She died, leaving nothing behind expect for the memories. Everything that was hers was taken, every breath she'd took was stolen, every beat of her heart was stopped. She left only the sweet sound of her voice lingering in the wind.
"She- She can't be dead." Travis Stoll sobbed, his head in his hands, tears falling through the cracks in his fingers; Travis and her had been dating for a year.
"It's okay, bro; she's in a better place… With Silena and Beckondorf." Connor patted his brother's back, trying to keep strong, but we all knew he was feeling the same exact pain.
"She can't be dead! No, she's just… She's just…" Travis cried miserably and all I could do is look at him with sadness in my heart.
"She left something behind with us, Travis; she left behind the memories… She left me this, before she…." I whispered, pulling a wrinkled note out of my pocket, unfolding it with care as if it were a new born child. I read the words slowly to myself:
Tell Travis I love him. Tell him he was my everything and that he deserves the best girl there is. Tell him I'll be waiting for him in Elysium. Tell him he can't give up. Tell him that he needs to move on and that I'm gone. Tell him that he can be whatever he wants. Tell him that he can't forget the promise. Tell him this for me, please, Marie. Please.
I wearily held out my right hand and it was shaking. Connor reached for it slowly, but Travis' hand shot out to grab it before his brother could touch it. Connor looked perfectly fine with it, after his brother's loss, but I could also see the pain he had. We all sat in dead silence as we watched him read the note with eager eyes; it seemed like all of his dyslexia disappeared for this moment.
"She said she loved me." He whispered in shock, as more moisture tumbled down his cheeks. I knew how he felt with that; she never said I love you to him before. She wanted to take things slow because she knew how it felt to have a broken heart.
"That's awesome, Travis." Percy sighed sadly, despair filled in his expression, but he kept as strong as he could for Travis' sake.
"No! No! It's not "awesome" Percy! I lost her! I lost her because- because…." Travis yelled, and bolted out of the room. Connor trailed after him slowly, not wanting to get there too fast.
The five of us (Percy, myself, Annabeth, Thalia, and Treesa) sat in the room, hung up in the midst of the moment until someone walked in, yelling.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST SITTING HERE?" Clarisse la Rue shouted at us as the room seemed to come to life again.
"YOU KNOW WE'RE DOING, STUPID WAR HEAD? WE'RE grieving the loss of a friend." I shrieked, walking up to her with every step seeming to go faster than possible.
"DON'T CALL ME STUPID WAR HEAD, YOU EMO GHOST KID!" She yelled back, her arm hooking around my neck but I shadow traveled to the other side of the room where Treesa sat before Clarisse could squeeze me too hard.
"Guys, stop it." Treesa mumbled, squeezing my left forearm with all her strength and a root started growing on my arm.
"Fine, I'm done." I sighed and fell to the floor with a weep.
"WHATEVER. I better see the five of you out of here in five minutes or you're all on kitchen duty." Clarisse growled as she stamped out they way all Ares' kids do.
"Who cares?" Percy mumbled as she exited, and we all shook our heads in agreement to his statement.
"I remember the first day I came. She was sitting with Travis on the beach and they were laughing and singing along to All Summer Long while the Hephaestus kids were setting up the fireworks. I've never seen two people happier in my life." I sighed, kicking the hardwood floor with my black converse.
"She was one of the happiest people to ever be alive." Annabeth concluded; these were the first words she'd spoken since we heard the news. Annabeth met her the first day she was at camp, Annabeth was seven, she was nine. They were best friends that year, Annabeth told me.
"It's official. Camp will never same without her." Thalia spoke for the time too, her eyes puffy from crying. We all nodded in agreement once more.
"We've gotta make a s-s-shroud." Treesa stuttered, tears scrambling down her red face, her brown hair a mess.
We'd scouted out to find wood, which was easy, with Treesa's help. We took so many bright and neon colors, you'd think we were hippies; purples, pinks, blues, yellows, reds, oranges, and most importantly, greens. Oh, green, it was her favorite color. She told me green went with every color there ever was; it went with black, pink, white, blue, brown, yellow, purple, orange, EVERYTHING. When we finished, the shroud ended up like this: light brown wood with splattered (bright) colors everywhere to show her scattered personality. Over that was Greek writing in all green that used words to describe her: positive, smart, loving, loyal, caring. Pretty much any nice word you could use to describe a person.
That night, after we ate the normal camp dinner, Chiron announced: "Campers! Tonight we have to burn the shroud of-" He was stopped short by the sound of music. Playing from the Hermes cabin was All Summer Long as loud as it would go, and everyone started to sing along, and tears formed in my eyes. This girl, this wonderful girl would never be forgotten. Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter would never be forgotten.