebrities funeral. Out of nowhere, someone’s arms wrapped around my neck and I felt their lips pressing against my right cheek. I got up from my seat to see who it was. It was Emma, she looked as beautiful as always, and even in such a sad room, her smile seemed to have brightened it up. She gave me a hug, and apologized again. I still could not believe that such an innocent person would be the murderer. If anything, she would have been a victim of such tragedy.

Sam got up from his seat, and gave Emma a hug like he knew nothing. I understood that we needed to be on good terms with her, who knew what she would do if she knew what we know of her. Emma could tell that I was acting weird by the way I acted towards her. “This must be horrible for you and I am sorry for your loss,” Sam said, “You were meant to go with him to prom. Where were you when the fire started?” Why was he asking her that? It was not the right time. I slapped his arm when she was not looking, and she said: “It’s okay, although Nathan was being an asshole that night. It’s so sad to know that he is dead. Nicole too, she was a good friend of mine. I loved them both and cared for them. I know they are in heaven right now. They were good people.”

We sat back down, and Emma asked where Kim was. Sam pointed to where we last saw her saying hi to her friends, and she looked right at us. Emma smiled and waved. She then stood up and said, “I’m going to say hello to the girls, and I’ll be right back.” I looked at Sam and he said, “Listen dude we take this step by step, we need to know where she was when the fire started, and why the shirt she wore had oil on it.”

The funeral went on, and many people were giving speeches about how life is so short and how really depressing it was to have two young graduates burn to death on their prom night. It was really awkward to have people come up to me and try to have a conversation. No one knew my situation. This one lady hugged me and said, “You poor boy, you really are upset that you have no words to say.”

If only she knew what was going on through my head. If only I had the ability to speak, maybe everything would be solved by now. I did not understand why Sam was acting nice, like Emma did not do anything. Every time I looked at her though I felt comfort, I also felt scared. Scared she would do something to someone else. I hoped Emma would just admit to me what she did, so that maybe I could help her. Does she not trust me? Or is her innocence towards me just an act to catch me off guard and murder me as well?

It was time to leave; we condoled both families and made our way out. Kim asked Emma to come with us to get some dinner. She agreed, and sat the whole ride back next to me while holding my hand.

We made a stop at the petrol station to get some McDonald’s. Sam and Kim went down to pick up the food. Emma left the car too, to use the bathroom. Just as she left the car, my shirt fell out. I guess Sam brought it with him. She picked it up, and threw it back in saying, “I am sorry it was soaked with oil, but I bumped into Kim yesterday and she accidently spilled it on me. I’ll take it home and wash it for you.”

Kim? Why would Kim have oil? I wondered. She closed the door, and then my door opened. Kim placed the food next to me and asked if I wanted anything else. She gave me her phone to type, and when she did I noticed her left hand was slightly burned.