Roommate Lost And Remembered
By: CNJ
PG-13
2: The Memorial
Shane:
Kristy Thomas and I held
each other tight as tears streamed down our faces. It was hard to believe
that Kristy's roommate, Uharu Jakara, was dead. We'd known she was sick
with a heart condition for a long time and was slowly getting worse, but
her dying still came as a shock. I walked with Kristy back to the lodge
and we continued packing to head home to New York City. On Friday, Uharu
would be buried and we'd promised her family we'd be there.
"Kristy..." a soft voice
sounded. We looked up and saw Mary Anne Spier and Mona Vaughn in the doorway.
Mona and Mary Anne used to go to Stoneybrook High and are two of Kristy's
best friends. Kristy burst into fresh tears and ran over to hug them. All
three of them leaned into each other and cried and cried. "Oh, K-Kris..."
Mary Anne keened in a high-sounding sob. "I'm...I'm s-so sorry about...Y-y-y-h-hara..."
"Thank...you..." Kristy
wiped her eyes. "I can't believe she's gone." They slowly came over and
hugged me, then all four of us stood like that for a long minute.
"Maybe..." Mona sniffled.
"We'd better pack too."
"Oh, you don't have to..."
Kristy started. Then she sort of leaned back when she saw our pleading
eyes.
"Let's all do it for Uharu,"
Mary Anne hicked, wiping her eyes. We'll pack tonight, then head home to
the city tomorrow morning." Mona and I nodded, then we headed slowly out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Anne:
I just wanted to head upstairs
and get packed, then go to bed early tonight, but when I came into the
lodge where Mona and I were staying, I heard laughter on the couch. I tried
to move quietly. And to make matters worse, on the couch were two of my
least favorite people, Randy Kirwan with Cokie Mason in her lap. I hoped
they wouldn't hear me, but luck wasn't on my side tonight because Cokie
saw me and her blue eyes widened and she sneered at me, her lip curling
upward. "Randy, look at what the cat dragged in..." she snickered. Randy
then turned and saw me too.
"Oh, God...damn..."
I muttered, bracing myself for their mockery. I wasn't long in coming.
"What's the matter?" Randy's
mouth curved in a mocking smile. "Lost your place in a book?"
"None of your business,
Randy..." I muttered, fresh tears welling in my eyes.
"Oooooh, it's none of
our business," Cokie snickered, mimicking my voice and she and Randy
cracked up, apparently enjoying my discomfort. I tried not to squirm as
I realized that they could see that I'd been crying since my eyes felt
red and swollen.
"Randy..." another voice
called and the door opened and in came Randy's longtime girlfriend, Jana
Morgan. "Randy, I need you for..." Jana stopped and glared at Cokie, who
fell off Randy's lap. "What are you doing here?" Jana demanded of Cokie,
who glared back at Jana.
"Nothing much," Randy told
her and moved over to the chair and helped Cokie back up. I grabbed that
distraction to head upstairs and booked as quietly as I could. I know Jana
saw me, but she didn't say anything and I just continued up the stairs,
hoping she didn't see my red eyes. Fat chance, the way my evening was going.
I shut the door to my room, locked it and let the tears come again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shane:
All of us tried to be strong
for Kristy and Uharu's family. Kristy and Uharu had really been close,
so this had devastated Kristy. I'm so glad to have Kristy as a girlfriend;
she's really funny, smart, creative and just...well, what you see is what
you get with her. I guess since we both love the unconventional, that's
what attracted us to each other. Mona and Mary Anne love the unconventional
too and I could see why they are good friends. Mary Anne and Mona are roommates
at Staten U., which is practically down the street from Fellowdean, where
Kristy and I go. Ran Zack, another friend of Kristy's, goes to Fellowdean
too. And all five of us love New York City and often go exploring the city
together on weekends and vacations. That Monday, we headed back to classes
and concentrated the best we could, despite our grief. Then on Friday after
classes, all five of us headed back to upstate New York for Uharu's funeral.
The Jakaras are Hindu, so the funeral had Hindu themes, but much of it
was also secular. Uharu had an older sister as well as her parents and
an assortment of aunts, uncles and cousins. The funeral was hard. It reminded
me of when my dad was buried the summer after tenth grade way back in high
school. He'd died of a heart attack and oh, boy did it hurt! Mom and I
had both been crushed and it took us about a year or so to grieve, then
move on. I still miss my dad and once in a while I still get this empty
feeling in a pang. So does Mom, I can tell. So I could understand some
how Kristy must really be hurting now. I could just imagine some of the
agony the rest of the Jakaras must be going through. Her poor parents,
they must be in worse pain that we were, having to bury their own daughter!
There was still a lot of
slushy February snow outside the funeral home as we rode over to the cemetery
and it all looked so bleak. Snow's an odd thing; then times are good, snow
is really pretty and bright, but when you've just lost someone, snow looks
bleak. Mary Anne pushed up the sleeves of her black jacket and adjusted
her sunglasses. I knew she'd been doing a lot of crying in the past week.
She and Kristy both had dark sunglasses on. Once we got out of the car,
I knew it was windy, but it still felt like a shock. Ran and Mary Anne
each held out an arm to steady Kristy and we walked over to the burial
plot. As we listened to the undertaker and various friends and relatives
of Uharu take turns speaking out, I shivered slightly and tears stung my
eyes. Mary Anne said something briefly about Uharu's caring attitude and
as she spoke, she broke down crying again, her voice going up in a high
squeak as she finished. Then she and Kristy leaned into each other, both
of them weeping heavily, their sobs stark in the cold wind. The sound was
so awful that it made Ran, Mona, and me cry too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mona:
"This brings back some scary
memories," I whispered to Shane as we headed back home to New York City
after the burial. I'd rented a car for this funeral and I was driving the
five of us back.
"Yeah," Shane nodded. "It
brought back the time when my dad died."
"Me too." I sat back. My
dad had died at the end of my fourth grade year. I could see that Mary
Anne and Kristy had a lot more crying to do. They sat in the back with
Ran, their sunglasses covering their swollen, red eyes and noses. Once
in a while, Mary Anne put a hand over her mouth and sometimes I'd thought
she'd start crying again, but somehow we made it home before she did. After
I returned the car, the five of us stayed in Kristy's room for the next
two nights to help Kristy through the first couple of nights without Uharu.
"Kristy..." Ran's voice
came that night after we'd turned out the lights.
"Mbmb..." Kristy sniffled.
"I was wondering..." Ran
sat up, her black spiky hair bouncing a little. In some ways, she reminds
me of Liza Barry, a girl Shane and I had known back in middle school. Liza
had the same dark spiky hair. "Before the dorm people hook you up with
another roommate, you want me to be yours?"
"Yeah, sure..." Kristy sat
up also. "But...what about your roommate...what're you going to tell her?"
"My roommate moved out two
weeks ago," Ran told her, "I think she dropped out altogether and won't
be back."
"Oh...thanks...it sounds
good. We'd better notify the dorm office tomorrow." Kristy was beginning
to sound like her old self somewhat. I knew Kristy is a strong person and
she'll survive this awful grief, she and Mary Anne. I suspected that Ran
and Kristy would make great roommates.
This story is winding down; I think there'll be one more chapter, maybe an epilogue, then this one will be done!