19 Bonus chapter: Fragmented memory

Keeping this up every day was hard. The suffering, the pain. I was there. He was there. We were all there.

The day came.

Dressed in full black, we stood there on the cold, wet, grassy ground as rain poured down on to us. The shivering of my friends persisted as I looked up towards the sky.

There was six of us - now there's five. Why did it end like this? Why? We could have been happy, enjoyed ourselves just like before. What did you hide from us, Levi?

The rain blurred my vision as I slowly looked across to my left. Ray was holding an umbrella while being hugged; I heard loud cries from my friends as it echoed slightly in the surround while being muffled by the sound of the rain.

Behind me, grownups - with black suits - lined up and one by one, they stepped forward and placed flowers on the smooth stone surface. After a slight bow and salute, they retreated and the next one walked forward. I watched as it repeated again and again until the last person; he was different.

With a broad figure, he stood out from the rest of them. He was wearing black shades and had a grey beard with gelled back hair; there was an earpiece in one of his ears.

Unlike the others, he wasn't holding any flowers. He stepped up. The rain showered his head as it slowly dropped down his face and he slowly said, "I expected more from you."

"Is he mocking him!?" I thought to myself angrily.

I felt a wave of explosive anger swelling up from the inside of me, deep down in my heart. I let go of my umbrella and was about to punch him but Ray held on to my hand. He hovered the umbrella over my head and said, "Hey, let's not do this on a day like this..."

I looked at him and he was crying. I could tell he was holding his anger back as well.

I slowly put my arm down.

"Your mother will miss you," the man continued to said.

A little girl next to him poked her head looking at me. She was also wearing full black. She held on to the man's trousers.

"She will take over from now," the man said while patting the little kid on the head. "Now let's head out."

The people behind him saluted once again then formed two parallel lines on either side of the man and the little kid.

They walked through the path and the men followed behind them.

The place was empty and only us five remained.

The girls collapsed on the ground while still sobbing.