CHAPTER SIX: THE FINAL FAREWELL
709 Words
The days that followed felt unreal to Kemi.
Everything around her continued as normal.
People went to work.
Students attended school.
Cars filled the roads.
Life moved on.
Yet Kemi felt as though her own world had stopped.
Each morning, she woke up hoping everything had been a terrible mistake.
Each morning, reality greeted her once again.
Derinsola was gone.
By Friday evening, Mr. Adetiba informed the family that they would be attending the condolence visit the following day.
The announcement immediately made Kemi's stomach tighten.
She had known the day would come.
Still, she wasn't prepared for it.
The thought of seeing Derinsola's family was frightening.
The thought of walking into a house where her best friend would never return felt unbearable.
That night, sleep came in fragments.
Whenever Kemi closed her eyes, memories surfaced.
Derinsola laughing during break time.
Derinsola teasing her.
Derinsola making promises about the future.
Memories that now felt painfully distant.
---
Saturday arrived far too quickly.
The journey to Derinsola's house was quiet.
Mr. Adetiba focused on the road while Mrs. Funmilayo occasionally glanced at Kemi through the rearview mirror.
Damilola sat beside her younger sister without saying much.
She knew there were moments when words couldn't help.
As they approached the house, Kemi noticed several vehicles parked outside.
People dressed in dark and muted colours stood in small groups.
The atmosphere alone made her chest ache.
This was real.
Painfully real.
The moment she stepped out of the car, she wanted to turn back.
Every instinct told her to run.
To escape.
To avoid hearing anything that would make the loss feel more permanent.
But her legs carried her forward.
Slowly.
Reluctantly.
Inside the compound, relatives, neighbours and friends filled the space.
Some were speaking softly.
Others sat quietly.
A few wiped tears from their eyes.
The sadness was everywhere.
Kemi felt suffocated by it.
Then she saw Derinsola's mother.
The woman looked nothing like Kemi remembered.
Her eyes were swollen.
Her face carried the exhaustion of someone who had spent days crying.
The sight alone broke Kemi's heart.
Without warning, tears filled her eyes again.
Mrs. Funmilayo gently squeezed her shoulder.
Kemi tried to stay strong.
She failed.
The tears came anyway.
She quickly lowered her head.
Across the compound, she noticed a framed photograph resting on a table.
It was a picture of Derinsola.
Smiling.
Happy.
Full of life.
For several seconds, Kemi couldn't move.
She stared at the photograph.
The smile.
The familiar face.
The friend she had expected to see in school only days ago.
The friend she had promised to meet after the holiday.
The friend who was now nothing more than a memory.
A painful lump formed in her throat.
Everything suddenly felt heavier.
The reality she had been fighting finally settled completely.
Derinsola wasn't coming back.
Not next week.
Not next term.
Not ever.
The realization struck harder than anything else.
A quiet sob escaped her lips.
Damilola immediately moved closer.
Kemi leaned into her sister's shoulder and cried silently.
There was no dramatic outburst.
No screaming.
Just tears.
Endless tears.
The kind that came from a broken heart.
---
Later that afternoon, some of Derinsola's classmates gathered together.
For a brief moment, they shared memories.
Funny stories.
Embarrassing moments.
Little things that had once seemed ordinary.
As they spoke, laughter occasionally broke through the sadness.
And somehow, that made Kemi cry even more.
It reminded her that Derinsola had lived.
She had laughed.
She had loved.
She had mattered.
And that mattered too.
As the family prepared to leave, Kemi took one final look at the photograph.
The same smile stared back at her.
For the first time since hearing the news, she whispered goodbye.
Not because she wanted to.
Not because she was ready.
But because she knew she had to.
The journey home was quiet.
Kemi spent most of it staring out of the window.
The pain was still there.
The emptiness was still there.
But somewhere beneath all the sadness, she carried something else now.
The memories.
And no accident could ever take those away.
For the first time since losing her best friend, Kemi understood that although Derinsola was gone, the friendship they had shared would remain with her forever.
- Writer
