Elena’s POV:


    -3 yearter-


    :


    59


    35 vouchers


    “Mom! Mom! Can I y with her?” Haider questioned, his small voice a hopeful whisper that cut through the somber silence. He was pointing a finger at the girl sitting in the seat diagonal to us. Her ck hair was tied in a tiny, perfect bun, and she looked back with dull eyes that held a maturity far beyond her years. Her dress was aplete ck, no essories and only a simple ck bow in her head.


    Sienna. Sienna Legacy. Daughter of Mkai and Elizabeth Legacy. Unfortunately, Elizabeth passed away a year after their marriage due to birthplications.


    It was strange, wasn’t it? How far life can bring you? Years back, when I was just a teenager, I used to wonder why life had screwed me up so bad. I was just a child, and yet I felt like a cosmic punchline, a sad, broken joke.


    Giving me a heart condition, but also giving me loving parents who were willing to go above and beyond for me. To the point that they lost themselves all because of me. Three years ago, my father passed away, and I now sat here in a white chair, in a sea of ck suits and dresses. Next to a person, I had imed that I would never ept as my father, and yet here he was, a silent,forting presence. And in front of me, a dark wooden coffin, with my mother inside.


    I couldn’t cry anymore. The well of my tears had dried up this past week, a long, agonizing stretch of time where all I had done was think about her. Her smile. Her words. Her devotion.


    She’d left behind a letter to me. It had been in her nightstand drawer. She had written about a life lived to the fullest, a life that was nearing its end, and she had asked me not to feel too sad. Because just like me, she wanted to be reunited with the one she loved too. My dad. She had spoken of a quiet, deep exhaustion, a bone–deep weariness that had settled in her soul after a lifetime of fighting. She had loved George with a quiet, fierce devotion, and now she was tired of waiting. She wanted to be with him again.


    I understood her now. I wouldn’t have if this was four years ago. I would have med her, even hated her. I would have been furious that she hadn’t sought out treatment earlier, that she hadn’t let me know. But I understood her reasoning for doing this. For not letting me know, for not getting treatment. It’s because she was exhausted, she felt like she’d done her part, raising me well, making sure I had a backbone, a husband and a family to rely on before departing this world. It was a final act of love. She had wanted to go and finally be free, and live with the one she loved most. But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.


    It really… really hurt. I swallowed the lump in my throat, and pulled my son closer, my hand gently patting his back. “No, baby. You can yter.” I kissed his forehead softly. Then Niki bent down and picked him up silently.


    His eyes were red–rimmed too. He had loved her like a mother. After all, everything had been going so well for the past three years that something like this happening? No one would have imagined. Ever. The happiness had been soplete, so perfect, that the sudden tragedy felt like a cruel, cosmic joke.


    I watched the people around me, our friends and family. Fiona and Roy were holding hands, their faces full of a quiet sadness. Aunt Rose stood with another old friend, her hand on his arm, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Everyone was grieving. But we couldn’t keep her up this long. The time finally arrived when she was being lifted up and pulled down into the grave. The sound of the ropes creaking, the low, dull thud of the


    coffin settling into the earth made my heart clench.


    I kept it in. I really did, as much as I could. I bit down on my lip. But then I hupped, a small, choked sound that broke the silence. The tears finally came again, streaming down my face, and I wiped them from the corner of my eyes uselessly. I got up slowly and looked at it onest time, the dark hole in the ground. Mom


    was gone.


    The person who had given me this wonderful life, who had loved me with a fierce, unwavering devotion, who had taught me what it meant to be strong. She… was gone. And from now on, I couldn’t go back to her. I couldn’t have her braid my hair. I couldn’t taste her food. I couldn’t listen to her advice. I couldn’t even go and hug her anymore. She’d died in silence. At night, from a heart attack. It was a quiet end for a woman who had lived such a loud, passionate, and giving life.


    I felt Niki’s handse from behind me as he pulled me back against him. I turned around, burying my head into his chest as I cried, my body shaking with silent sobs. I cried and cried as he held me close, his hands gentle, reassuring, and I felt wetness on my own shoulder. Niki’s head was bowed low as he bent, and I could feel the silent tremor that wracked his body.


    Only after a long time, when my sobs had quieted, did I look up to find Haider with puffy eyes, looking at the people covering the coffin with soil. His small, innocent face was a mask of confusion and sadness.


    “Why is gramma in there, mom?” he asked so innocently. My heart broke all over again. I patted his head, my voice a hoarse whisper as I spoke, “Granny is sleeping, baby.”


    “When will she wake up then?” he questioned, but that I had no answer. I bit my lips, unable to speak. “She won’t. She’s gone to sleep with grandpa,” Niki said, his voice low.


    “Oh… so will I never see her again?” he asked again. This time, the one to answer wasn’t me or Niki. But <i>a </i>small voice, not meek like other little girls, but dull and clear as she spoke, “No. You won’t. She is dead. Like mom.”


    Me and Niki both looked down at Sienna, who had walked over. She held something in her hand. She motioned for Haider toe down, her expression serious. I frowned at her words. She wasn’t wrong. Her words were the blunt truth, but they felt something from an adult rather than a three–year–old child.


    Niki let down Haider when he patted his shoulder, his eyes on Sienna, and Haider sniffled as he stood in front of Sienna. “Dead like in the movies?” he asked a small, hopeful question, and I stiffened, my heart pounding in my chest. He had seen movies, cartoons where people came back to life, and I knew he was trying to find a simr logic in this situation.


    Sienna frowned, a small, thoughtful crease between her brows, but nodded. “Yes.” She only answered with one word. And then she reached out to give a rose to Haider.


    Haider frowned, his eyebrows scrunched up. “I can’t take this.” he said, his voice a matter–of–fact thing. And Sienna looked upset. “Why not?”


    “Dad said only couples give each other roses. You will have to be my wife.” Haider said, his voice serious and I gasped, “Haider!”


    Sienna then frowned, a thoughtful crease between her brows. “But… this rose is for you to give to your granny,” she said. Haider looked up at Niki, his eyes wide and hopeful. “Can I take it then?”


    35 vouchers


    The atmosphere that had been solemn just moments ago had be ridiculous.


    “Uh.. Sienna. Where did you get these?” I asked confused. She looked up at me then, her dark eyes piercing and pointed at a man sitting in the very back, a lone, silent figure in the sea of ck. Mkai.


    He turned to meet my gaze, but then he looked down at his phone nonchntly, his face emotionless. Right, his whole attitude and personality had done a one–eighty after Elizabeth’s death. But he’d still attended the funeral since Seraphina hade too.


    “Mkai gave it to me. But I already put mine on the grave,” she said as a matter of factly, and I felt taken aback at her referring to her father by his name. But who was I to say anything? She was her own person.


    Niki on the other hand said, “It’s alright. You can take it if it’s to gift someone else.” I shot him a frown, and he shrugged, amused, his eyes full of a quiet, knowing look.


    Haider then turned and nodded, a decisive, final movement. “Alright. Thank you. I’ll give it to Grandma. You don’t have to be my wife.”


    I wanted to face–palm.


    “Good. I’m not looking for a husband.” was all Sienna said before handing the rose, turning and walking away.


    I looked at Haider, whose eyes were caught on her retreating back, and I quirked a brow, shooting a nce at Niki, who was covering his lips with the palm of his hand, his shoulders shaking with a silent, muffledugh.


    I nced at mom’s grave and sighed.


    Well, mom, I hope I have the patience you had while raising me. Because I feel like Haider is going to be a handful.


    AD


    Comment


    Send gift