Her laugh broke the silence. Quickly she clamped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide and apologetic. Ducking her head, she ignores the glared of those around her. She nervously straightened her black skirt and kept her eyes down until everyone faced the front again.
She hadn’t meant to laugh out loud or be disrespectful. She had simply been remembering the last time she had seen Heidi.
They had been walking down the hallway at school on the last day of senior year, chatting and laughing as always. The girl in front of them tripped over the door jam and slammed into the wall. Two seconds later Heidi tripped on the same door jam and fell down laughing.
“I was just making fun of that girl in my head for tripping and then I tripped!” she choked out, tears streaming down her face. They stood there laughing their heads off while the rest of the students filed past to their seats. It took them a full 10 minutes to stop laughing. That was so much like Heidi. Clutzy and silly and not caring what anyone thought of her.
The music swelled around her and brought her back to the present. It was hard to believe that only three days ago they had been laughing so hard. She would give anything to go back to that moment now, to warn her, to stop this.
Her eyes welled up with tears. She grabbed for the box of Kleenex at the end of the row and blew her nose quietly. She slowly stood to her feet with the rest of the crowd and slowly followed the casket up the aisle.
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