The day of Lewis' funeral has finally arrived. The service starts in just over two hours, and Cleo is still lying in bed and has no desire to move. Who the hell would even want to go to the funeral of their boyfriend who isn't really dead anyway? Well, Cleo doesn't, that's for sure. The only reason the exhausted curly-haired girl is even going to the funeral in the first place is purely to support Lewis' family. Although, she is tempted to just get her dad or one of her friends to sit with Lewis' family and give them the support they need while Cleo can just continue to lie in bed and block out the world around her, or maybe even try to figure out potential ways of locating where Lewis or that Denman bitch could possibly be.
However, if she is being honest with herself, Cleo is starting to feel a little hopeless and defeated about finding Lewis. It has been two months, and Cleo is still no closer to finding her boyfriend than she was when he had first disappeared. That thought pains her, especially since she knows that Lewis is still alive. If anything, if Denman does have Lewis, Cleo feels that death would be the kinder option. God knows what she could be doing to Lewis at this very moment; the mental images of Doctor Denman dissecting and inhumanely experimenting on the boy haunting Cleo's mind and shattering her heart into a million pieces.
Suddenly, a loud knock on the bedroom door snaps Cleo out of her thoughts. Startled, Cleo immediately sits up in her bed and turns towards the door just in time to see her little sister Kim opening the door and stepping into the room.
"Dad says that you have to get up now if you want breakfast," Kim says in a grumble while she stares over at Cleo, arms folded across her chest.
"I'm not hungry. If I was hungry, I would already be downstairs and making myself breakfast." Cleo rolls her eyes in annoyance as she flops back down onto her bed, rolling onto her side and facing away from her sister. Cleo really isn't in the mood to deal with Kim's shit today; Cleo has enough on her mind.
"Fine, then. That means more for me," Kim says, a smug smile creeping up onto her face.
"Go away, Kim." Cleo groans, burying her head into her pillow. She needs to buy a lock for her bedroom door so Kim stops either coming in and harassing the mermaid or stealing or messing with some of Cleo's stuff if Cleo happens to not be in the room.
"You know the funeral is in like, two hours, right?" Kim asks, raising an eyebrow.
"I said go away, Kim! I don't need to hear this stuff right now, alright? God, just leave me alone!" Cleo yells as she sits up once again and glares over to her little sister, something snapping inside of the mermaid, unable to contain her anger any longer. There's an uncomfortable pause for several seconds as the two sisters continue to stare at each other. Cleo's vision starts to blur slightly as tears begin to form, but she doesn't care. Kim's annoyed and judgy expression surprisingly softens as she too notices Cleo trying to hold back tears.
"Well, in my opinion, I don't think that Lewis was super amazing, anyway. You'll find someone else. Maybe less geeky next time." Kim jokes in an attempt to console her older sister, but fails miserably.
"How dare you! Get out of my room before you make me do something that I'll regret!" Cleo screams threateningly as she jumps out of her bed and storms over towards the younger Sertori.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It was just a joke, okay? I was trying to help you feel better!" Kim retaliates loudly, raising her hands in the air as a sign of innocence and surrender, but Cleo doesn't buy it.
"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Cleo scoffs in disgust, shaking her head in disappointment at her little sister.
"Um, yeah, I do actually, because it's the truth!" Kim exclaims, waving her hands around wildly. The mermaid closes her eyes for a moment and takes a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. As she feels the burning hot anger bubbling inside of her die down, Cleo opens her eyes again, now merely feeling sadness and emptiness.
"Whatever. I don't care. Just leave me alone." The older of the Sertori sisters sighs, walking back over to her bed and slumps down onto it, staring at the ground and waiting for Kim to leave. Seconds pass by, but Cleo doesn't hear footsteps, nor does she hear her bedroom door close shut again. Feeling confused, Cleo glances up to see her sister still standing in the same spot, looking uncertain about whether or not she wants to leave the room.
"What?" Cleo asks snappishly, a defensive scowl forming on the mermaid's face.
"Look, Cleo… I'm sorry about what happened to Lewis," Kim pauses for a moment as she tries to figure out the best way to proceed next. The younger teenager walks over to the bed and sits down next to Cleo before continuing, "I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now. I know that we fight and tease each other a lot, but it doesn't mean that I like seeing you in pain like this."
"Thanks, Kim…" Cleo murmurs, glancing at her sister in surprise. She has never seen Kim look this sincere or sad before, which likely means that Cleo's theory on Kim being an alien without empathy sent down to destroy her life is probably false.
"Lewis was a good guy. A total nerd, obviously, but a decent person. The fact that he made Dad at least somewhat tolerate him is honestly impressive," Kim admits truthfully, and Cleo chuckles in agreement.
"Plus… he was the one that found you when you ran away at the end of last year. I will never forget that he did that. I didn't know if we were going to see you again," Kim adds quietly.
"Wait, does that mean that you actually missed me and was worried for me?" Cleo questions her little sister as a smirk begins to form on her face.
"Shut up!" Kim exclaims, her face heating up in embarrassment.
"Anyway! My point is that I'm sad Lewis is gone, too. And I'm really sorry for your loss; I know that you loved him. But I think you should go to the funeral; I'm sure his family would appreciate that." Kim continues hurriedly, wanting to push the conversation on, still fairly flustered.
"Thank you, Kim. I really appreciate you saying that," Cleo says, giving her little sister a genuine smile this time. She then quickly pulls Kim into a side hug, wrapping an arm around the younger teen's shoulders.
"Is the hug really necessary?" Kim groans in protest, but doesn't make any actual effort to pull away.
"Yes. Yes, it is," Cleo chuckles as she rests her head on Kim's shoulder and closes her eyes, enjoying one of the very few moments in her life that Cleo appreciates her sister. Cleo hears Kim sigh tiredly before reciprocating the hug, wrapping her arms around the older Sertori.
The two girls stay in that position for a few moments, each of them thinking about how life is really short, the two of them should try and fight less often, and reflecting on their favourite memories with Lewis. Despite how hopeless the situation seems currently in terms of finding Lewis and knowing that he's alive, Cleo does feel better about going to the funeral service today. Funerals aren't really for the dead, the mermaid decides, but are instead meant for the living to take the first step in moving on. Perhaps today will give Cleo a boost of clarity that she so desperately needs.
Everyone enters the chapel in an orderly fashion, quickly taking their seats as a soft and calming piano score begins to play over the loudspeakers. Lewis' mother and four older brothers are all sitting in the first row up the front; Kelly McCartney is barely keeping it together while her four sons are all trying their best to comfort her when they are feeling distraught themselves.
When the Sertori family enters the chapel, Cleo quickly manages to spot the McCartneys heading for the chapel's front row. She points this fact out to her dad before quickly walking down towards the front of the chapel and sits down next to Lewis' family, with her father and sister hurriedly following suit. Cleo gives the McCartneys a sad smile in greeting, feeling heartbroken for them. She honestly has no idea how much pain and grief that they must be going through right now. The mermaid is glad that she managed to get over her earlier reluctance about turning up at the funeral today, as it is clear that the McCartneys, especially Kelly, are going to need as much support as possible.
In the second row just behind the Sertori and McCartney families, Emma is sitting with her boyfriend, Ash, along with both of her parents and little brother, Elliot. Emma glances around at her family for a moment, who all look solemn and forlorn. Lewis had become a frequent visitor at the Gilbert residence, and both Lisa and Neil had taken a liking to Lewis. Her parents knew that Lewis was a good kid; he was very smart, had good study ethics and a great friend to Emma. As for Elliot, even though Lewis had given him questionable and sometimes even bad advice sometimes, Elliot had always appreciated that Lewis always at least tried to help. Emma knows that it saddens Elliot that he will never be able to turn to Lewis for advice again. Even though Emma realises that there's still a chance that the teenage scientist is still alive somewhere, she doesn't want to get her hopes up and then end up being disappointed; there's no need to get her heart broken twice. Whatever has happened to Lewis, and no matter whether he's alive or not, Emma prays for him to be safe from harm and know that all of his friends and family are always going to love and miss him. It's a silly wish, considering Cleo is convinced that Doctor Denman has Lewis and there's no way Lewis would be safe with that woman, but it is the one hope in this situation that Emma allows herself to have.
Meanwhile, Rikki is sitting closer to the back of the chapel, along with her dad and Zane, none of whom have said a word since the beginning of their drive to the funeral home. What is there to even say? Rikki tries to remain expressionless, refusing to let anyone see her with her guard down, helpless and vulnerable. Rikki has to stay strong, not only for herself, but her entire friend group.
Through this entire horrendous ordeal, Rikki has been the glue that has held the group together, trying to convince everyone that the worst conclusion couldn't be possible. Unfortunately, the glue is only sticking together by just a thread at this point, almost entirely because of her recent fight and continued clash of opinions with Cleo. Rikki realises that she can't just let the group fall apart now. Lewis wouldn't want that. Despite her recent disagreements with Cleo, Rikki still sees all of her friends as her family and she would honestly do anything for them if need be. For years, it had just been Rikki and her dad, but now she has a boyfriend that completely gets her and some of the best friends that she could ever ask for. If Lewis were here, she is sure that he would tell her to suck it up and make amends with Cleo, as their argument is not worth losing a friendship over. Rikki wishes that Lewis were here to give that annoying lecture to the mermaid himself, and Rikki's heart aches at the thought.
Several minutes after everyone has been seated, the funeral celebrant walks up to the front of the room, standing next to the coffin, where Lewis' fishing hat has been placed on top of it and his fishing rod leaning against the back of the coffin. Nobody in the chapel wants to think about the fact that the coffin is empty, Lewis nor his body still absolutely nowhere to be found. The music that had been playing softly in the background is turned down even lower just as the celebrant steps up to the microphone and begins speaking.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to celebrate the wonderful and magnificent life of Lewis McCartney. While his life may have only been a short one, Lewis' life was certainly filled with joy, love and laughter. In the end, it is not about how many years that we are here on earth; it is about the quality of your time spent on earth. As his friends and his family are about to share with you all, I am confident that Lewis had a full, meaningful life," The celebrant announces as a few sniffles can be heard from around the room.
The funeral celebrant continues talking for another five minutes, going into further detail about the meaning of life and how no one should take it for granted as none of us know how much longer we have got left on this earth. After the celebrant's speech, it's time for members of the family and some close friends to say something. Lewis' oldest brothers, Daniel and Lenny, walk up to the stand with the microphone first. The two brothers take turns in reading the passages of their speech, written on behalf of themselves as well as their younger brothers Zac and Jacob, who were too emotional to try and get any words out on the stand.
Once Lenny and Daniel have finished and sat back down with the rest of their family, Kelly McCartney slowly stands up and walks up to the microphone; Cleo can see from where she is sitting that Kelly's eyes are bloodshot and puffy, her cheeks stained with tears. Kelly takes a deep breath and looks around the room for a couple of seconds before beginning to speak.
"I'm not going to take long with this, since I am probably going to start sobbing at any minute," Kelly begins, attempting a smile as she gazes around the room at every person, all of them here to celebrate the life of her son.
"Um, Lewis is…er, was, an amazing kid, as I'm sure all of you already know. He could always make me smile. He was so kind, caring, and always put others' needs before his own. Lewis was so smart; I had always known that he could be capable of such great things one day. He has achieved great things. It's a shame that the world has missed out on seeing that," Kelly continues, her voice trailing off towards the end as she looks towards the ground, struggling to fight back the tears and the sob building up in her throat. After a couple of seconds, Kelly clears her throat and looks back out to the audience again.
"The greatest quality of his, however, was that he was always so full of life. Lewis was always so excited and curious about the science behind how everything exists in this world and he had an energy and passion for almost anything in life, diving headfirst into everything. The only other person that I've seen this before was with Lewis' father, Matthew." Kelly says, a few fresh tears starting to roll down her face.
"I know that in the past couple of years, but especially the last few months, Lewis had begun to lose his bright spark of energy, and I may never have answers as to why that was. But whatever it was, Lewis was working through it. He was getting better, and in the last couple of weeks before he disappeared, I saw the old Lewis who was always happy and had the same intense curiosity about the science and logic of the world," Kelly adds, her voice slightly shaky.
"If Matthew were alive today, I know that he would have been incredibly proud of the man that Lewis became, just as I am. But, just like his father, Lewis was ripped away from all of us too soon…" Kelly barely manages to choke out before she finally breaks down into pained, howling sobs, collapsing onto the ground, entire body shaking. The entire chapel is eerily silent, the only sound to be heard is Kelly's cries, but the grief in the air is tense and feels that it is about to explode at any minute.
Thankfully, Daniel and Lenny run up to the stand to comfort their mother, trying to calm her down a little bit. Cleo watches the scene unfolding almost right in front of her sadly, hating to see Lewis' family like this. They have no idea that he could still be alive. Even if Cleo somehow managed to find Lewis, would she ever be able to tell his family about it? They would have a million questions that unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to answer. Cleo's heart breaks at the thought of when Lewis is found, his mum and brothers probably will never even know about it. Cleo is pulled out of her depressing thoughts as Kelly, Daniel and Lenny finally stand up and make their way back to their seats, all three of them sniffling and wiping away their tears. The chapel is completely silent once again, and Cleo realises that it is now her turn to speak.