Posthumous

Two: A Stranger's Funeral

She was coming down the stairs when he first saw her.

Although there was nothing bangin’ about her at first glance. At least, when it came to the average, current western standards of beauty. But her red hair shone like a saving beacon through the surrounding black attire. It reminded him so much of the contrast of moonlight slashing through the trees in a forest. Right then, he decided that she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Granted, he’d mostly seen some ugly creatures from the otherworld. But he'd enrolled in a lot of schools. Until his mother caved in three years ago and began to homeschool him herself. You know, for as long as she was able - never before had he came across a young woman such as her. It was as if her energy could bowl any and everyone over with how powerful it was when she descended those stairs.

It was intimidating, and attractive. All at once.

He wasn't too sure how he was supposed to be feeling. But well-aware by now that he was staring at this stranger with his mouth open. And if they weren’t staring at this fire-kissed goddess, they were most assured casting glances at him. Oh geez, was he drooling?

Dern wiped at the corners of his mouth with as much masculinity as he could. Then stepped back underneath the dining room doorframe.

Awkward could not even begin to define this situation. His father insisted on coming to this funeral. They’d just moved into town, and Dern hadn’t attended his first day at the high school yet. He had no idea why. In his opinion, he felt this was beyond disrespectful. They didn’t know these people, let alone those poor young girls who died. This was the first time he would be meeting his future peers. At a funeral. A joint funeral, for two more of their peers. Two less?

English was never his best subject, and he rubbed his temples with one hand. It conceited with how much more emotive he was over his logical, practical father. Speaking of, maybe he should go find him -.

“Hello.”

Startled, he didn’t even bother not hiding it. He was tired after trading shifts with his father. After driving halfway across the country in one night. They hadn't even finished unpacking, yet! If he was honest, he was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he allowed his dad to convince him to come here. To a stranger's funeral. So yeah, forgive him if he seemed a little on edge.

The blonde, leggy animal standing in front of him reminded him of a show dog. One of those breeds that he couldn’t quite remember what the name of them was. No doubt, she was hot. But his dad once warned him of a succubas that his brother Alton almost died because of a land-siren. Ever since then, Dern used his Uncle Altons’ near-death experience as an example and made himself a silent vow to himself that he’ll never set foot in a strip club.

It was evident this girl needed no further conversational encouragement from him to continue, though. With a till of a laugh, she flipped her hair over her shoulder like a loreal advertisement. A move that she’d no doubt perfected years ago in her youth. “So sorry, I did not mean to scare you.”

Dern tried to play it cool, shoving his hands in his pockets. With a tight smile as he strained to remain polite, “it’s all good.”

“ ‘It’s all good,’ ” she echoed back at him. As she loosely crossed her arms in front of her, it seemed to deepen the plunge in her neckline even more. Dern, of course, wasn’t able to stop his eyes from flickering downward for a second. But that split second was all this girl needed to take advantage. “I’m Charlotte Prudence,” she introduced, intentionally dropping her voice low in attempts of seduction.

He raised his eyebrows in discomfort and grimaced as friendly as he could. “Dern.”

“Dern,” she purred. “So where are you from?”

He decided to mess with her a little bit. “ ‘Where am I from . . . ?’ ”

A slight wrinkle of confusion showed up between her eyebrows. He begrudgingly found himself admitting that was pretty cute. “What do you mean?” She asked.

Wow, she was not disproving that all blondes were dumb. “What you mean, ‘what do I mean?’ ” Now, a flicker of irritance crossed her face. She isn’t patient, is she? “Yeah, do you mean ‘where am I from ethnically, geographically . . .’ ?” He trailed off again.

The blonde show dog was a bad actor, he noticed as she failed at trying to hide her annoyance. “I meant ‘where did you move from’? ” She explained through a thin-lipped smile.

There was no way in hell he was going to tell someone he met mere seconds ago - someone like this -  the truth to that one. So he casually shrugged his shoulders, “just another small town like this one.”

“Well, that’s kind of vague." She gave him a sultry look from underneath her too-thick-to-be-natural eyelashes. They made Dern uneasy. Unbeknownst to her, her expression was giving him the opposite effect.

He was the farthest from attracted to her.

“Yeah, well, I’m kind of a vague person,” giving her a tight smile of his own and turned his back on her.

Not exactly the smartest thing to do, once you get to a new town. Piss off what was probably at least the most influential person at the high school that he had yet to attend. Or the daughter of the most influential person in town. Oh well. It was too late, now.

Dern had no idea where he was heading in this bigger-than-usual house. All he knew was that he had to get away from this chick who was coming on way strong. Maybe it was because he was the new guy in town and that fresh meat was hot for some reason. She seemed the type who always got when she wanted, when she wanted it. Unfortunately for her, he didn’t want her.

Call it a shock factor.

Ignoring the food table, he dodged around people casting a quizzical glance at him. Exactly how small was this town? - he wondered if it’d be best he tried to find his father and say that they leave. In a sea of black, overly perfumed flowers, and fake sympathetic expressions, the fire-kissed hair was a definite welcome. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the brilliant orange flames of hair from across the second family room. Before he was even aware of what he was doing, his feet were carrying him over to her. Her eyes followed him when he was halfway, but she didn’t move otherwise. Fiery shown there, mixed with a hint of mournfulness.

Once he approached her, he gave her a little head bob, and couldn’t think of anything else clever to say other than, “hey.”

“The name’s Felixity,” she corrected, eyes flashed their reflection of her flaming hair.

Oookay. “ ‘Felixity,’ “ he repeated. “What a name,” he found himself saying.

She raised an eyebrow, giving him a weird expression.

“Not that it’s - !” And he caught himself. He was not going to make himself look like the fool before his first day of school. “It’s unique.”

“So what’s your name?” He knew she was not trying to be sexy in the least, but it far surpassed the blonde what’s-her-name. Same words, different meaning. Amazing.

“Dern,” he answered, realizing that she was staring at him, waiting for an answer.

“What a name,” she repeated. Was she teasing him?

God, she was cool! He knew nothing about her, other than her name, but he was already so impressed by her.

She shifted her stance, appearing uncomfortable. Could have been anything, but right away he wanted to do anything to make her feel comfortable. Safe. Wait, was it him that was making her uncomfortable? It’d make sense - he was a total stranger to this town, and that included her. Ugh, stupid brain, why did he have to overthink everything?!

“So aren’t you new?” Fire-goddess asked him.

Oh, good. She couldn’t be uncomfortable around him, if she asked him a question, right? That means she wants to get to know him - stop, analyzing this, and just answer her, Dern! “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I am.”

Smooth. That’ll get the girl.

“Then you didn’t know the deceased,” she didn’t phrase it like a question.

Uh-oh. But he had no other choice to answer, “no.” Proceed with caution.

“Then why are you here?” A threat. You couldn't even call it a whisper. He almost had to lean in and ask her again, but he heard her. That’s for sure.

Don’t get mesmerized and stare at her lips - he was staring at her lips for too long! Answer her question!

After a dry swallow, he managed to stutter out, “uh, my dad thought it’d be best for us to pay our respects. We know we’re still new to this town, but we don’t want to be neglectful outcasts, either.”

“And you thought the best introduction, would be to invite yourself to strangers' funeral.” Again, with the not-a-question thing. But she wasn’t wrong. Did she know them? Geez, Dern, look at this town, of course she knew them!

Rubbing the back of his neck, he couldn’t think of what to say that wasn’t already rude than his dad and his appearance. Biting the bullet, he dropped his hand and chose to look this girl dead in the eye. God, her hair contrasted the color in her eyes with such radiance. He needed to stop being so distracted. “I’m sorry. I realize how insensitive this is, and I tried talking my dad out of this. But he seemed determined with this, as he does with everything else in our life, so . . . that’s why we’re here.” He finished lamely.

She seemed to begrudgingly accept the answer. Slightly pursed lips, coupled with a couple of head bobs, she broke eye contact with him. Forgiveness, yes. He had no idea why that meant so much to him right now, but it mattered.

"So. . . ." He wanted to keep the conversation going, but didn't want to come across as insensitive. "Were you close to them?"

Dern wasn't specific. But Felixity seemed to insistently pick up what he meant anyway. A fast learner. Attractive.

"The deceased?" Her eyes shot back at him, but it was the warning bells in her tone that reflected the color of her hair.

Ouch. Oh no. He did not do the exact opposite of what he intended to do.

She seemed to have heard herself once she asked, and tried to calm down with great obviousness. Breaking her harsh eye contact, she licked her lips almost out of nervousness. Felixity also wasn't the obsequious type, for instead she simply explained, "yes, I was close to them. They were my only friends in the world."

Bomb dropped.