Sean peeked into the room, searching for Valo, and finally found her sprawled out on the couch, looking incredulous. He cautiously approached her and lightly touched her arm. Valo jumped, startled.

“Sorry,” Sean apologized quietly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Valo lied. Then, thinking it better to tell the truth, she sighed and replied, “No. No, I’m not okay. I just got some news that… well… I…” She shook her head, trying to word things appropriately. “Someone I didn’t like very well died, and I’m invited to attend his memorial service. I don’t know why anyone would bother inviting me, much less who. But… well, I don’t even know if I want to attend.”

“You shouldn’t attend if you don’t want to,” Sean said slowly.

“I know. It’s just… well…”

“Yeah?”

“Look, I’ll be honest with you. Let me tell you what this person was like. He wasn’t too horrible to me, but he did a lot of bad things to a lot of other people. He hurt some people who I care about. And… well… to be honest… I don’t really think I can just forgive that.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Sean replied, nodding. “But I bet his family misses him. I mean, if he has a family.”

Valo sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” she muttered.


The telephone rang, and Charise gasped, startled out of her daze. She snatched up the phone and held to her ear.

“Oakdale High School, this is Charise Verona speaking,” she said into the phone, trying to sound as calm and professional as possible.

“You can drop the professional act,” the voice on the other end replied. “It’s Ophelia.”

“Oh, hey,” Charise responded, relieved.

“Did… did you get anything weird in the mail?” Ophelia asked, sounding uncomfortable.

“Yeah. An invitation to a memorial service for Dunstan.”

“Same here. Can you believe it? I thought we were done with that jerk!”


“Well, I--”

“--After all the stuff he did to us, and we’re just supposed to go to that damned thing and act like everything’s all fine and peachy? They’ve got to be crazy!”

“Lia… as strange as this may sound to you… I… I kind of feel bad.”

“Why? You shouldn’t!”

“I feel bad for his family. I mean, what little is left. I know you don’t like him--”

“--With good reason! Charise, listen to yourself here!”

“But I think we should go. You know, for his family. The man’s dead, Lia. Let things be.”


“This, even after what he’s done to you. Dying doesn’t make a person an automatic saint! He’s done so much--”

“--Well, he won’t do much more now, will he? Put aside your hatred for a few hours and try to help support his family during their time of need.”

“Ever the freaking optimist,” Ophelia muttered. “I swear, it’s a miracle you ended up with S, the way you’re always looking for the best in everyone.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Just that sometimes you don’t see things realistically. You try to see the best in everything, even when there’s nothing positive to see.”

“And I suppose your way of seeing things is better, hating someone for something they did about twenty years ago?”

“Some things just cannot be forgiven, Charise. I thought that you, of all people, would understand that.”