She laughed. “You know what, Mo? I have no idea how to even answer that question anymore.”

“Neither do I,” he said before turning and stepping up to the microphone. “Good evening, friends. We’d like to start by thanking everyone for being here tonight to celebrate the life of Melanie Erica Brooks, beloved daughter and friend to all of you.” Mo took a deep breath before continuing, “Mel’s parents asked us to play a memorial for her here tonight, and a few people are going to get up and talk about her. After that, they’re going to open the upstairs for everyone and we’ll play our normal set. It’s what Mel would have wanted…”

Mo was starting to crack. Olivia looked at the crowd that had gathered to pay their respects. She immediately felt the need to be the strong one that night. Many of her work friends were gathered in the audience, huddling together, shedding tears as they thought about the bubbly girl who sat at the front desk of the wellness center nearly every day. Her eyes continued scanning the room, finding Tyler standing in the corner, Alexander and Carol comforting and supporting him.

Olivia grabbed the microphone off the piano and stood up, needing to do something to try and mute the sobs that echoed through the large room. “Melanie wouldn’t have wanted us to be crying for her. We need to remember the girl she was…” Olivia trailed off. She took a deep breath, trying to subdue the lump that was forming in her throat, tears threatening to fall once more. “I guess I’m one to talk.” The audience laughed politely, many of them wiping their eyes.

“I remember the day Melanie came in for her interview at the wellness center. I knew right then and there that she was perfect for the job. She had so much energy. You couldn’t help but smile when she greeted you at the front desk. She was always cheerful, no matter what was going on in her life. You see, that’s the thing about Mel. You never really knew what was going on in her life. It was never about Mel. With her, it was always about you. She was always more concerned with your problems than her own. She was a psych major at Northeastern, and she would have been a fantastic therapist… I should know.” The crowd laughed again as Olivia’s eyes met Alexander’s.

A small tear escaped before she composed herself. “So tonight we’re going to remember our dear friend…a friend who was taken from us far too soon, but whose memory will go on.” She turned and walked back to the piano while Mo introduced the first song they would be performing.

The next hour seemed to pass by relatively quickly with a few people getting on stage to talk about Melanie, some performing different poems and others barely managing to get through what they wanted to say. The band played between speakers, mostly upbeat songs that Melanie enjoyed and her parents had requested.

After the final speaker finished, Mo walked over and traded places with Olivia, sitting behind the piano. She grabbed a microphone, as did the rest of the band members. They stood alongside Olivia, ready to finish the song if she couldn’t do it.

Taking a step forward, she addressed the audience. “This last song we’ll be doing is one our good friend, Kiera, who couldn’t be here tonight, requested we perform. I’m sorry if it makes some of you cry…” Olivia took another deep breath. “Hell, I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to get through it. This is Be Still by The Fray.”

Mo began to play, the simple chords of the song filling the bar. Not a sound could be heard, apart from the gentle melody coming from the piano.

Alexander listened as Olivia sang the simple haunting tune, saying good-bye to Melanie. He didn’t even know the girl that well, but he couldn’t help but feel Olivia’s loss…and Tyler’s. He glanced around the bar and everyone was breaking out tissues, crying softly for the unbearable pain of losing someone so young.

His eyes found Melanie’s parents in the audience, remorse overwhelming him as he watched them clutching on to each other. Seeing their bodies shake from their tears, he wondered whether he was doing the right thing. His failure to tell Olivia everything may have caused their pain. Was their suffering really worth it? He was unsure. He knew the pain they were going through all too well. He went through the same thing when he thought he had lost Olivia all those years ago. Now that he knew where she was, was it his fault that those poor people had lost their own daughter?

There wasn’t a dry eye in the place when Olivia finished the song. She took a deep breath, surprised that she had actually made it all the way through without cracking. She looked down, grabbing her glass off the barstool in front of her and raised it. “To Melanie,” she said, her chin quivering as the emotion of the song overcame her.

She ran off the stage, desperately needing a friend, only to remember that two of the people she normally ran to when she was upset weren’t there. Kiera was in the hospital and Melanie would never be able to smack some sense into her again. It broke Olivia’s heart. She ran toward the restroom, wondering why she even cared if people saw her crying. Half the audience was still sobbing. Midway across the room, she stopped and sank to the ground, not able to take another step, her cries overtaking her entire body.

“Hey, hey,” Mo said, rushing to her and sitting on the floor next to her, pulling her into his arms. He looked up to see Alexander standing over them both. Mo glared at him in warning and he took several steps back, giving them their space.

“It’s not fair, Mo,” Olivia sobbed, using his shirt as a tissue. “I just don’t want to admit that she’s gone, and this feels so final. I’m just not ready to say good-bye to her…”

“Shhhh…” Mo soothed her. “This isn’t good-bye. You don’t have to say good-bye to her. This is just kind of ‘until we meet again’.”

“I want to fucking kill them all, Mo. I’m sorry. I just can’t stop crying. I wish I could, but I can’t.”

Olivia felt another set of arms around her and glanced to her left to see Bridget carrying a box of tissues, joining her and Mo on the floor. “I came prepared,” she joked through her own tears, handing Olivia the box.

She smiled weakly. “I wish I had.”

Mo rubbed her back, helping her work through her tears. As they subsided, he grabbed her chin, bringing her eyes flush with his. “Feel better now, baby girl?”

She nodded.

“Good. Because we’ve got a show to do,” he replied, pulling both Olivia and Bridget up.