Fifteen

Kian

“As we commit their bodies to the ground, we pray to our spiritual mother that she grants our brother and sister eternal peace, and may her gracious Goddess rest their souls.” Earl, our clan leader, conducted the service, ending the ritual by lowering the joint coffin into the ground.

I was completely numb with grief, barely hearing a word being spoken. It was only when the words “bless the Goddess” were spoken that it shook me out of my stupor, and I muttered the words a millisecond after everyone else, my defeated voice sounding lifeless and bereft.

“Do you need a moment alone?” Mrs. Banks asked gently, the frailty in her voice reminding me that she would be the next to leave me.

I didn’t answer her; I couldn’t bring myself to speak, look in her direction, or do anything but stare straight ahead at the people who had come to pay their last respects by scattering handfuls of dirt onto my parents’ coffin.

I requested that they were to be buried in the same casket. I knew they had