7 Aunty Val
After the wake is over, Thom agrees to stay the night. Emma leaves because she has to go back to work the next day. He says goodbye to her at the door and, as her car pulls away, he has to grasp onto the door handle to stop himself from waving to her.
Inside the house, the lock sounds like a bullet. This is followed by soft crying from upstairs and the clatter of plates that can be heard from the kitchen. He decides Aunty Val is the priority of the two.
He tiptoes upstairs, wincing at the creaks he should have remembered were there. It is instilled in him that death is quiet; something the living shouldn’t flaunt themselves in the face of.
Aunty Val’s door is open. He stands outside for a moment and peers in, instantly smelling the sorrow, hanging in the air like smoke clo
