It was 3 at night but Nani couldn't sleep. She was turning and tossing restless. Both sweating and cold, tired yet agitated. The same scene kept repeating itself in her head over and over again.

"Lilo… I… I can do nothing but honestly tell you the truth. Mom and dead aren't coming home. They died in the storm. Our car crashed", Nani said.
"Wha… what, that… you canno… that's impossible! No! There must be a mistake! We got to go back and check to make sure that…" Lilo yelled as she tried to run of into the storm before Nani grabbed her.
"No Lilo! No! It's no use! They are gone. They… they're… souls have left this world. Right now all we can do is remember them." At these words, Lilo started sobbing. Nani held her. She didn't know what to say, so she just held her for what may have been hours. Lio couldn't go back to sleep. She just said in a chair in the living room, crying and starting out the window.

What am I supposed to do? How can I go on without mom and dad? We don't have many aunts or uncles. Who will take care of us? Who will protect us. But she couldn't let herself think about all this. She didn't have the time. Lilo needs me to be strong. I need myself to be strong, Nani thought.

So she had gone to the bank. Looked through all her parents files and documents. They had left the house to them, they owned that at least. Thankfully, they had been able to leave the a couple of tens of thousands too. It was enough for a while but not for too long. Nani has invested a few thousand she thought she could spare into a new starting hotel that seemed promising to maybe become something in the future and at least was unlikely to flop. Having a high school friend who had become an accountant and was willing to help her for free was a small blessing amidst the darkness. She had made sure to set some money aside for future college education for Lilo. Her parents had always talked about the value of college. Nani had to find a way to go next year.

But for now, the most important thing was to get a job. To plan for the future. Nani hadn't been able to start college yet, she couldn't get a job as a teacher or a doctor, things she'd once considered. A parttime job similar to what students had wouldn't be enough. She had to think.

At the same time she had to plan the funeral. It couldn't be too expensive. Could it? What would her parents want? She had to honour them, their memory. But wouldn't they want her to save for hard times? Should she strike a balance? What is the right choice? Lilo speaks a lot about preparing a song and leaving them their clothes and important things and… what do others expect? We have to show we care. No! I cannot think that way. This is about mom and dad.

Her accountant friend had been one a few truly supportive friends. At least initially. But, generally, Nani discovered an important thing, in truly dark times, you discover that you don't have nearly as many friends as you might think you have. They give their condolences, comfort you for a day or two and then they start to awkwardly avoid you as they try to get on with their lives. It made Nani feel more alone and abandoned.

Yet, she started looking for jobs in the papers and directly in town while also trying to expand her minimal cooking skills. Lilo and her had to eat. Though Lilo didn't want to eat. Occasionally she could get Lilo to eat something by giving her McDonalds but then she'd often just have ice-cream. She was becoming tired and looking pale.

Nani tried to copy her mom's cooking methods and get Lilo to eat that, but she couldn't perfectly imitate her mom. And Lilo constantly let her know that. "Mom roasted the chicken better." "This has too much salt." I am trying Lilo, Nani thought.

Meanwhile, she had to keep planning the funeral which she increasingly dread till finally, the day arrived that…

The funeral

The air was thick with sorrow, the sky heavy with clouds as if the world itself mourned. The funeral was small, but that didn't make it any easier. It felt like an ocean of faces, all of them strangers, all of them looking at Nani and Lilo with pity in their eyes, their whispered condolences echoing in the background like hollow words that meant nothing.

Nani stood at the front of the small chapel, her heart a mass of conflicting emotions. She was exhausted—physically, mentally, and emotionally drained—but she had forced herself to hold it together for this moment. For Lilo. For her parents. It felt like her body was walking through molasses, each step a weight, yet her mind was numb. There was so much to do, so much that needed to be handled, but standing here, in front of the casket, it felt like nothing else mattered except the unbearable emptiness that had taken root in her chest.

She looked over at Lilo, sitting quietly by her side. Her little sister was so still, so small in the large wooden pew, her hands clenched tightly in her lap. The light from the stained-glass windows cast soft, colorful shadows across Lilo's face, but there was nothing bright about her expression. Lilo hadn't said much since the day they'd found out. She hadn't asked questions, hadn't spoken much at all. Instead, she had locked herself in her room for hours, lost in her thoughts. The only sign of life in her was the way her fingers gently touched the small piece of paper in her hand—the song she had written for their parents. It was a simple, quiet song, one that Lilo had sung under her breath as they sat there in the church, her voice barely a whisper but carrying a raw, aching beauty.

Nani had heard it when Lilo first wrote it, heard it when she sang it for the first time in the living room, right after the funeral arrangements had been made. It wasn't much—just a few lines—but it was enough to pierce Nani's heart.

Lilo's Song:

"Mom, Dad, I love you, I'll miss you too,

The stars are shining bright just for you.

I know you're out there, up in the sky,

But I don't know how to say goodbye."

Nani bit her lip, fighting back tears as she glanced over at Lilo. She hadn't known what to say to comfort her, hadn't known how to ease the pain that Lilo was feeling. All she could do was hold her, let Lilo's grief take its course, and try to be strong for both of them.

The funeral itself had still been costly, more than Nani had anticipated. There were the casket and the flowers, the cremation fees, the funeral home services. She had thought about asking for donations, but that felt like too much. In the end, she paid with a combination of her parents' savings, a few thousand from their life insurance policy, and a small loan she had reluctantly taken out. It hurt. The money was tight, and she couldn't afford to be wasting it on anything unnecessary. But how could she not do this? This was her parents. It was the only thing she could do to honor them, even if it meant cutting back on everything else.

Some of the extended family members came, distant relatives who she hadn't seen in years. They offered their condolences and patted Nani on the back with well-meaning but empty words. Aunties, uncles, cousins—most of them had lives of their own, their own families, their own problems. And while they were all kind enough to show up, their attendance felt more like an obligation than an outpouring of love.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," her cousin's Aunt Leilani said, her voice shaky as she gripped Nani's arm. "They were such good people. I know this is hard, but… you'll get through it. You have to stay strong for Lilo."

It was the same thing everyone had said. Be strong. It was all anyone ever said, but no one really knew what it meant.

Nani nodded absently, the words ringing hollow. She wasn't strong, not really. But she had to be. For Lilo. For her parents.

At the back of the chapel, there were a few people from high school, friends who had stopped by just to offer their condolences, their faces stiff and uncomfortable as they stood in the corner, talking in hushed tones. Nani could feel their awkward glances, their eyes avoiding hers. People didn't know how to act around grief. Some stayed, some left early, unsure of what else to do.

Lilo's song had been the only thing that felt real. It had been so simple, so pure. When Lilo had sung it earlier, Nani had felt a lump form in her throat. She wanted to tell Lilo it was beautiful, that their parents would love it. But instead, she just held her hand, nodding silently.

Lilo sat quietly, feeling like an outsider at her own life. The world around her moved, everyone saying things she didn't understand. They kept calling it "a funeral" and talking about how her mom and dad had been "good people," but none of it made sense to her. None of it could bring them back.

Lilo looked at her parents' casket. She wanted to scream, to run, to find some way to make this all stop. But instead, she just sat there, her fingers gripping the piece of paper with the song she had written.

She had written it for them. She didn't know why—maybe because it was the only thing that felt right, the only thing that felt like it made sense. She could feel her mom's warm hands, the way her dad would lift her up and spin her around. They were gone. The emptiness inside her chest felt so big, so wide.

She thought about the stars. They had always said the stars were like the souls of the people we loved. So maybe they were out there now, shining for her. But it didn't matter. They were gone. And she wasn't sure how to go on without them.

As the service drew to a close, the mourners began to leave, each one a small reminder of how isolated Nani and Lilo truly were in this moment. Lilo stood up, a little unsteady on her feet. She walked toward the front of the chapel, the room echoing with her small, shuffling steps. The casket was being slowly lowered, the sound of the machinery humming softly in the background.

Lilo didn't say anything. She just stood there, gazing down at the box where her parents lay. She held out the piece of paper, placing it gently on top of the casket.

"I love you, Mom… Dad…," she whispered. "I'll miss you."

Nani joined her, wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulders as they stood together. It was the only thing they could do now—hold on to each other, for whatever came next.