Joella Curtis ft. Emilia-Louise Scott
July 14, 2016 10:21 AM
Bad news. by Joella Curtis ft. Emilia-Louise Scott
Joella bounded into her bedroom after breakfast on Sunday morning a few weeks after midterm, a cheerful smile set upon her face. She spotted a small note sitting on her bed and opened it with a slight frown, not recognising the writing. It requested her presence in the Headmaster’s office of all places. She was surprised but made her way there all the same, along the way racking her brains for a reason that she was being summoned by him. She didn’t think it could be to do with prefect duties and couldn’t think of any reason she’d be in trouble either.The fifth year found herself further confused when she bumped into Emmy-Lou en route and realised they both had the same destination. That ruled out prefect duties for sure. When the two girls were permitted entry, they were surprised to find Joella’s father waiting for them in Headmaster Brockert’s office. He didn’t smile at their appearance and his face looked unusually pale and drawn like he had had little sleep of late. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was wrong.
“What’s going on?” Joella demanded of him immediately, totally bypassing greetings as her gut told her to panic.
Ivan reached out and took one of her hands in his as though to reassure her but when he spoke his words were far from reassuring. “Will…” there was a moment’s pause and Joella could see pain in his eyes as he looked at her. “Will drowned at Mavericks.”
Joella stared in shock as her brain registered the unexpected words her father had just uttered. Tears sprung forward in an instant, before her brain had even fully processed the information. Ivan pulled both Joella and Emmy towards him and held them close as they sobbed together and Joella tried to find comfort in having her father and old friend for support but her entire body shook with shock and grief.
Will was dead.
It seemed like only yesterday that she’d been sitting at the table with him at home in Tennessee, listening to his enrapturing surfing stories and laughing with him at her imitation of an Australian accent. She couldn’t understand how such a kind and loving person could deserve this fate.
Only when the initial shock began to subside did she try to control her shuddering breaths. The tears continued to stream as she and Emmy sat down on a couple of chairs, holding each other tightly, and her head swam as her father explained that he’d be taking them out of school for a few days so they could be with the family and attend the funeral. Ivan spoke briefly with the Headmaster and then ushered the two girls gently from the office. It was all a blur to Joella as she followed her father, still clutching onto Emmy’s hand, outside to a flying wagon that was waiting for them.
She stared out of the window for most of the journey but hardly took in anything she saw. Joella couldn’t understand how God could do this. Will was still young and had seemed so excited to be surfing the Mavericks and although Joella knew little about surfing, she knew he’d trained hard for it and was good enough. Big wave surfing was his passion and it was heartbreaking that this should be the thing that killed him.
Her brain now more able to function again, it occurred to Joella that her sister would have been there. She’d been jealous that her sister Rolene got to watch the spectacle whilst she had to go back to school but just imagining Will’s death was probably nothing compared to actually witnessing it and being unable to save him.
Rolene and Will had been engaged for four years without setting a wedding date and had been dating on and off for three years before that. Although some people liked to gossip and rumours would circulate about the unmarried couple, Joella had always known that her sister and Will’s love was the forever kind. They were meant for each other and she didn’t think any tiff would ever stop them being together. There had been a rumour not long after the summer break that Joella’s sister had stopped wearing the diamond ring that she had apparently kept on her left hand consistently since her Australian beau had proposed but this had been dispelled by the announcement from the couple at Christmas that they had finally set a date. Joella’s parents had been overjoyed and her mother had even shed a few tears, both of them clearly having had a worrying four years when their engaged daughter never actually got around to tying the knot. Rolene and Will both had often been pressed for setting a date by numerous family members and nosy old friends and society types who had always been skeptical that the two young adults had cold feet. The betrothed couple, however, maintained that they were both very busy with their careers so just being engaged made them happy, an excuse that most people were dubious of and had eventually grown tired of hearing. In all fairness, Rolene and Will did have very busy and exciting lifestyles that made settling down and starting a family rather difficult. They were both free spirits whose love for each other was undeniable but most people still didn’t understand why they weren’t married already, especially since the families concerned seemed to approve of the match. But finally they had set a date and Joella had even had fittings for her bridesmaid dress over the midterm break and everyone had been so so happy…
And now it wasn’t going to happen. There would be no wedding. It was tragic that only a few weeks after announcing the date, Will drowned surfing the Mavericks.
Joella had never experienced such grief before. She hadn’t even reached the age of three when her brother was attacked so had missed out on the intense fear for his life that the rest of her family had suffered at the time. Her paternal grandfather had passed away when she was just three years old so she’d never been able to remember him to mourn. Rolene, on the other hand, had been around fourteen at the time and held a strong connection with Abraham Curtis. His death had been very hard on her then and now things were almost repeating themselves. Rolene had just lost one of the most important men in her life all over again and Joella could only hope that her inspiring older sister, who she’d always looked up to for her strength, was strong enough to get through this tragedy.
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Joella Curtis ft. Emilia-Louise Scott
Bad news.
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Joella Curtis ft. Emilia-Louise Scott
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