PREFACE

The air was very cold and the silence hung in the moment like a ticking clock. The beautiful green yard in front of Mount Mary Church was quite as usual. The cemetery was now filled with sixteen and seventeen year olds along with their parents, all in black blazers and black dresses, silently listening to the priest perform the last rights.

Her death had affected everyone- everyone, who would be a little off for the next few hours but forget about it completely after a day or two, consoling themselves with the philosophies of death of their own. In the midst of all these people, there were three of them who were being scrutinized the most. Were they going to be okay? This question had crossed the mind of every person present there, at least once.

The girl, Lynette Keaton, everyone knew- the one, whose mother had died last year, now staying with her Aunt and cousin, who were nowhere to be seen at this moment. Her eyes were red and puffed up with all the crying, her sniffles breaking the silence every now and then. Her pretty face with the brown eyes and pink lips was now turned into an expression of sadness sprinkled with misery and could make someone cry if they looked at her too long.

The boy with the brownish red hair, who was taller than she was, was well known among the people who stood there and watched. His name was Austin Clavell- the popular kid at school; the one who everyone wanted to hang around with just so that they’re mere social life had a little booster. His eyes were sad and he was standing there close to the pitied girl, keeping an arm around her shoulder, holding her close. His eyes were wet too, but the tears never strolled down.

The third boy, the tallest of the lot, was present there but his mind was elsewhere. He was standing there next to the two but yet he looked like he was miles away. With his hands in the pockets of his trousers and his face away from the casket, Dean Briody didn’t show any sign of emotion. His blue turquoise eyes, forwhich every girl would have died for, were now emotionless- almost dead. One couldn’t figure out what he was going through. Naturally he was sad, but you couldn’t really tell.

Everybody occasionally looked at them. They had been the three best friends- Lynette, Dean, and Austin- always close, always together,and were loved by everyone in the small town of Sinclair. But now, someone who had mattered to them a lot was never going to be seen again. This had left them broken and devastated.

The funeral ended after the biscuits and the tea cakes with everyone offering their condolences and wiping their tears. Finally, the crowd started to disperse and now only the three were left. They looked at each other for a minute and then came together for a group hug. Lynette, being the one with the feminine heart, started to weep copiously. She was used to losing people, like she had lost her parents, but this loss was recent. And her heart had not healed completely yet.

Austin and Dean felt equally upset, sad, angry, and any other kind of feeling that described the word ‘devastated’, but they knew they had to be strong, for the sake of Lynette. They had to be there for her, so they could not afford to look weak. But Dean Briody was acting particularly strange. He had that dead look on his face, and even the presence of his friends who had always managed to cheer him up, couldn’t bring him back to reality. It was as if his mind was trying to piece something together, and as soon as they separated from their embrace, realization struck Dean. He knew he wasn’t going to be the same again, and a part of him told him that what he was about to do next was inevitable.




Thinking this, Dean looked at Austin and Lynette, and smiled at them slightly. He took a step back and opened his mouth to say something, but no words escaped his lips. So instead of risking saying something that may give out his actual feelings, he turned around. Lynette started to reach out for him but Austin held her hand. She looked at Austin with her confused eyes. “Give him some time…” he murmured. Lynette looked at Dean who was already a mile away and nodded. They were sure they would meet tomorrow and Dean would be a little better.Only if they knew.

Something was going to go horribly wrong.