Chapter 5: THE BURIAL
869 Words
The next day, I drove to the western burial site. The sky was heavy, the air thick with the smell of rain and old earth.
I parked a short distance away, staying low behind the row of tombstones. There were only a few people gathered around the open grave- faces blurred beneath black umbrellas. No one noticed me. Good.
The coffin was small, simple, lined with lilies. My throat tightened as I realized how cruelly ordinary it all looked. That woman had been family to me, and yet.... this was all the world would give her.
I watched the coffin sink into the ground and felt no tears, only a hardness that tightened my chest. The crowd shuffled, shoulders bowed, the hum of condolence around me like a white noise.
They were burying Nanny Claudia.
My heart cracked, but I couldn't cry. Not one tear. I just watched, silent and cold, as they lowered her into the ground.
And then I saw him.
At first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. A familiar face in the crowd - sharp Jawline, dark hair that same tilt of the head.
"Abraham Lawson," I whispered.
He was supposed to be dead.
I blinked hard, staring through the binoculars again. The man standing beside him made my blood freeze.
"Lucas Davids."
The name left my mouth like poison.
My pulse thundered. How dare they show their faces here - at her funeral? Those bastards didn't even let her rest in peace with their presence.
My hand slipped into my coat pocket, closing around the cold metal of my gun. I drew it out, thumb flicking the safety off.
I’ll end it all here," I muttered.
I aimed-finger tight on the trigger before reason stopped me -but someone suddenly stepped in front of Lucas, blocking my shot.
"s**t!" I hissed, lowering the gun. My hands trembled. I almost killed an innocent person.
As I steadied my breath, something else caught my eye- a tattoo on the stranger’s arm. A small flower, etched in dark ink.
My heart stopped.
The sight hit me like lightning.
That Flower.
“Memories surged- the sound of laughter, an argument, he flicked my head and that’s when I realised that there was a tattoo of a flower on his arm, wow when did you turn into a girl? I asked him.
I could feel his face burning, none of your business, he shouted at me, Jake is such a sissy. I cried around to make him very angry and I guess he did because I could remember him gagging me to make me quiet.”
It couldn’t be. He was gone. I’d seen him fall, blood blooming across his chest. I saw the life draining out of him before I lost consciousness myself. I’d stood at his grave saying old pleasantries.
But that flower….it was identical.
“No,” I whispered. “It’s just a coincidence.”
But my gut said otherwise.
Rage burned through the disbelief. I clenched my fist so tightly my nails bit into my palms.
Abraham Lawson alive. Lucas Davids standing beside him. And now the ghost of Jake walking among them?
I was so angry. I lost the chance of killing that bastard Lucas, thanks to the flowered guy. He was really a big nuisance.
Still, the bigger question clawed at me. Why is Abraham Lawson alive? He was supposed to be dead, right? I asked myself. . His house was burning; I could remember the flames.
Then the memory twisted, and realization hit.
Unless….he was never in that house to begin with.
Everything was a sham.
They wanted to fool everyone that he was in the fire to begin with. They did that to rouse everyone’s sympathy. To play the perfect tragedy.
Oh, how nice and very clever.
What a smart move.
Well planned. Meticulous.
Kill the weak and still use the same weak to gain power.
Great.
Those sick bastards and deformed souls.
No. this wasn’t over.
They thought they could erase the past – bury it, twist it, burn it.
But they’d forgotten one thing.
They also made one mistake.
Me.
I was still here.
And I was coming for them
One by one.
Father against Son.
Mother to Daughter.
Blood for blood.
Soul for Souls.
Then I remembered that I hadn’t spoken to Kayden and the kids when my phone rang at that exact moment.
“Babe, I got so worried when I didn’t hear anything from you. Have you reached Father’s house? Are you okay?” he asked breathlessly.
Relax, Kayden, I’m fine. Something came up. How are the kids? And how was work? I hope Mari and Cas didn’t make that much of a fuss,” I asked him.
No, she didn’t. She has been obedient but misses her mom, just like me. And Cas is asleep,” Kayden was still stalking when a sleepy voice interrupted him.
“Is that mom? How could she leave without telling me? I’m so angry at her!”
Well, I guess Cas actually did made a fuss, should I give her the phone, he asked me.
I knew I was in trouble immediately so I quickly cut off the phone.
- Writer
