"She was popular and loved by many,"

The eulogy dripped from the preacher's mouth like a lifeline into white water rapids: futile and too late. The sun was brutal and unsympathetic to the large group of mourners gathered in a half moon around the empty grave, confirming the preacher's statement. Val's body had never been recovered from the Gulf and everyone assumed it never would be. Only a few of her footprints were discovered in the sand leading into the water, the rest had been erased by careless tides.

"Taken from us too soon, too young,"

Several of the heads bobbed in unison as if in protest to this abominable act against their community, adamant that this young girl was ripped from their lives by a ruthless under current while Val was soaking in the late Summer's dying rays. The majority of her high school class was present and fidgeting about the peripherals. The journalism group responsible for the class yearbook was in attendance, hastily scrawling notes and taking quotes from those who called themselves 'close friends'.

Val, the resurrected, stood toward the back amongst her so called peers. She brushed a couple shoulders in mock defiance of her reportedly missing state just to test the memory of her new friends. She earned a curt 'excuse me' as she pressed forward through the throng of mourners. Not one drew in a sharp breath of recognition or praised her reappearance as proof of the existence of miracles.

"Let us hold onto the good memories we share with Valerie. Let that be the flame that guides us in these dark days and nights to come."

A boy to her immediate right leaned close to the girl in front of him and whispered in her ear, "I didn't know her name was Valerie. I think she was sweet on me, I feel horrible now," the half-hearted confession inspired the girl to loop an arm loosely about his shoulders and pull him against her. Val had never laid eyes on the boy before and felt the heat rise steadily to the crests of her cheeks. The caged bird within her ribcage fluttered haphazardly in the wake of the lies that laced the crowd around her: a trio of blondes gossipped incessantly about a nonexistent boy at the beach that day that tried tirelessly to rescue her, while a group of kids to her left suggested the school would be haunted now.

"There has been time allotted for such memories to be shared. If you care to express such fond memories, please make your way to the front at this time,"

As expected, there was no movement from her classmates. Her steps carried her with a purpose now as she made her way past the tears and stoic masks. The grave was roped off as was required by the grounds crew who stood off to the side and rested weary, sweat soaked hands upon their shovels.

Val turned to address the group and half expected chaos to erupt upon seeing her, once again, in the flesh. For once in her life, her words did not palsy as they escaped her lips and addressed the large crowd. She was no longer the ghost that paced the halls and sat silently toward the back of the class as an unappreciated ornament.

"I was there that day at the beach. I watched her walk into the water," she paused as a thin smile cut a careless path across her lips, "she was smiling. The water reached her hips and drew her further. The water reached her shoulders and still she didn't turn back. Why? Why didn't she come back?" There was an uncomfortable shift in the mourners as her words bordered on the perverse. The preacher at her side cleared his throat and took a cautious step forward.

"I watched Valerie disappear beneath the water. I held her under until I was certain that part of me was dead." A grip on her forearm attempted to arrest her attention, "Valerie walked into the water that day. But I was the one who walked out."

She stepped toward the grave, a tide of whispers behind her, and dropped a length of seaweed into the vacant hole before her.

"There are others like me that are ignored and passed over everyday. Let me be their voice. Let me be their strength. Hate me for what I've done but understand that this is a second chance to extend a hand to someone not in your social circle. If there's a chance to destroy a life, there's an even greater chance to save one."