Trust: The Hero Chronicles (Volume 2)
Page 45
“Nicholas, I know this is going to be difficult for you.” Genevieve was standing in my bedroom dressed in a long black satin dress. She walked over to me and straightened my tie.
“Yes, it is,” I said, “but I guess this is something we will have to get used to—death.”
The fact that Coach Miller was gone still hadn’t really sunk in yet. He died by Bryce’s cold Seeker hands, which were trained to kill the weak, but Coach Miller wasn’t weak. He was stronger than anyone I knew. We went downstairs where both Cora and Riley were waiting for us. We walked out the front door and were followed to our truck by our new bodyguards. The Council had sent four Thusians to protect us. They weren’t allowed to talk to us, but they went everywhere we did. Elle had a bodyguard too, but he stayed out of sight at all times.
All four of us got into Cora’s truck. Riley drove and Cora rode next to him. It had been a week since the fire, and yet it seemed like it all happened just an hour ago, still fresh in my mind. It didn’t seem like we should be going to Coach Miller’s memorial service yet. Genevieve was looking out the window, but made sure she held my hand for support. I didn’t fight it. I needed it. Elle and I were back together, but that didn’t seem to influence Genevieve’s behavior. She was there to support me no matter what.
We sat near the middle of the sanctuary. So many people wanted to attend—thousands is what I heard on the news—that they made the actual funeral by invitation only. There would be a public visitation later. The seating was in a circle around the central pulpit. Over the pulpit, the ceiling was tall. It looked like it went up into the heavens, with a stained glass dome covering it.
The pastor came to the center shortly after we sat down. “We are here to pay tribute to Aaron Michael Miller, a truly remarkable man who has touched so many lives,” he said. His voice echoed through the sanctuary.
Then from the entrance came ten firefighters dressed in their full firefighting equipment, axes in hand. They lined each side of the casket. What were they doing?
I remembered the small service we had for my father and mother two days after the earthquake. Only a few people were there, including two men from my dad’s unit. I never cried that day. I didn’t fully understand what had happened, or maybe I just didn’t want to deal with it. Thinking about it now made my eyes tear up.
The ten firefighters raised their axes above the casket, and with one uniformed motion they all sent the heads of their axes into the casket. The sound was deafening. His casket had a thick piece of wood down the middle where the axe heads hit. All ten of the firefighters dropped their arms, leaving the axes in place. One by one, each of them took the handle out of their axe head and returned back down the hall where they had come from, leaving the blades where they were embedded.
When the last fireman left, the pastor spoke again. “When Aaron was a fireman, his axe was one of the most important tools he had. A man was only as good as his axe and his unit. So leaving the axe head behind is symbolic of how when one person from the firehouse dies, a piece of everyone goes with them. The tradition of the axe head being left behind in the casket is the highest honor for any firefighter. This is a tradition that the Winsor Fire Company started when the company lost their first brother.”
He then invited people to come up if they wanted to say something. At least fifty people got up and said different things about Coach Miller. Some read passages of scripture from the Bible, and some told stories about Coach Miller. I looked around for Elle, but never saw her. I knew she was there, but from where I was sitting I couldn’t see her.
The last person that went up to speak was Oliver. He looked out over the silent crowd. His face was pale. He tried to speak several times, but his voice wouldn’t come. Tears began streaming down his face. The pastor came over to help him. With some words of encouragement, Oliver began to speak.
“Coach Miller, I will miss you. Thank you for giving me a second chance when nobody else would. I will never forget you.”
He stepped away from the microphone and rushed out of the sanctuary.
“Coach Miller, if you can hear me, I promise to give Oliver a second chance,” I said in a whisper, hoping he could hear my prayer.
Elle and I were watching TV in my family room right after the funeral. She was lying against me. I don’t know how she escaped her parents, but she did. I knew we had to eventually talk about what happened, but I didn’t know where to start, still not sure what Genevieve had told her. Now that I could tell her everything, I didn’t want to. At this point, I felt like the more she didn’t know, the better we could keep her safe.
“Nicholas, are you okay?”
That was a loaded question.
“Not really. Are you okay?” I asked back.
“Yes.”
How could she be okay after everything?
“Elle, you have to be kidding. How can you be fine?”
She sat up. “For the last year, I knew that you were hiding something. You were always so guarded, never really opening up. I couldn’t figure it out, but I knew there had to be a good reason for you not telling me. Once Genevieve told me, things started to make sense. I didn’t tell you, but when you saved me from the car last year in the water, I thought I saw you punch through the windshield and break my seatbelt, sending us up to the surface. But I was in and out of consciousness, so I thought it was just a hallucination or a dream. Then when Bryce grabbed me in the hall, I wasn’t scared because I knew you would find me. I had faith in you, Nicholas. That’s why everything is fine.”
“Elle, how can you be okay when you just found out about all of this? I have a hard time with it still and I’ve known a lot longer than you.”
“It’s easy. I believe in you.”
“But I didn’t save Coach Miller and I got lucky saving you again.”
“Coach Miller died protecting Oliver and me. He saw Bryce dragging me down the hall toward the locker room. Oliver was already in the locker room, and Bryce hit him as we went by. Coach Miller pulled Oliver out of the locker room to safety and then went back in to get me.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “He died protecting us.”
She stopped, taking my hands. “I don’t understand what you are about to face, but I believe in you and so do Cora, Genevieve, and Riley. And no matter what, you don’t have to feel alone anymore. Your fears are no longer just yours to bear because I will be with you every step of the way no matter what.” She snuggled up to me and laid her head on my chest.
She was right. She would be with me the rest of the way. But I wasn’t sure if I had the strength to protect her and everyone else I loved.
END OF BOOK TWO
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