Chapter
30
Four
days later, I stood next to Heidi in a small Virginia cemetery for Sonny’s
funeral. The November day was cool, yet
bright and sunny, opposite to the moods we were in.
We
had all flown to Virginia from Georgia two days earlier, leaving Nick and Josh
behind, for as much as they had wanted to come, they still weren’t well enough
to leave the hospital, let alone fly out of state.
Sonny’s
funeral was a small one, only for his family and close friends. His parents were there, as well as some other
relatives. I saw a whole group of men dressed up in uniforms, and I knew they
were friends of Sonny’s from the military.
There was another group of young men and women, probably just some other
of Sonny’s friends. And then there was
us. I stood next to Heidi in the first
row, near the closed casket. Sammy stood
on the other side of me. Brian,
Leighanne, and AJ stood in the row behind them, and next to them stood Howie,
Kevin, and Kevin’s wife, Kristin. The
latter three had managed to fly up from Florida as soon as they found out about all that had happened.
I
glanced at Heidi as the minister went on about how Sonny was in a better place
now. She had her head down, but I could
see the tears spilling silently down her cheeks. My own cheeks were wet with tears as well. I reached down and took her hand in
mine. Hers was icy cold. I gave it a soft squeeze, just to let her
know I was there for her. I felt a tiny
squeeze back and hoped that was her way of telling me she would make it through
this tragedy.
***
Meanwhile,
an old car sat parked on the side of a small side street that passed the
cemetery.
Justin
sat in the front seat, a baseball cap pulled low over his face, a pair of dark
sunglasses covering his eyes. He watched
as Sonny’s casket was lowered into the ground, and he snickered.
“Fin’ly,
I killt one of ‘em,” he said proudly.
“But I’s still gots me a lot mo’ to kill. Oh well, there always be a next time. After all, tomorrow be anotha day.”
***
