Lily's P.O.V.
"Can I have all of your attention please?" Mr Kindman said over the loudspeakers. I politely waved a quick goodbye to Emma and the rest of my 'friends', most of whom I have never even spoken to before in my life. All they did was question me about Malibu and Iron Man. I tried to brush most of the questions off, but there was just too many. I soon just started ignoring them all together. Eventually they gave up and actually had real conversations with me. It was actually kind of nice.
I made my way over to the blanket that Pepper and my dad had set up. Both of them were sitting up and looking towards the makeshift stage, my dad with a scotch in his hand. He looked so out of place with that. Every other male was holding a beer. Different culture, I guess.
My dad smiled as I sat down.
"Your former principal is going to introduce Pepper and I." My dad said. Mr. Kindman had started his speech, but my dad wasn't listening. He had the attention span of a goldfish.
"Oh. Well that sucks." I answered.
"Why? Are you embarrassed by us?" My dad questioned, pretending to be insulted.
"No, of course not. It's just that its drawing even more attention to me."
"You don't have to go up there if you don't want to." My dad said, his voice shifting from joyous to a much more serious tone.
"Yes, I do. It would look really strange if I didn't, especially since this is a community thing and you live quite a long ways away from here."
"If you insist." My dad answered.
Just then, Mr. Kindman began his typical welcoming speech.
"As many of you may have noticed, we have a few new faces here with us today. I would like to welcome all of you to the stage so you can introduce yourselves."
"Come on, then." My dad said, standing up. Pepper and I followed.
There was only two other families that joined us on the small stage, but not one eye was on them. They were all on my dad, who had one arm around Pepper's waist and the other resting on my shoulder. I really wished that they would stop staring at us. We are just another family. A very famous and extremely rich family, mind you, but people from my home town still shouldn't stare like that.
"Okay. I will pass this microphone around I will ask everyone to please introduce yourself. Also, say some things about you, such as where you are from and where you work." Mr. Kindman said. He passed the mic to the first family. We were second.
Suddenly, fear coursed through me. I couldn't talk in front of all these people.
"Dad?" I whispered.
"Yeah, Lily?"
"Can I please not talk."
"Sure. I wasn't expecting you to." I relaxed quite a bit.
The microphone soon got passed towards me. I grabbed it and quickly passed it towards my dad.
"Hello everyone!" He began. "My name is Tony Stark. This is my girlfriend Virginia Potts, who goes by Pepper, and my daughter Lily. Although we don't really live here, we are new to this picnic, so I got asked to do an introduction. Anyways, we all live in Malibu, California, which is quite a long ways away and a lot warmer. Its freezing out here! As for occupations, I am CEO of Stark Industries, as well as a part-time superhero. Pepper here is my Personal Assistant and former CEO. Lily is a engineering student at the University of California in Los Angeles. "
My dad handed the microphone to the family to the left. Everyone in the audience applauded. It was quite a bit louder than the half-hearted clapping for the family before us.
The final family said a few words and we were all ushered off stage. Pepper, my dad and I returned to our blanket with all eyes on us. When I sat down, I realised what was coming up next. It was the memorial section. They always put together a powerpoint presentation similar to the ones at award shows, but much more personal. They are usually filled with stories, picture and videos. I would never be able to make it through.
Right on time, the intro slide flashed on the white screen. The signature music began to play and all eyes turned to me. Everyone wanted to see my reaction to my mother appearing on the screen. That was just plain cruel. Out of fear, I bolted. I literally ran away from the small park. I heard my dad call my name, but I didn`t stop. I needed to get out of there.
I don`t know how long I ran. I didn`t care. It felt so good to get rid of all my emotions through exercise. I kind of missed running. I haven`t done it since, well, since my mom died. Her and I used to do evening runs together when the weather was nice. I missed it so much. Tears started to fill my eyes again and I stopped running to look around at where I ended up. I was on the sidewalk in front of the school, only feet away from where I stood when I saw my mom alive for the last time. That is when I broke down. I fell to the ground and curled up into a fetal position and cried.
I was just starting to pull myself back together when I felt myself being pulled into an embrace. I almost jumped up in shock.
"It's just me, Lily." I heard my dad whisper, right next to my ear."It's okay. It's going to be okay. You will make it through this. I know just how hard this is. I was only a few years older than you when my parents died. I kept all that pain inside me because I was not allowed to show it. I turned into an alcoholic playboy. I don't want to happen to you. I want you to do what you need to do to come to terms with this. I know that it's terrible, but you have to push though and not keep it inside, okay? Crying isn't weak. It is a sign of strength. I learned that way too late."
I relaxed into his arms and started bawling again. Losing a parent is the most painful thing that I have ever done. I still hurt as much as I did the day that she died. It just never goes away. With my dad's arms tight around me though, I began to feel hope. I began to feel that maybe there was a way, not to forget, but to move on. As much as I had told myself that I was coming to terms with my mother's death, it was all a lie. I was just as torn up inside as I was at the start. It was about time that I changed that and started living my life again.
A few minutes later, I wiped my tears off my face and turned to my dad.
"I want to go see her grave." I said, my voice faltering.
My dad just nodded and grabbed my hand, helping me up. He put his hand on my shoulder as we walked across town.
The graveyard was right at the back corner of the town. There was two sides, the old and the new. The old consisted of lines of tall concrete crosses to mark the graves. The new side, however, mostly had flat headstones on the ground with a few shiny, polished upright ones. My dad still didn't say a word as I led him through the new part of the cemetery. I stopped when I reached the newest addition. It was a very small upright headstone. My mom always wanted one. She didn't want the possibility of the earth one day swallowing all the flat headstones. I knelt at the bottom of grave and rested my head on the top of gravestone and cried. I heard my dad walk away, giving me privacy that I desperately needed.
"Mom?" I whispered. "I hope that you can hear this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for every time that we fought or that I disobeyed you. I wish that I could take it all back. You deserved to treated much better than I treated you. I wish that we could have fixed that. You shouldn't have died so soon. You should have lived to be 100 at least. You were so nice to everyone. Why did you have to die?" I choked back tears. "I'm trying to make my life work without you, but it isn't the same. I'm living with my dad now. I found him. I can't believe that you didn't tell him that I was born. I was really angry with you, but I forgive you. I only want good memories of you, not memories tinted with anger. Dad is really nice I can relate to him so well. He is so much like me. I am going to try to reform my life, Mom, with him in it. I am going to start over again, with new friends, a new school and a new house all in an entirely new state. I need to get over your death and I hope that you will let me do that. I will never forget you, Mom, but I need to let go. I need to start actually living my life again and have fun, not what I am doing now. I am convincing myself that I am having fun, but I still have that hole in my chest. I hope that by forgiving you and coming to talk to you, that hole can be filled again so that I can go back to being me. Thank you so much for listening. I love you."
I forced myself to stand, my body still shaking from crying. I spotted my dad sitting on a bench and I have my way over to him.
"Ready?" He asked.
"Yes." I answered with a much stronger voice. He grabbed my hand and led me out of the graveyard and out towards Emma's house. I didn't turn back once.