I looked into the tall mirror in my room, the black suit I had on me seemed a little oversized. Well there’s no way I can fix that now, I’m already running late. “Let’s go, Andrew!” My mom yelled from downstairs. I walked down to her, they were already inside the car, with my dad in the driver’s seat. I sat in the back right beside my sister, she wore this shiny black gown. After driving for almost an hour, we slowed down then turned into a compound. Inside the compound there was lots of other people wearing black clothes. This place was Susan’s home town, the compound was surrounded by forests. We got out of the car and walked into the church building, the program has already been going on. Even though we were at the back I could see Susan sitting in the front roll, right beside her was her uncle, Aaron. “Miss Susan, can you come up here and say a few words?” The priest said from the altar. Susan stood up, she had a flower in her hand, a coloured rose flower. She walked up to the alter, she wore a black shirt tucked into a black skirt. The black shirt had a red flower clipped on the breast pocket.

Getting to the microphone, Susan took out a piece of paper from her pocket, then she unfolded the paper. “Thank you all for supporting us during our hard times. We are really grateful. My father... my father,” tears started falling from her face. “My dad was the... the... the,” Susan was shaking, the piece of paper she was holding fell from her hand. She bent, picked up the paper, wiped her face “I loved my dad so much, I wish I could get to say that to him even if it’s just once. My mom, I always wanted to be a lady just like her, she was the best mother ever.” Susan smiled, then continued, “I know that they are still watching over me no matter where they are now. I love you mum, I love you dad.” Susan paused then a thunderous round of applause followed. She walked down the altar, with her head held high and a smile on her face. Sitting down on her chair, the priest called on Aaron to say a few words. “I know how much you hated large gatherings” Aaron took out a white handkerchief and dabbed it around his eye area. “Your business, your properties, your dear daughter , I promise you that I will take good care of everything you left behind. Rest in perfect peace brother.” Aaron turned and walked down from the altar. A few people clapped. He sat down right beside Susan.Aaron folded his palms and placed it in front of his mouth as if he wanted to cough, then he let out a smile.

   “Was it just me, or was your Uncle really smiling during the mass service”  I said to Susan. The two of us sat down on a tree branch in the woods. I already told my parents that I’ll spend the night at Susan's hometown, they agreed to and drove home. “I think it was just you Andrew,” Susan replied. “Weird, nice speech by the way” I replied, Susan glanced at me and giggled.

 “Don’t lie to me, it was very terrible.” Susan said.

“What makes you think that?”

“I didn’t say anything at all, I wrote so many things down. Things I was going to say, then I got on the stage and froze up completely.”

“It was not that bad.”

“Andrew!” Susan frowned.

“Okay.. it was kinda cringe in the beginning. But you still nailed it in the end, that was why everyone clapped. That was why I clapped.”

“So... if my speech was terrible, you wouldn’t have clapped?”

“To be sincere, I will be so nervous that I’ll forget to clap. I think I might even piss myself.”

Susan looked at me, smiled and bursted into laughter. Her eyes got teary, she wiped the tears with her handkerchief. “Andrew, on that stage while giving that speech I was afraid. That was why I froze, I was so scared. The reality hit me on that stage, my mom and dad is no more, I’ll never get to talk to them ever. I realized that I am now alone in this world.” Susan looked at me and smiled, then she continued “That anxiety ended when my piece of paper fell from my hand, bending down to pick it I looked at the Audience and saw you, Andrew. The way you were looking at me, there was this warmth I felt, it was as if you were telling me that everything was going to be okay. At that moment, the loneliness I felt disappeared.”Susan leaned in and wrapped her arms around me. The leaves kept rustling as the gentle breezeof the forest brushed on my skin. “I wish I had a phone with me, I  will just take a picture of the two of you in this position. You two look so cute together.” Kelvin spoke from the foot of the tree. “Hi,” Susan greeted with her arms still around me. “Susan, I am so sorry I missed the burial mass,” Kelvin said. “Its alright,” Susan replied. “Come, you two, I’ll make it up to you Susan,” Kelvin said. I climbed down from the tree, Susan climbed down after me. “What’s that?” Susan asked. “Follow me,” Kelvin replied, then he started walking, me and Susan followed right behind.

The three of us walked into Susan's grandparents house, we entered the sitting room.Sitting on the table was buckets of ice cream of different flavours. Then right by the ice cream was wrapped chocolate cakes.  “Ta-da,” Kelvin said, with his two hands hanging in the air.Susan grabbed one of the bucket, her pupil dilated “it looks so delicious!” Susan exclaimed with a watery mouth. “Enjoy,” Kelvin replied with a cheerful face. “Thank you so much Kelvin,, this is simply amazing, thanks,” Susan said, her face that was so gloomy earlier is now a lot brighter. The whole night I kept thinking about that smile on Aaron’s face, I was so sure I wasn’t seeing things.“Andrew!” Kelvin yelled. “Hey,” I replied. “You haven’t said a single word since you got here. Is there any problem?” Kelvin said. “Am sorry,” I paused for some seconds then added, “I need to go out for some air.” I walked to the yard to get some night breeze. By the corner stood Aaron, he had a lit cigarette in between his finger. He was with a man wearing a suit, the man's  face was also covered with a face mask. “Lawyer, what do we do now? It seems like the police are after us. It’s like the caught on a trail.” Aaron said. “The police?” That voice! It was my father’s, I’ll recognize it anywhere. The man in the black suit with a face mask on was my father. I hid right by the flowers to conceal my presence as lot more. “The police is the least of our problems right now, you should focus more on taking good care of that girl.” My father said. “Susan?  I’ll take care of her don’t worry.” Aaron said. “Aaron, don’t fain us, in two years we will speak again. Don’t contact me again.” My father replied him then he glanced at my direction, “There’s someone behind the flowers,” he added. Aaron pulled out a penknife and started walking towards my position. He was slow and walked with stealth, I could almost not hear his footsteps. I got to my feet and dashed out of the compound, I ran, he pursued.I moved my legs as fast as it could carry me, my breath came in short gasps, my heart pumping. I was running faster than my own heart beats, even though I couldn’t see anything in front of me, my feet kept flying over stones and leaves. I stopped running when I realized that Aaron stopped pursuing me for a while now. At that point, it was just me, the trees and the moon hanging in the sky.