Prism - By Rachel Moschell Page 0,68

it?”

Wara gulped, then nodded without thinking. Of course she would sing, if it was for Noah.

It was her last chance.

“Thanks,” Tobias nodded and sniffed loudly, laying a hand on her arm. Then he was off in the direction of the living room. She didn’t know what to do, so she just followed him, practically floating in the sea of people milling around here at Noah’s funeral.

It was unreal.

Wara really, really wanted to cry.

As she moved to go into the main living area, a huge, arched room painted in bold colors, rough fingers brushed her arm. Wara looked up to find Eduardo Sejas, the good-looking Bolivian guy who had been in Coroico with Noah. His usually twinkling eyes were red-rimmed behind black trendy glasses, and he wore a dark suit and tie.

“Wara,” he started, and then his voice choked. “You’re still alive. We were so worried…”

“Is he here?” Wara heard herself say, glancing towards the living room.

“Yeah,” Eduardo said, and sighed. “I mean, he’s not really here, he’s with God, but...the casket is in there.”

Wara bit her lip and reached up with one hand to push a stray piece of hair out of one eye. As she did, Eduardo’s gaze followed her hand, and his mouth opened into a round “O”.

“They gave you Noah’s ring?” he asked, staring at the shining silver on her hand. Wara frowned, not sure who he was talking about. Eduardo grabbed her hand quickly and examined the ring.

“Isn’t that Noah’s ring?” He lifted his eyes to hers again, blinking behind the trendy glasses. “Did you find it after the accident?”

“No,” Wara said, realizing dully that Eduardo, as one of Noah’s best friends, must have seen this ring sometime before. She had never seen Noah wearing it.

Eduardo sniffed loudly, but his face lit up. “He gave it to you?”

“Yeah,” Wara said hesitantly, not sure where this was leading. Why did it really matter?

“That’s awesome!” Eduardo was actually grinning.

“What?” In her present condition, Wara was obviously missing something.

“Noah saved that ring for a really long time,” Eduardo explained slowly, as if revealing a delicious secret. “He said that he didn’t want to just casually date someone, but that when he started a relationship he wanted it to be serious. Well, a lot of the guys, we used to always tell him, ‘Well, start a relationship then! What are you waiting for?’ But Noah would always say that he thought maybe God wanted him to be single, since God hadn’t brought the right girl along yet. I told him so many times that that was a bunch of hogwash. He knew several great girls. Noah was just plain scared of commitment! He told me that his parents always fought like cats and dogs, and that they never loved each other a day in their lives.”

Wara swallowed hard and circled the ring around her finger. She knew that Noah’s relationship with his parents wasn’t the best, mostly due to his decision to be a missionary instead of pursuing a career that would make lots of money. He had never mentioned anything about his parents’ relationship with each other.

“So, last weekend, when he was going to Coroico,” Eduardo was going on, “Noah told me that he was taking the ring along, since God supposedly wasn’t bringing any girls into his life that he could give it to and he had reached the ripe old age of twenty-eight. He was just going to ceremoniously throw it out the side of the bus, over the road of death. To put to death the idea of marriage and living happily ever after.” Eduardo’s eyes were swimming but the twinkle was back “But it looks like he didn’t throw the ring over after all. He gave it to you...right?”

Wara just stared at him, because her throat hurt too much to try to speak. She gave a curt nod, not even trying to pretend she wasn’t about to cry. Eduardo looked very satisfied. “Thank you,” she finally whispered, wanting to ask more before she had to go into the living room.

But then she saw the couple dressed in black, standing at the back of the room through the wide double doors, weeping. Wara had never seen their picture, but the look of utter desolation on their faces and the way their gaze shifted uncomfortably around the room as if they were in a strange land they had never before imagined they would see, told her that these were Noah’s parents.

“His mom and dad.” Eduardo touched Wara’s