Cherry Blossoms

I was right. The temporary lightheartedness we all felt for just a moment after landing back in my hometown dissipated completely, the second we passed a familiar, brutish security guard on the way into Damon's pack grounds. However, contrary to the previous times I had been here, there were actually people out and about, walking around, smiling and going about their daily lives. It did nothing, however to alleviate the heavy feeling in my chest, and instead, I looked away from the magnificent homes and the happy people which seemed to be quite contrary to the moods of us all.
London stopped the car just outside of the gates to Damon's mansion, and I couldn't help but sigh at the memory of it. It had not changed at all. It still had the same intricate fence, the same wolf statues and that same profound modern-vintage feel to it. The sight of it, hit me with a deep feeling of nostalgia.
This was where it all began.
Before we got out of the car, London cleared her throat and said, "Everyone will be instructed to get dressed and freshened up for the funeral in one of the spare homes further along the property. You, however, Miss Spectra will be coming to my home."
And it was then that I realised that our car was the only one which had stopped and that Jared, Landon and the rest of the group were nowhere to be found. Truly, this was some majorly biased behaviour. I didn't complain though. London was clearly eager for answers from me, and so was Damon, and I was sure that somewhere I was also subconsciously awaiting answers from both Damon and myself, regarding Macy.
London then cleared her throat again and turned to Damon who raised an eyebrow at her. "Isn't this your stop?"
"Isn't she my mate? Why must you smother her? Goddess, she can make her own fucking decisions." He almost growled out.
But, before more hostility ensued between the two, I said, quickly, "It's okay, I'll go with London, and then you and I can talk... later. "
Damon hesitated, and then reluctantly agreed with me. It seemed no one could win against London today. Damon got out of the car and went to the boot of it where he began dragging out suitcases. I stared back, quite surprised as I had not seen anyone retrieve or put them in the car and assumed all the luggage was travelling in a separate vehicle.
"We had some people take your luggage and pack it while you were still coming to the car. With the right amount of money, people will work as hard and quickly as you need them to." She said, picking up on my astounded face.
It was a totally different side of London I was being exposed to. A side of privilege and entitlement and I wondered how she was able to hide it so well in the past. Then again, the only interactions we had outside of the workplace were frequent coffee dates where we discussed her love life and she convinced me that I needed my own. It was then apparent to me that just as she hardly knew anything about me, I knew hardly anything about her, well, her life as Damon's sister at least.
London let out a deep sigh before driving down further into the property.
"It feels good to be away from him and that house." She uttered. I wanted to question it, but when Amber saw me begin to open my mouth, she shook her head. Perhaps she was right, after all, I was in no mood to be bombarded by London and Damon's extremely toxic relationship.
It was not long before we stopped at another beautiful house. It was not as extravagant as the rest of the homes here. Instead, hers was a quaint, homey-looking cottage with its exterior made of the palest blue panels. Outside the lower windowsills stood beautiful baskets filled with potting soil and gorgeous petunias and fuchsias hanging from them. The yard was not enclosed by a fence, instead it was open and covered in a thick lawn of green grass trimmed to perfection. It was grand in its own small way.
"And here we are, home sweet home!" She gave a smile, exited the car and then got my bags- which were really not that many- and locked up the car after Amber and I had also exited.
"It's... different from the other homes here." I commented. She nodded, handing my bags.
"Yeah, I wanted something cute. Nothing too flashy, and a safe distance away from my idiot brother." She scoffed.
The interior was so neat and... pretty. Pot plants decorated every single surface and stood on top of beautiful red lace doilies. The walls were covered in stunning golden wallpaper with darker golden flower patterns and here and there stood a picture, most of them were of her and Amber, all except for one which was a giant picture of a younger London and Damon laughing together and then further down an extremely blurry and low-quality picture of Damon, London and a dark haired figure turned away from the camera. Perhaps the figure represented the ‘s’ when Landon once spoke of the Michaels siblings. But I pushed the thought away and decided that if London and Damon did perhaps have other siblings, I would have known by now. Instead, I concluded that Landon must have made a mistake that day, and that the person in that photograph was perhaps someone else- their mother or father… I could not really tell.
"You can change in the first room towards your right-" She then paused, took a look at my bags and then back up at me, as if she'd finally just realised how light I was travelling, "-Do you have something to wear."
I hadn't really thought about it before, but now that London was bringing it up, I realised I had no clothes decent enough for a funeral and the only thing black and gorgeous were the many pairs of underwear I kept. So, I shook my head no, and bit my lip nervously.
"Hold one second!" Amber said, going into the passage to the room right at the end. It was, what I assumed to be, their room. She took a moment, and then came out with a modest black dress.
"I figured that my choice of clothing would better suit you than London's. I’m sure it will fit you well."
I smiled and took the dress from her, thanking her profusely before being guided to the room I was to change in. The walls were still covered in wallpaper, but this time, the colour was a deep shade of blue and it matched the bedding of the quaint little bed against the back wall. The cupboards were a whiteish shade, matching the bedside tables which had a pot of succulents on either table, and to the right of the room was a door leading to the bathroom. I entered, looked up into the mirror, and then stared horrified at my reflection. Whereas everyone else still looked quite decent I looked like the equivalent of a zombie from a horror movie. My blue eyes were framed by heavy, dark purple circles. My white skin was now a shade of icy snow, showing every single vein which pulsed with blood. My hair, I was mortified to discover still had traces of blood in it, and I immediately got to work, rinsing the red out of the blonde strands. Once I was satisfied that all the blood was out of my hair, I dried it with a towel which hung on the towel rack and then ran my fingers through the strands to flatten it out. Afterwards, I began slipping on the black dress. It was quite plain and ended mid-thigh and, as Amber had said, fit me quite well.
Once I was done, I exited the room to see Amber and London all ready as well. London had now put on a long, black dress and Amber wore a pair of black formal pants and a white button up shirt paired with a sleek blazer.
"You look much better." London uttered, she took in a deep breath and asked, "you ready?"
I hesitated before nodding. Who was ever ready to bury their loved one?
"I take it you and Loren were close, by the way Damon was acting back in the car?" She asked. We were now walking along the dirt paths of the pack grounds, along the more wooded areas towards what I assumed was the cemetery.
"Yeah, we were. As I said before, she and I were colleagues."
She shook her head no, now taking full advantage of the fact that Damon wasn't here to shout at her for prying. "I sense it's more."
I waited for a moment, before saying, "She was in love with me."
London's jaw dropped and Amber tugged at her hand. "Honey, stop asking her questions now. Damon was right. Don't interfere."
"I'm sorry but it's just... weird. She was engaged to my brother and then she fell for his mate. It's just a refreshing idea."
I said nothing though, totally blocking out her words and concentrating on every single one Loren had ever said to me. Her laugh, her smile, her flirting. And then I realised that I'd never be able to see it again. I'd never be able to hear her voice or smell her scent or ogle at how beautiful she was. The thought of it initially led to a single tear falling down my cheek. But then the thought turned into an intense, heavy feeling in my chest and a sore lump at the back of my throat and before I knew it, I was howling loudly in tears.
London immediately stopped walking and so did Amber, both turned to look at me and the pitiful state I was in. London tried to reach out for me, and so did Amber, but I pulled away, not wanting them to see me like this, and turned my face away from them.
"Jasmin? Can we-"
But London was cut off by her brother he walked past her and immediately pulled me towards him against his chest. Him I did not push away at all. I did, however feel slightly embarrassed as I realised my crying must have been quite loud for him to have heard it.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." He whispered softly against the top of my head.
"But I have to. It's Loren. I have to be there."
He pulled away from me and then took my hand in his. I was sure that by now, if London's jaw was not actually attached to her face, it would have already fallen to the ground as she stared at our hands.
The cemetery was literally just past a few trees and was enclosed by a lower fence, low enough for Damon and me to literally step over. Standing a few feet away were Landon, Jared, Yuki, Blake, Cody, Kristal, Rene, Peter and Viktor who were towered over the hole for the casket Loren's body was in. I noticed that the hole was just in front of a beautiful cherry blossom tree, just as Damon had said she wanted it to be.
When the group saw me, they immediately began pulling me into a tight group hug, and we each just stayed there for a moment, before parting from each other.
"A few words before we lower the casket into the ground?" Jared asked.
We all agreed, and Damon and I decided to go last, with me in the state I was, and him still clutching onto my hand. It was more comforting than anything else.
When it was time to speak, Damon decided to go first as a reassurance to me but remained clutching my hand.
"The day I met Loren was the day I learned of our fathers' arrangement to have us married so our packs would join forced. We were both so angry at our fathers but too young and scared to speak up, and so we only did in private. I think that's what laid the foundation of our friendship; the fact that we both felt trapped within the status and power of our families. But nonetheless, she made the agonising process of having to prepare a wedding neither of us wanted... fun. In fact, everything about her was fun and bright. She could, just with a single smile, brighten up an entire room and hold it captivated by her..." Damon then choked slightly, clearly wanting to cry, but refused. His eyes were even filled with unshed tears, but it seemed as though he did not want to cry. No, it was more that he didn't want to cry in front of others, and the thought left me heartbroken, so I squeezed onto his hand and he turned back to look at me. I offered a reassuring smile and, as soon as he saw it, he returned it and then continued to speak. "Nothing will ever be able to replace her light, or the place she occupied in our lives, and in our hearts."
His words, it seemed, had everyone emotional, even London, who clutched onto Amber dearly.
Once Damon had finished speaking, he turned once again to me and gave me a gentle questioning look. I reassured him with a nod.
"As you all know, I am probably the most emotional and most impulsive out of all of us. I let my compassion rule my decisions unlike all of you, and although you all look down on me for it, Loren didn't. She once told me it was why she..." I gulped, "loved me. She did, as Damon already said, have this amazing way of just brightening up everything. She was the reason why I could make it through my first couple of months working this job. Every time I'd feel down or bad about myself and my actions, she always brightened my mood with a classic flirt or joke. In all honesty, when I had her around, I didn't find myself alone or scared. And her advice... Damn, Loren was so wise, she could see through everything and everyone..." I then paused, took a look at the casket and said, "I really have enjoyed every second of every minute of every hour of every day of you loving me Loren, because, in a way, it made me feel as though I was worthy of being loved by someone, especially because you were that someone and you were exceptional." I was surprised that not once, I had I burst into tears.
We waited a few seconds before lowering the casket into the ground. That was when we all became absolute messes, as we witnessed Loren's casket fall with a last, final goodbye.
I'd never clutched onto anyone as hard as I clutched onto Damon and I sobbed into his white shirt, staining it with my tears. When the casket had touched the bottom of the ground, Damon gently pulled away from me and said with watery eyes, "I need to get the flowers." He went next to the cherry blossom tree and then picked up two large baskets filled with beautiful pink roses. Jared and Landon went to the tree as well, each bringing with them baskets of multi-colored rose petals. We each took a flower, tossed it into the grave and thereafter tossed two large handfuls of rose petals which now covered the surface of the bronze casket. Once all the flowers had been finished, we each took hold of a few spades lying on either side of the open grave. And it was as we began shoveling the sand over the grave that I came to the realization that I did not want anyone getting involved in the Lucien and Macy saga hereafter. They had both caused enough damage on the lives of these people. Besides, now that Andrew was dead, and Lucien had come out of hiding I was certain that this whole game would become more personal.
Once the grave was completely covered with sand, we all just stood and stared at the patch of dirt, now becoming littered with the pale pink coloured cherry blossoms. This was it, Loren was gone, but the memory of her would clearly never be faded. It would stay as firm and sturdy as this cherry tree and then bloom like cherry blossoms with every mention of her and the great woman she was.