She's Not Gone...

[Annabell Daniels]

I tried hold back the knot that was forming in my throat. I was not going to cry, Its not true... She can't be gone... Andra was an amazing friend and she didn't deserve to die. Rosaline was following behind me with tears in her blue eyes. "Come on now. Don't cry, be strong for Andra," I whispred to her once we sat down in a pew. I didn't want to see her face. Atleast not right now.

[Andrew Foster]

It's just all-around bad timing, that's all it is, I think a little desperately from the back of the funeral home, unwilling to look at the coffin in front because every time I do, the constant pain in my chest decides to explode and send sharp shrapnel all over the place. If I'd been here just two weeks ago, two bloody weeks, this wouldn't have happened. She never even got to see her nephew....
Friends of hers had told me how ecstatic she was to get that Howler, how desperate she'd been for news, how reckless she had gotten without anyone in contact, no parental figures to keep her in line.
It's just all-around bad timing....
I notice a girl... no, woman... who looks a little familiar come in with a small child. One of Ariel's friends? Something is telling me yes. But either way, she's here for my sister, and I nod to her politely.
Andra had a lot of friends, I think, feeling very grateful for their existence.
But that doesn't mean she could do without her family, my conscience says spitefully, followed by another stab of pain.

[Annabell Daniels]

I smile weakly at the man and hold Rosaline in my arms, rcoking her slowly. "Mommy I miss Andra!" she cried into my shirt. I sighed heavily and let a few tears fall but wiped them off quickly for fear of Rosie seeing them. I wanted to be strong for her. Its mommy little girl after all. What happend to Andra? Did someone kill her? If they did, they will be sorry! I kept thinking over and over. Suddenly my sorrow tunred into boiling anger. This man, he knew Andra of course or he wouldn't be here. I carried Rosie and walked over to the man. "Um hey, I have just a few questions to ask you," I smile lightly.

[Andrew Foster]

"Mommy, I miss Andra!" I hear the little girl say, and I close my eyes tightly against potential tears, lowering my head. Angela doesn't even know, we didn't know how to tell her that her daddy and her mommy and now her big sister all got wiped out in a year.... Arthur is never going to know her, Jim has never even met her. Just fucking bad timing.... I think, knowing that there never would have been 'good timing' for my little sister to turn up murdered.
I look up, nodding, as the familiar woman walks over. "Yes?" I ask after swallowing dryly, pinching the skin just above the bridge of my nose and determined not to cry.

[Annabell Daniels]

I take a big breath hoping the knot in my throat would go away. I sat beside him and set Rosie on a pew. "Who did it?" I say softly to him.

[Andrew Foster]

I shake my head down at the ground with a humorless laugh. "Fucked if I know..." I say, before glancing at the little girl and wincing. "Sorry." I shake my head again. "If I knew, they'd be in a room nearby. Deatheaters...." I shrug. "That's all we know."
And we knew knew it for a while. Long enough for her to be safe, if you hadn't been so stupid and criminally irresponsible.

[Annabell Daniels]

My eyes started to water and I nodded my head. "Damn deatheaters," I say softly so Rosie couldn't here me.

[Andrew Foster]

I nod with a very short, humorless laugh, willing myself not to cry. "Say that again," I mutter, voice shaking slightly. Then yell at me and hit me... somebody, please. I blink and shake my head, hating the wetness in my eyes. You don't deserve to cry for her, you bastard. But you do deserve the pain. Every bit.

[Annabell Daniels]

I sigh, my voice shaking slightly. I rested my head in my hands and let silent tears roll down my face. "I'm Annabell," I say after a moment of silence.

[Andrew Foster]

I nod, the name definitely familiar. I'd known most of Ariel's friends, if only vaguely and not really distinguishable from each other. "Andrew," I say quietly, interlacing my hands and resting them on the pew in front, looking without seeing at the front of the room.

[Annabell Daniels]

"Have-" I take a big breath. "Have you seen her yet?" I ask quietly.

[Andrew Foster]

I shake my head. "Just briefly." And I really do not want to take a longer look than that, because Lexi shouldn't be inside that coffin, and I refuse to see it.

[Annabell Daniels]

"I really need to go see here. I just don't want too," I sigh. You don't have the guts too Annie.

[Andrew Foster]

"Understandable," I say with a soft snort, shaking my head. "She shouldn't be there."

[Annabell Daniels]

"No she shouldn't," I say shaking my head. "I just seen her a few weeks ago."

[Andrew Foster]

I swallow hard, smiling painfully. "How was she then?" I ask. I was too busy being a coward.

[Annabell Daniels]

"She was okay. Great as a matter of fact. Smiling and laughing, being crazy and herself," I say softly, tears stinging my eyes again remembering when we were at the ice cream parlor.

[Andrew Foster]

I nod, feeling the lump in my throat get worse. Most of her friends had told me that, that she was pretty much okay most of the time, in between short bouts of panic and depression.
"How'd you know her?" I manage to ask after a bit, blinking away the beginnings of tears.

[Annabell Daniels]

"We met in a book store," I laugh slightly at the memory. "She was helping my find 'kitty books.'"

[Andrew Foster]

I smile very slightly despite myself, picturing Andra when she had a quest of some kind.
So she was happy. She was. Most of the time she was.

[Annabell Daniels]

"I'm still reading Rosie those books," I laugh ligthly and wipe my eyes some.

[Andrew Foster]

"Rosie?" I ask, nodding with a questioning sort of look at the little girl.

[Annabell Daniels]

"Yeah," I nod. "My little girl. Her name's Rosaline but I call her Rosie." I shrug and look over at her. She was still crying sort of and buried her head in my arm.

[Andrew Foster]

I nod, feeling like I should say something to the little girl to comfort her... but if I can't even find the words to tell my own little sister anything, after being trapped with her for more than three months, then there's no way I can talk to this strange small person. I eye the kid warily instead, then look away.
And exactly when is poor little Angie going to find out? When she finally gets out of hiding and wants to go show 'Exi all the pictures that she made?

[Annabell Daniels]

I smiled weakly at him and patted Rosie's head. "It will be okay," I say softly to her. "Someday it will," I mutter.

[Andrew Foster]

Oh yeah... perfectly fine someday, I think sarcastically, but manage a very small smile for the little girl, even though she's not looking at me.

[Annabell Daniels]

"Has anyone else came?" I ask him quietly.

[Andrew Foster]

"A lot of people," I say quietly, nodding. "I didn't know that she had so many friends."

[Annabell Daniels]

"Well shes very popular. Hard not to like," I laugh lightly.

[Andrew Foster]

Was, I correct automatically, nodding neutrally on the outside. She was very popular. Not anymore. Now she's just dead.
"Yeah, she always was the most friendly of us all," I say with a slightly pained smile. "Always talking to strangers like she'd known them all her life."