Amanda felt like a terrible person. While she sat at her brother’s funeral, grieving his death, the thought recurring in her mind was: this couldn’t have been a worse timing. The previous day was her mum’s birthday and New Year’s Eve, today was the start of a brand new day, and the following day was to be Niels’ birthday. Amanda couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed that all of this had to happen in the midst of what was supposed to be a celebratory time.
Why Eli? Why now? Why didn’t he take greater precautions to protect himself? As far as Amanda had heard, he was walking in one of the more unsafe settings. In an expensive suit! What was he thinking? Eli was a scholar, a smarty-pants, a know-it-all. But even that couldn’t save him. Life always took the world’s most prized loved ones. Sandro, Ambra, Roy, Daphne, and once upon a time, Maë… just to name a few. The immediate family sat together in the front rows of the temple. Then again, Eli didn’t really have a lot of friends save for Elena, an older gentleman who Amanda did not know, and another guy around Eli’s age who looked like the incarnate of nerdism. The ceremony was routine. A few supposedly-comforting words from the priest, a poem read, and a few eulogies from family like Belie, Rico, and even Aubrey. Looking around, Amanda realized that Bella and Rico shared a similar expression with her. An odd combination: grief mixed with numbness. It was obvious that Ceci had also experienced her share of deaths. Would it ever stop? At the gravesite, Amanda huddled close to Niels, Nicco and Elia clutching her hands, Angelo and Emi trying to be strong. Looking around, Amanda found it quite ironic. The whole family was here. Bella’s and her family, Rico and his family, Aelin and the girls, of course, Rhys and Kenna, and not to mention Teun’s side of the family who had become closer than any blood relatives. A tiny hint of a smile came to Amanda’s lips. “Well Eli,” she said as she kissed a rose before tossing it onto the casket six feet below. “You managed to do one amazing thing here. You got the whole family together again. I’ll miss you, little brother. You were really one of the good people.”
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Amanda at a GlanceNames: Amanda Pontremoli, Amanda van Loon Archives
August 2017
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