The curtains blew back as she gazed out into the clear blue sky, the scent of lilacs reaching her delicate nose.  She used to love that smell.  But that was before the accident.  Now, the slightest hint of it made her shiver a little.

“Lorelei! Come down here! It’s about time to go!”

Lorelei took a deep breath and carefully made her way down the stairs to meet her grandmother.  She was all that Lorelei had left and she loved her, but living with her was becoming unbearable.  She needed to get out.  As she moved down the stairs, her black satin dress swayed gently, contrasting with her pale skin.  She had a decided look upon her face which her grandmother acknowledged with a sympathetic sigh.

“We should go.” Lorelei whispered.  Her grandmother, draped in black velvet despite the hot weather, placed her large sun hat upon her short white hair and made her way out the door.  Lorelei followed, locking the door behind her.  Climbing into her grandmother’s faithful Lincoln, she prepared herself for the long journey ahead of her.

On the way to the funeral she thought of how lovely Saturday had been.  She needed something happy to think about.  She and Elliot had gone to the meadow by Marshall’s Lake.  It had been the best day of her life and the worst day of her life.  He had even given her her favorite flowers; lilacs. She remembered exactly how he looked: short brown hair, deep green eyes, and his warm, crooked smile that always made her heart skip a beat.  Talking and laughing, they made their way to “their spot”, a small clearing in the area otherwise surrounded by trees.  Looking at it, you’d think it had been made for them.  There were chair like stumps placed close together, a small stream that provided the appropriate amount of background noise, and the trees had formed a canopy above them to protect them from the scorching sun.

“I love you.” He had confessed to her.  She believed him too.  He watched her face as he brushed her dark hair away from her face, exposing her round, brown eyes.  He stared at her, waiting.  She gave him a quizzical look and cocked her head to the side.

“Aren’t you going to say it back?” He questioned her.  She looked down at her black flats, in a loss for words and his expression changed to a solemn look of understanding.  She couldn’t bring herself to look at him as he rose and walked away.

She rested her head against the seat.  Why had she thought of that?  Her grandmother turned up the radio.  Her “oldies but goodies” were playing.  She gave a half smile, realizing her grandmother was attempting to distract her.  She felt an indescribable heaviness on her chest as she watched the road pass and the vegetation surrounding the road blur.  Her grandmother touched her cheek and it was only then that she realized she had been crying.  She looked at her grandmother lovingly and opened her mouth to say something but decided against it.  The car hummed and the music continued playing, allowing Lorelei to think some more.  She thought of what was going to happen, what was happening now, but most of all, what had happened.

It was the beginning of the third grade when she first met Elliot Rois.  He had moved there from Alaska so he was an instantly attractive to all of the young ladies of the third grade.  The thing was, he hated all of the attention.  He sat by Lorelei the whole year and she never spoke to him save for the occasional question on homework or if she had an extra pencil he could borrow.  They didn’t see each other again until tenth grade.  When she saw him again she couldn’t believe her eyes.  He had grown into his once lankiness and was very tall.  He noticed her at once and approached her.  “Hi Lorelei!” He flashed his crooked smile and the rest was, as they say, history.

They stopped for lunch at a sandwich shop that had a soft spot in her grandmother’s heart.  Well, she figured it did as they ate there every weekend.  She walked up to the counter and spotted Sam, the boy she had gotten to know over the time she’d been coming the shop with her grandmother.  Sam saw her and smiled weakly.  He knew.  Everyone knew.  After she had placed her order and gotten her lunch, she sat down by her grandmother and picked at her food silently.  She appreciated the silence that had fallen between them but she knew that it would end soon and she would be forced to speak again.

She waited a short while before she went after him.  She would’ve gone earlier but it was if she had been glued to the stump she sat upon.  She practically sprinted through the brush and exited the area of trees.  It had gotten dark.  She squinted, searching frantically for Elliot.  After awhile she assumed he had left without her but then she saw him standing at the edge of the lake, staring into the water.  She slowed her pace and made her way over to him.  When she got to him he was in a trance of some sort.  She placed her hand on his back and he shrugged it off.  She tried it again and this time he whipped around and stared her square in the eye.  She caught the look of total resignation in his eyes and said what she had wanted to say since he left. “I’m sorry.” Those words hit him hard.  He looked at her in total disbelief.

“You’re sorry?  That’s all you can say?  It’s been over a year.  I’ve been so patient.  Aren’t you happy?  What am I doing wrong?” He said, his voice growing desperate.

“I’m really sorry” She replied.  It was all she could bring herself to say without falling apart.

“Whatever.” He mumbled and walked away.  As he walked into the distance she could sense that she was never going to see him again.

They finally reached the cemetery.  She was both grateful and terrified as she stepped out of the car and walked to the ceremony.  She sat through the entire thing without speaking once and at the end when she was to pay her final respects, she did what she was never courageous enough to do before.

“I love you too.”