Chapter Text
Sophie didn’t sleep. She didn’t eat. She didn’t speak a word or make a sound at all, save for screaming violently when the doctors told her she would have to stay in the hospital during Jack’s funeral. Her parents had managed to convince the doctors to let her out for the day only on the promise that they’d bring her back immediately after the proceedings. The morning of the funeral passed with barely a word spoken between the three remaining Overlands. Mr. and Mrs. Overland arrived at the hospital to pick up their daughter; they brought a plain black dress from home for her to change into, with white lace trim around the neck and wrists. Sophie wondered where it came from; she had never seen it before, and it fit her poorly. It was too long at the hem and too loose on her arms, clearly designed for a taller, older person. She didn't let it get to her, though, as she had more important problems at the moment. In a matter of minutes, she would be standing before a priestess at the Burgess Pond where Jack had died, between her mother and father, where they would be saying their final goodbyes to Jack - or rather, Jack's memory. They were never able to find him (Sophie refused to say "his body"; it othered him, made him something other than her big brother, like he was a thing instead of a person) in the lake, so there was nothing to cremate (Wiccan burials were tricky; Wiccans prefer to be buried without a casket, to be closer to Mother Earth; in most states in the U.S., no-casket burials are illegal, so many Wiccans opt to be cremated instead), which was making closure a little harder for Sophie. Sophie had been to a few funerals before. Their uncle's, two grandparents, a few family friends, some Wiccan, some not. Saying goodbye permanently was always a hard thing to do, especially for someone who's barely reached their teens. Sophie still had trouble accepting the death of her grandfather that had occurred nearly three years previously, and she wasn't nearly as close with him as she had been with Jack.
Jack's funeral had garnered a fairly small attendance. Sophie and her parents; the remaining two grandparents; a few relatives; and of course, their High Priestess. As they arrived and formed a circle (on the edge of the lake, as standing on the lake itself would be a bad idea for those who wished to remain alive), they gave their condolences to the Overlands. While the parents graciously accepted the kind words, Sophie was unable to do more than stare blankly at anyone who tried to offer comfort. All Sophie could do was focus on the fact that nobody would be here right this moment if she hadn't begged Jack to take her skating, begged him to let her run and play on the ice, skated off into the middle of the lake without waiting for him to check it...
Mrs. Overland nudged Sophie gently into the circle as the Priestess began her readings. Sophie paid her no attention, listening instead to the intense silence of the winter all around them. She could hear small gusts of wind rushing through the bare trees, whispering secrets she couldn't understand. Small blobs of snow would slip off branches and make faint fwoomp sounds, and here and there a bird that wouldn't migrate would let out a few notes of a warm melody. Sophie listened hard to the sounds of the earth, hoping to hear someone or something say it wasn't real, that she'd wake up in a few moments and Jack would be in the room across the hall, snoring quietly with his blanket tangled in his legs and his arm dangling over the side of his mattress, but no such things were said. Jack was gone, and Sophie was all alone now.
It was at the point in the ceremony where everyone in the circle took turns saying things to or about Jack. Everyone else had said their piece, and now it was Sophie's turn.
"Go on, Soph," Mrs. Overland said softly. "Jack's waiting to hear from you."
Sophie startled out of her nature trance. She glanced at her mother and father in turn, then at each guest. Nervously, she stepped towards the lake itself, away from the circle.
"Sophie, honey-" her dad started, but she ignored him, and instead of returning to him, she took a few tentative steps towards the black hole in the ice, which was beginning to frost over once more.
"Jack," whispered Sophie, "I'm sorry. I can fix this. I will fix this."