Chapter 122
The chapel was a quaint little building set off to one end of the complex, a bit of a walk but not too far. There were flowers everywhere on the outside in shades of pink and purple, yellow and white. A weeping willow on either side of a winding path seemed inviting, and the building itself reminded me of a cottage out of a fairy tale. It was nice.
“Your grandmother designed this building,” Dad whispered as we followed other people up the cobblestone sidewalk. “After Grandpa died, she decided it would be nice to have a little place to remember those who gave everything for the cause.”
The way my dad said that reminded me of the type of phrases people say on Veteran’s Day, or maybe if they were fighting against the Empire. I thought, in a way, this was a sort of a war. I hadn’t really considered it that way before.
Next to the door was a little placard that read, “Jordan L. Findley Memorial Chapel.” I thought that was sweet but wished I’d had any idea my grandpa was such an important person.
Breathing was growing more difficult as we stepped inside and a man I hadn’t met yet with red hair handed us a funeral program. I took it but didn’t look at it, not right away. Seeing Elliott’s name on there would make things too real for me. I was trying to pretend this was a dream.
The stage had a few flowers and a large picture of Elliott, the ridiculous one he’d shown me from his CDC badge. I almost laughed, and I thought that was probably the point. Elliott definitely wouldn’t want us to be sad, I knew that. Still, giggling seemed inappropriate. When my eyes shifted across the stage a bit and I saw the urn, all sense of merriment was swept away.
I saw my sister and Aaron at the front. She turned and waved at us, but she didn’t come over, and I couldn’t blame her. It seemed like a lot of people wanted her attention right now. My dad found us seats in the back third on the side behind Cadence, who I figured would be sitting on the front row once she took her seat, since she was speaking, and I concentrated on air in, air out.
We hadn’t been sitting long when Jamie came over and shook our hands. He had changed at some point, too, and looked very nice in a three piece suit. The doctor exchanged greetings with my parents and they remarked about how lovely everything was, and then he looked me in the eye and asked, “Are you okay, Cassidy?”
I appreciated the asking and managed to nod. He seemed like a genuinely caring person, and in the back of my mind, I thought about my plan to try to infiltrate him—I mean form a friendship with him.
“Well, if you need anything, let one of us know.” He smiled at me again, that genuinely empathetic smile people give you when they also feel bad but think you might feel worse than they do. I thought it was odd so many people had been looking at me that way, especially since they’d all known Elliott so much longer than I had, but maybe they just thought it would be especially hard for me because I’m just a kid. Looking around, it seemed like I was probably the youngest one there.
I did see Hannah, running around the front by the stage like a frantic person. And then I saw Christian come over and talk to her and head off toward the back. I wondered if she was having technical problems or something. They seemed to be getting it straightened out.
Meagan was there, too, and I assumed the guy she was with was Shane because he did look a little bit like Channing Tatum with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body, as Elliott had described him to me. I didn’t see Eliza anywhere and was happy she was absent. I may learn to forgive Aaron for what he did to my sister, but I wasn’t sure there was anything Eliza could ever do to earn my trust again.
We hadn’t been sitting for too long when I saw Hannah nod toward the back of the church, and then she took a seat near my sister on the front row. A quiet fell over the crowd of about two hundred people, and then the unexpected sound of a heavy lead guitar and then the unmistakable clank of a cowbell filled the air, and we all exchanged surprised glances as we realized what we were listening to. My dad started chuckling first, and before long, we were all laughing. “Don’t Fear the Reaper” seemed like the perfect song for a memorial for Dr. Elliott Sanderson.
The reverend took the stage and said a few words, including some personal anecdotes from people who had worked with Elliott. Most of the stories were really funny, and we laughed even more.
When he finished, my sister took the podium and talked about Elliott, telling a few stories, mostly reminding us all of how he was such a genuine person. I thought she was going to break down a few times, but she made it through and resumed her seat next to Aaron.
A slideshow of pictures of Elliott over the years really grabbed my attention. While a lot of the photos were of him just acting goofy with his friends, there were a few of him actually battling against Vampires, some even with my sister. Seeing her up there in full-out combat mode was fascinating to me. I realized as I was watching them that the pictures had been taken through the different team members’ IACs and that meant I could probably actually go back and see what had happened to Elliott, if I wanted to, not that I did. Or Drew, for that matter. Everything my sister had been off covertly doing in the last eight-or-so months was all filmed.
I was still thinking about that when a picture of Elliott, Cadence, and I from Christmas came across the screen. He was wearing the Santa hat she’d stuck on his head and looked so happy with his arms around both of us. Even though potentially thousands of people were now seeing me in my reindeer jammies, I didn’t even care. I wanted that moment back. Tears began to sting my eyes, and I did my best to fight them away as the photographs continued to tick by, flickering through a long life cut too short.
