Dead Rules by Randy Russell Page B

all, but life-conditioned habits died hard.
    Jana rushed in. The hallway was filled with flowers. And people. Boys in shirts and neckties, and girls in dresses and heels. A few adults were among them. They spoke in whispers. Someone laughed at something that was said. Some of the girls were crying.
    Music played in another room. Jana moved toward it. These doors were open. Inside, she stopped short. Mars stood behind her. Jana felt his hand on her shoulder. She spiked with heat.
    Folding chairs were in rows in front of her casket. Not one seat was empty. Kids stood at the back, between the flower arrangements. Flowers also lined the walls to both sides of the rows of chairs. The front of the room, where her casket sat on a raised pedestal draped with white cloth, was also filled with flower arrangements.
    Jana’s funeral was like a theater. Her open casket centered the stage. Lights shone on the ornate box that held her body. Jana was the star attraction. From the back of the room, she could see her own face.
    But it wasn’t herself that she had come to see.
    There were too many people in the room. Too many kids. It looked like a high school assembly and all the girls had been told to cry. It wasn’t like The Big Chill at all. Glenn Close, William Hurt. And Kevin Kline.
    With Kevin Costner as the dead guy. Now Jana had something in common with a famous actor. They both played dead people. Her memory was back in full stride. Jana could see the movie poster in her mind. Below the title it read, “ In a cold world you need your friends to keep you warm. ”
    â€œThis way,” Mars said.
    He took Jana by the hand and led her to the front of the small auditorium. Mars knew what she wanted. He’d been to his own funeral and he understood what mattered once life was over. People think you’re going to want to look at yourself and listen to the eulogy. Once you’re dead, a eulogy is just a bunch of bull. You don’t believe a word of it.
    Mars led her to the seats reserved for family.
    Jana stood in front of Michael, who sat next to her mother. Her mother had collapsed against him. She sobbed as steadily as most people breathed. She never looked up. Michael stared straight ahead. He was staring at nothing. He was looking right at Jana, but he acted like he didn’t see her.
    Look what I’m wearing , she wanted to say. Is this dumb or what?
    â€œWhy doesn’t he see me?” she asked Mars.
    Her mother’s hand gripped Michael’s thigh as she sobbed.
    â€œStop that!” Jana said. No one heard her, except Mars.
    Michael’s arm was around her mother. Her mother’s face pressed against his chest.
    â€œDon’t fall for it, Michael,” Jana said. “She’s always stricken. She always curls up like that.”
    The entire room of people was behind or to the side of Michael and Jana’s mother. No one else could see. As she watched in horror, Michael placed his hand on top of her mother’s.
    â€œNo, no, no,” Jana said, tears streaking her face. “She’s a drug addict, Michael! Don’t do that! Stop touching her!”
    Jana sobbed loudly. Her throat burned. Her heart was on fire and it hurt like hell.
    Michael wrapped his fingers over her mother’s. He was holding her hand.
    â€œStop it right now,” she said weakly. Jana’s words were cloth stripped into shreds. “Stop it . . . right this . . . minute.”
    Struggling to find her strength, Jana pushed herself forward. She leaned into Michael’s knees and Jana Webster, all alone, slapped his face as hard as she could. Then, without taking a breath, she did it again. Wildly and with all her might, she battered him.

Chapter Thirteen
    MICHAEL DIDN’T FEEL IT.
    He didn’t feel a thing. Jana swung her hand repeatedly through the air and touched nothing. It was so horrible she couldn’t breathe.
    Then she was falling. Jana tumbled