“Nicole Oreseno was a beautiful young lady, who made everyone around her laugh…” The priest went on, but Sam wasn’t listening. His chest ached with pain, like everyone’s on that sunny July day. He stared at the rectangular box, sitting on the grass in front of them.

He knew the person in the box. He knew her better than anybody did. And now she was gone, without even saying goodbye. Sam looked at the rest of the people attending the funeral. His parents stood next to the coffin. His mother was bawling into his father’s crisp black suit. Mr. Oreseno wiped his eyes. Sam had never seen his dad cry before.

A group of girls from the school stood, silent tears cascading down their cheeks. A group of guys stood, trying to look tough, but really sad through their toughness. All of Sam’s uncles, aunts, and cousins stood in various spots. Some were crying others just looked shell shocked.

“How ya holdin’ up, Sport?” Sam’s grandfather asked, placing his massive palm on Sam’s shoulder. Sam felt like screaming at everybody. How could he be okay? She was dead! Instead Sam turned to his grandfather.

“I’m okay.” He said, his voice cracked, and he bit his lip to stop from bursting into tears.

“Okay Son.” The old man said, trudging back to wherever.
Sam took a deep breath. He knew what rested under that pretty marble lid: Nicole. But, it wasn’t Nicole, not really. The corpse would never smile or laugh. Sam would only see Nicole again in pictures. A warm tear fell down his tan cheek. His shaky hand placed a yellow rose, Nicole’s favorite flower, on the marble box. Then he turned away, he couldn’t take it anymore. His sister was dead.

It was a car crash that took Nicole’s life. The car exploded. The remains identified. And Sam was left as hollow as the corpse in the box before him. Sam walked around the rest of the graveyard, not wanting to see the sympathetic faces of his friends and family.

Sam ran upstairs after the funeral to his bedroom to play computer games on his lap top. He unlocked his safe to get his controllers. It seemed silly now, hogging the gaming devices in his house, locking them up so that his father couldn’t use them, or break them. Something yellow inside the safe caught Sam’s attention. A single yellow rose lay atop his controllers. Sam’s heart picked up.

Sam knew the rose hadn’t been there this morning. There was only one person other than himself that knew the combination to his safe. His sister, who had died three days ago.