Monday Mourning
Lee's POV
Children shouldn't be buried. Sure, kids die here and there quite often, but it still shouldn't happen. Especially to Marc.
But of him, there was nothing to bury. Many extensive searches were held, but all that was ever found of my baby bro were bits and pieces of his blue hoodie. I felt, and still feel, that my little brother's life was blasted into… nothing. It was a horrifying thought.
As I scanned the group of mourners before me, I realized there were very few. Not many had known Marc, and most just didn't like him. It was depressing. How could so many people dislike Marc? He gave his life for everyone else's, and today I still believe it wasn't worth it.
A large portion of the mourners were WOOHP agents, all dressed in black and all looking absolutely dreadful. At least Marc was well known somewhere. He was loved all over WOOHP headquarters for his superior intelligence. Everyone there enjoyed his company, and not just because they needed a good grade on their science projects.
Marc was a great person, better than any grade anyone had ever received, or will receive. He didn't deserve such a horrible death. Not in a million years. And anyone, even his worst enemies, knew it all too well.
I saw Sam standing next to Jerry, both crying their eyes out. But, but some miracle, Tony wasn't. He and Marc had slept in the same room together for as long as I could remember. Surely he was just trying to prove his strength to everyone. He wasn't doing the best job, though, because he was practically straining as he fought back the lump of emotion in his throat.
I quietly marched over to him. "Tony," I whispered. "It's okay to cry. Everyone else here is. No one would or could make fun of you, not now. Look, even Dad's crying."
I pointed over to the parentals in the last row of miserable, dark clothing, also bawling their eyes out. Megan was curled up in their laps, soaking her tears into her shirt. They are loved Marc for who he really was, not for what rumors and "cool kids" thought he was. If only those terrible kids could walk in Marc's shoes for a while...
Tony sniffled and glanced up at me with his eyes pools of grief, shaking his head sadly. "Marc wouldn't want us to cry. He would want us to be strong for him, not dwell in our darkest thoughts."
I parted my lips to protest, but before any words came out, I realized Tony was right. Well, half-right. Marc probably wouldn't care if we cried, as long as none of us didn't dwell on it long enough for our grief to be unhealthy. He would want us to continue on with our lives, like, tomorrow! And he would want us to fight off our darkest, most negative thoughts and fears.
Marc was right! I needed to share his wisdom with everyone right away! Marc would've wanted that.
As I rushed up to onto the stage and behind the podium, most of the mourners had silenced themselves. Awesome. A respectful audience. This is what Marc deserved: to be honored. It would've been a lot better for everyone if he were to be honored in another way.
That thought immediately brought back a humorous memory. A few weeks before the… accident, Marc had received a letter from NASA, and it claimed that he was nominated for some fancy science award. If he'd accepted the nomination, he would've traveled to New York City the next year to attend the award ceremony. Ha, he was so excited
He and his twin, Megan, were leaping all over the living room, expressing their excitement through a series of squeals and laughter.
Than a negative thought hit my mind: Marc never got the chance to go. That explosion not only took everything from us, I realized, but from Marc as well. He would never be recognized for his outstanding achievements. He would never get the chance to go to college and become a biologist, as he'd dreamed of becoming all of his very short life. He would just be "buried."
It wasn't fair. Not even a tad bit. If this world cared about our feelings at all, Marc would still be with us. None of us would've been there that day, being poured on by bone-chilling rain. We all would've been nice and toasty in our homes, doing our normal, daily tasks. Instead, we were here, soaked in freezing rain, grieving a life that was lost for nothing.
It was time to face the truth. Marc hadn't survived the explosion. Heck, I barely survived the explosion. But I didn't matter at this point. Today was about Marc. Today, he would be rightfully honored for all the amazing things he had done, the lives he had saved in amazing ways. There were too many reasons to count.
I couldn't help but smile at this point. "Marc lived a life full of joys and wonders, pains and horrors. But behind it all, he was a brave boy with a big heart." I declared. Tony blinked and smiled at me. Others did too, so I decided to continue. But before I could…
"The universe gifted us with a genius, a brother, a son, and a hero." Megan said as she marched onto the stage behind me, along with Tony, and a few other WOOHP agents. I was inspiring! My heart pounded with pride.
"We abused this gift, pushing him around like some lame toy," Tony's voice rang out through our schoolyard, where the memorial had taken place. "And we wait until he is ripped from the world with such brutality to stop and praise him, appreciate him."
I had no idea such words were in Tony's vocabulary.
Sam stepped up beside me and blushed with the thought of her best friend, studying physics up in the sky somewhere. "None of us, including me, didn't know what we had until he was gone. I guess the universe didn't appreciate the way we all were treating our gift, and Marc paid the price for our recklessness. None of it was fair."
I smiled as Megan stepped up again. "So, in honor of my baby bro, I'd love it if each and every one of you went home tonight and honored every person in your life who seems so insignificant, but I know from personal experience, that they are so much more."
Now it was Jerry's turn. "I can guarantee you Marc would have saved the world one day, whether it was from curing some deadly disease or ceasing global warming. I can guarantee you all he would save thousands, but now he never will."
Now back to me. "He was constantly pushed to the ground, constantly teased. Although he was fairly shy at times, he never feared to express his intelligence to the world, he never feared to smile and wave at new students just to make their days a bit better, even if he knew those same people would probably stuff him in a locker. He never cared, as long as he had good memories to dwell on, he was happy."
That's when Marc's advice for a few minutes earlier came to mind. Now, to end this. "Now, a moment of silence to honor the genius that affected my life, the brother that affected my siblings' lives, the son that affected my parents' lives, and the hero that affected all our lives."
I allowed the audience to clap before bowing their heads in silence. I grinned before doing the same. Marc was a hero, and he always would be. As long as he was in our hearts, he would always be with us…