The Life We Bury Novels & Stories

I asked them and they both looked at each other and me and shook their heads. "We never got a chance to go, everything was too hectic," Rich mumbled softly. I nodded my head and sighed. "I'd like to visit their graves to show my respect and lay flowers if possible." Richard looked at us both and nodded. "I can take you now, carry the kids to their beds for their naps and I can take you to the cemetery," he stated. I lifted the tiny two year old in my arms and watched Miguel do the same as we followed Richard through his home and back to the children's room. We laid them down and smiled as they continued to sleep peacefully. I let Richard drive us to get flowers and to the cemetery. Both Serg

Her fingernails were blackened at the tips, as if she’d reached into a furnace. "You reclaimed what was yours," Elias said, stumbling toward the remains of the banister. He looked up at her, and for the first time, he looked vulnerable. "But the earth... it never gives for free. You are bleeding out from the inside, and so am I." The Reaction: The Scent of Old Smoke In the bunker, Julian Vane didn't scream. He didn't throw his glass. He watched the static on the monitors—the moment the feed cut out as the ley line erupted—and he simply smiled.

He was living in his own delusion, trapped in a nightmare from which he would never wake. Before being sent to prison, he asked to go to the cemetery to see me one last time. The police granted it. He wheeled himself over to my grave. On the tombstone was a photo he had never seen before. It was a picture of Mom and me sneaking ice cream at the park. In it, I was grinning so brightly with a bit of ice cream on the corner of my mouth, my eyes narrowing into happy little slits. That was a version of me he had never known. It was the real me, untouched by his tough-love parenting.

Lila’s POV We buried Joan at dawn, in a clearing two hours from the ruined safe house. Marcus dug the grave in silence, masking the grief that threatened to break him. I stood watch with Ari pressed against my side, scanning for threats that might follow us even now. The earth was soft from recent rain. That felt wrong somehow, like it should have been harder, more resistant. Like the world should acknowledge that we were burying someone extraordinary. “Is Miss Joan really not coming back?” Ari asked for the third time, her voice small.

Her cheerful expression faltered, but she said, "It's okay. As long as Mr. James comes, I'm fine. I just want to spend my birthday with Mom and Mr. James." Naomi's heart went out to Celeste because of her understanding nature. She opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. She sent another message to James. But this time, he didn't reply. The time for Celeste's birthday party to start came and went, yet not a single one of her classmates showed up. Naomi glanced at her phone and saw that Sophia had updated her social media account. She had thrown an enrollment celebration for Liam and invited the entire class. The photos showed all the children and parents together, with James standing in

Because if I did— And he wasn’t real— “I saw you,” I said, my voice trembling despite everything. “I saw—” My throat tightened. “I buried you.” The words hung between us. He didn’t react the way I expected. No denial. No confusion. Just… Understanding. “I know,” he said quietly. My chest tightened. “You’re dead,” I whispered. The word felt wrong even as I said it. Because he didn’t look dead. Didn’t feel like absence. He felt like—

He wanted to drive to the cemetery right now and dig until he knew for certain. Instead he stood there gripping the counter, breathing. His wife slept peacefully in the next room. The woman who had given him the first real peace he'd ever known. The same woman who might have emptied his brother's grave. Jose looked at his own reflection and felt something ugly shift in his chest. Part of him didn't care. Part of him just wanted to keep the life he'd built no matter what crawled out from under it. He deleted the messages. Then emptied the trash folder too.

Makes the jon a little less messy. “Bury her.”

Life says, tilting her head to the side, considering. “Oh ew,” I whisper, raising a hand to my mouth, still staring up at Anton. “I mean, you were buried…whole. But…but what did the undertakers do? Did they like…take all your blood out?” “Oh my god,” Anton groans, covering his face with both hands, turning away from us all. “That’s so gross.” “Well, that’s inconvenient,” Life says on a sigh, looking even more bored and casual than Faiza, who doesn’t look quite shaken but is certainly more still and quiet than she usually is. “I guess you’ll need to get new blood. But surely that can be arranged –“

Our love story began on the road, and so it seems it does end on the same road. Years passed by, just like every living creature in this world that wasn't cursed by the Blood Rose, he died. I looked for his body after he died. But, it seems he was burned into ashes. I wasn’t able to keep our promises—that we will be buried next to each other. How am I going to be buried when I was the one buried into regret, to frustration? I am now immortal and perhaps the only thing that could bury me six feet below the ground is when I find a way to terminate my lifetime contract to the Blood Rose.