In Another Life (31 page)

Carol returned her hand to her side and released some of the tension in her body, leaning instinctively in to Bill. He tilted his head and leant down to plant a tender kiss upon his wife’s forehead.

“You should get to bed, tomorrow will be exhausting.”

*

In the dead of night as Carol tried to sleep Bill crept along the landing and gently opened the door to Marie’s room. He flicked on the light and then inhaled deeply on the vanilla scented air. He looked around the small space and felt his body begin to tremble.

This was a ritual he had conducted secretly every night since Marie’s death.

He ventured further in and sat down on her bed. He looked around at the photographs of his beautiful daughter, at the bands she had once loved. A part of her remained very much alive in this room and he both loved and hated the preservation of it all.

Bill let his head fall in to his hands and he wept. He wept as he body shook and quaked beneath him. He released all the tears he’d stored up during the day until his palms were soaked.

“My little girl,” he sobbed desperately to the emptiness around him. “My little girl.”

He looked up sharply when he heard a floorboard creak on the landing. Shame turned his cheeks a deep crimson. He did not want Carol to see him cry. He had to be strong for her, to offer her a shoulder to lean upon when she was weak.

“Bill?” Carol appeared in the doorway bleary eyed from sleep. She didn’t look around the room she looked only at her husband.

“Come back to bed,” she urged him, extending her hand. And taking it he obliged.

*

The sun decided to shine on the day of Marie’s funeral and Sebastian hated it for doing so. It shone down on the small cemetery where a large crowd of mourners were gathered to watch Marie Schneider be committed to the earth.

Sebastian was still wearing the same grey suit from the day before. He was certain he stank of whiskey and cigarettes but he was passed caring. He lingered at the back of the crowd, only half listening to the vicar who lamented about ashes and dust as though he gave a crap about Marie. The balding man of the church had never even met her.

Carol and Bill stood by the freshly dug grave, supporting one another as well wishers and family members crowded around them.

People tried to approach Sebastian but he quickly darted away from them. He didn’t need their pitying glances. He wasn’t truly certain why he’d even attended the funeral. It wasn’t as if being there would somehow bring her back or offer him some closure.

“And so, we say goodbye to Marie Schneider,” the vicar raised his voice so that it could carry across the array of heads bent in mourning.

Angrily Sebastian kicked at the dirt. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye, he never would be.

The sun beat down and Marie’s casket was lowered in to the ground for her mortal remains to be buried in dirt. Sebastian couldn’t bear to watch. He sulked off in to the deeper recesses of the graveyard.

*

When he returned a half hour or so later the mourners had all departed. They were due to go to Carol and Bill’s house for refreshments. Sebastian had already told them that he wouldn’t be able to attend and they understood. Civility was hard to maintain to strangers, no matter how good intentioned they were, when you were grieving.

The sky remained crisp and blue and Sebastian shivered slightly in his suit and wished he’d had the foresight to wear a coat. Even though the day looked bright it was deceptively cold. Frost still clung to some parts of the grass covered cemetery where the sun’s rays had yet to reach.

Tentatively Sebastian approached the edge of Marie’s grave. He could see her casket at the base, the golden plaque embossed with her name and life span winking up at him. Above the grave stood her tomb stone. Normally it wouldn’t have been erected so quickly but Sebastian had paid for a swift production. He’d wanted it there when they buried her. She deserved to be put to rest in a marked grave.

The stone was light grey with gold lettering. It was so painfully surreal to read her name and beneath it her date of birth and date of death. It was so final.

Thrusting his hands in to his pocket Sebastian willed himself not to cry. He looked down at the casket struggling to believe that Marie could be inside it, forever silent.

He removed one hand to wipe at a stray tear and returned his focus to the tombstone. Beneath Marie’s name and dates it simply read;

Our Princess

Carol and Bill had consulted him on the choice of words and they’d all agreed that it succinctly described how they each felt about her. Yes she was a daughter, a fiancée but those labels were too generic. Marie was more than that to them. She was their world.

“Hey.”

A male voice close by startled Sebastian and made him physically jump.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Sebastian turned and saw a man around the same age and height lingering a few feet away from Marie’s grave. Strangely he was wearing a pure white suit. Highly inappropriate attire for a funeral.

“It’s okay,” Sebastian replied stoically, wanting to appear unphased by this stranger’s sudden appearance.

“It was a lovely service,” the stranger commented kindly.

“Did you know Marie?” Sebastian felt his interest piquing as he turned to face the man. It was perhaps a trick of the light but he could have sworn that he saw the stranger’s eyes sparkle as though they were golden. But then as swiftly as the effect had occurred it was gone and Sebastian was left doubting his senses.

“You shouldn’t let your sadness pull you down too far,” the man in the white advised wisely.

“Look, mate,” Sebastian raised his hands up, assuming that this guy was from some religious group trying to enlist him whilst he was vulnerable and mourning. The last thing he needed to hear was someone preaching on about how Marie had gone to a better place.

“Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying, okay? I just want to be left in peace.”

Sebastian turned away and looked forlornly at Marie’s grave.

“I’m just saying that you shouldn’t worry. Marie is fine, she’s with us now. She’s back where she belongs.”

“What?” Sebastian turned back to the man only to find that he was now gone. The space where he had been standing was empty, filled only with the soft rays of sunlight filtering down from the sky above.

Carys Jones loves nothing more than to write and create stories which ignite the reader's imagination. Based in Shropshire, England, Carys lives with her husband, two guinea pigs and her adored canine companion Rollo. 
When she's not writing, Carys likes to indulge her inner geek by watching science- fiction films or playing video games. 
She lists John Green, Jodi Picoult and Virginia Andrews as her favorite authors and draws inspiration for her own work from anything and everything. 
To Carys, there is no greater feeling then when you lose yourself in a great story and it is that feeling of ultimate escapism which she tries to bring to her books.
For more information about Carys please visit 
www.carys-jones.com
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