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CHAPTER ELEVEN — THE GIRL WHO WENT TO A FUNERAL
THE JAR IN HER HANDS WAS PRETTY MUCH HEAVIER than how she remembered it to be. Claire was especially careful at the time she prepared it; picking the best shells she had kept from her last recollection trip to La Push, and putting them together in their perfect spot with the sand. Mike helped her to choose the ribbon for it, forming a delicate yellow knot in the top of the jar. Yellow means happiness, her brother had told her when she asked, I guess it's fine for the occasion? And as the only thing she wanted was to give Sue Clearwater a little bit of bliss in the only form she could, she had nodded, taking the yellow ribbon in her hands.
She hoped it worked.
Something similar happened when it came the time to decide what to use for the funeral. Claire didn't have any black garment to wear, and she didn't even know if people was going to be in traditional black clothes or maybe white or some other color Harry Clearwater liked when he was still alive. She thought about calling Jacob to confirm that, but as it was just as stupid as it sounded, she decide to ask for an advice to her mother instead. An hour later she was using a long skirt with a nice grey sweater that her mother borrowed to her. The yellow ribbon from the jar was a tiny speck of light between all the darkness from her costume when she caught her reflection in the mirror, just as the smile she gave to herself in order to remain calm.
Mike was the one who took her to the place where the funeral was being hold. There was a considerable amount of silence inside the van, something very similar to the one of two days before, when he picked her up from Embry's house at the Rez after the boy had explained to her that Harry Clearwater died in the hospital. It was then when Claire had to call Mike, as Embry's presence was now needed. He didn't wave a hand in a goodbye sign as Claire went away, simply running to the woods. Claire was not sure if he had run the rest of the way, or if he had turned into his wolf shape at the middle of it; she was still very astonished of the real kind of magic that the Quileute possessed, and when she woke up from a dream with wolves and Embry's voice of storyteller echoing on it, it was that she truly and finally accept everything.
But Harry's dead was probably the hardest thing of all. The only thought of Seth without his smile, and Sue and Leah suffering caused her a heartache. They didn't deserve to pass through that. No one did.
Suddenly, her brother hawked, capturing her attention for the first time since they left home.
"I know that I probably shouldn't be asking" Mike began saying. He tapped his fingers in the wheel, "but do you know if Bella is attending the funeral too?"
Claire shook her head. The question was not as that surprising considering Mike's obsession with Bella.
"The last thing I knew from her is that she was with Jake. And I haven't seen Jake either, so I don't know, I'm sorry" she smiled softly, noticing how Mike's expressing turned into a frown at listening Jake's and Bella's name in a common sentence. Then, she added: "But Harry was a friend of Chief Swan, I guess he would be there."
