'Not yet.' I thought. I then opened a gate and appeared back in the room where the old man died. A bed sheet was now covering the old man's corpse and the old hag was busy opening the curtains. Outside the window, I could now see black government vehicles parked in front of the house.
"Why are all these cars here?" I asked the old hag.
"Do you know nothing about your grandfather boy?" The old hag said irritated.
She walked out of the room and went down the stairs. I decided to follow her out of the house.
"May we retrieve his body?" An old war veteran asked the old hag when she came out.
I then walked past her, coming from inside the house. Immediately after they saw me, the men outside pulled out their weapons and pointed them at me.
"What do you think you're doing pulling out those things in my home?" The old hag asked coldly.
"Do you not know who this is!" The old veteran exclaimed.
"Of course I do, he is my grandson. A hero just passed away in this very house that you want to start firing in…show some respect before I make you regret it!" The old hag said sternly.
(whistles)
"Damn grandma." I said out loud after a lengthy whistle.
"You may be The White Mouse, but even so, you know I can't just ignore this." The old veteran said, refusing to drop his weapon.
"Knowing what he is, what exactly do you think you can you do to him?" The old hag asked as though she were talking to idiots.
The old veteran then slowly began to lower his weapon and the rest of the men did the same as well.
He then walked past the old hag and I, alongside three other men, then went up the stairs. A few moments later they came back outside carrying the covered old man's corpse and placed him in a hearse.
"You said the old man was a hero?" I asked the old hag as we watched the government cars drive away.
"Yes, a war hero. I and your grandfather have seen a lot of death and a lot of pain. That is why we needed to impart this lesson into you. This world raises this generation with the delusion that we are all equal; that we all have equal opportunities…but the world isn't so fair.
The only thing that is equal and does not discriminate is pain. The pain of a bullet wound; the pain of losing a loved one; the pain of disappointment….
'We all go through pain, and in order to move forward we have to heal. With healing comes growth and with growth comes more pain.' The old hag said proudly.
"You're quoting my book now?" I asked rhetorically.
"You were right. The only way to free ourselves from the cycle of pain, is death. That is where we wanted you to excel, and you have done so, far beyond our expectations. Death is fair, it does not choose one and leave the other; it is for all and eventually, it will come to all. Despite how one lives." The old hag said with deep emotion as her tears threatened to come out.
"I cannot stress this enough…we are so proud of what you have become. Seeing you on screen like that truly moved our hearts. To think you have truly become death…I'm glad Peter lasted long enough to see this day." She said with a face now filled with tears.
"I didn't do it for you." I said to her.
"Yes, of course." She said wiping the tears off her face.
"You will stay for the funeral, yes?" She asked me.
"No, I need to be somewhere." I said to her, but then thought about how I would just be flying for the next two days and not really doing anything else. That would just bore me.
"Actually yes, I'll stay. I've never really attended a funeral before." I said to the old hag.
"Good good, come help me with some chores inside for now. The house is dirty and we need to set up chairs for the funeral tomorrow. I'll prepare lunch help me with the cleaning." The old hag said to me.
"You want me…to do chores?" I asked flabbergasted.
"What, you think you're too good to help your poor grandmother out? This is all part of the funeral experience." She said to me.
She then went into the house, grabbed a cloth, then tossed it towards me.
"I'm going to take a shower, you get started with the cleaning." She said to me then went up the stairs. I then went around the house looking at old albums of my father when he was younger. I couldn't help but notice there was not one picture where he was smiling.
Whilst I was exploring, my shadows were swiftly cleaning the entire house. They even set up the chairs in the backyard for the funeral happening the next day.
It only took a few minutes to finish the chores. Seeing that there was nothing more to do, I decided to put on an apron then began to make a meal. My shadows were all around the kitchen getting me everything I needed.
'Are these guys getting smarter?' I thought to myself.
I then proceeded to make the one thing that my mother had taught me long ago, ugali with roasted pork. I never had much practice with cooking anything else, but with this one dish, this was the dish I had mastered to make to perfection. Ugali was a complicated dish that required a significant amount of strength to make, depending on how much you're make.
By the time the old hag came downstairs, she could smell the sweet aroma of the roast all around the house.
"Wow, this house is spotless, and whatever you're making smells amazing. You didn't learn this from us and it definitely wasn't from Michael. So, that mother of yours actually had something to teach you as well." She said unimpressed.
"Seems so, the food will be ready soon." I said to her as I seasoned the roasted pork.
A few minutes later, we were seated on the table eating and catching up with each other's lives over the years. She told me about how her and the old man have been following up on me, reading my book, watching any related news to it. They kept following up, up to the point I made my speech and broke the president's back, which we both laughed at.
I then caught her up with what I had been up to, how I became a reaper, and my goal to take down Theós…before we knew it, the sun had already set.
"Oh my, seems like it is already gotten late. We have an early morning tomorrow so I will be going to bed first. Your old room is untouched, but if you want you can sleep in the basement." She said jokingly then went upstairs to her room.
I smiled at her suggestion then went down to the basement. As I looked around, I reminisced my time there as a child. There were still blood stains all over the floor from all the rat heads I had stepped on.
"Why didn't they clean this up?" I asked out loud.
I then released my dark cloud, which covered the entire basement floor and began to absorb the blood stains. Thereafter, I spent the night in the basement, experimenting with the dark cloud.
The morning of the funeral had quickly arrived and the old hag was already up at 5am making the final arrangements.
Eventually, guests began to arrive. Most of them were old and well above their 60s with the occasional soldiers here and there. According to the old hag, the old man wanted a small, quiet funeral and to be buried in their backyard. No one was opposed to the wishes of a dying man, let alone a war hero.
I had decided to remain in the basement and continued the experiments to better understand the dark cloud. After a little while, the old hag came to get me from the basement and brought me to join the funeral.
She had a proud smile on as she said, "This takes me back."
I ignored her comment and followed to the backyard.
It seemed like everyone was aware I would be there. All around, I received menacing side stares fueled with hatred or disgust. In front of all the seated guests was the old man's corpse in an open casket.
People were currently going up to speak about the old man. A majority of the people spoke about how they had been saved by the old man in the battlefield and how grateful they were to be alive because of him; how he is now in a better place.
Many talked about his greatest feat of when he infiltrated 3 enemy bases on his own and rescued many of the soldiers that were present. What was so great about this feat is that everyone had given up on these soldiers and were already presumed to be dead. Yet the old man had disobeyed orders, and personally went to rescue them on his own. His disobedience was not in vain. He succeeded in infiltrating their bases, saving hundreds of men.
'Wow, this is boring. Flying for hours doesn't seem all too bad now.' I thought to myself.
"Grayson, would you like to say anything." The old hag asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Everyone seated then turned to me waiting to hear my answer.
"Sure." I said then slowly began to walk to the front. As I went, people whispered all around.
"It's that bastard…"
"I can't believe he is the grandson of the hero."
"If he wasn't related to the hero and White Mouse I wouldn't even stay in the same room as him."
"Is he really death?"
I finally reached the front and stood right next to the open casket.
"Despite being what I am, this is surprisingly the first funeral I've attend. I do not understand why you all would keep so much effort and respect to a corpse-." I began to say…
"How dare you-." an old man with a gruesome scar on his face interrupted.
"Sit down!" I commanded as I kept pressure on him.
He then immediately sat down and remained unmoving as cold sweat began to drop from his forehead.
"As I was saying, I personally received this so called hero's soul and I can assure you, where I took him was not a better place and was nowhere an actual hero would go. He was destined to go somewhere all of you should fear. Because where he is, is where you all will be going as well. Point is, he is not in this corpse and has no connection to the physical realm." I said pointing at the open casket.
"Funerals are a waste of time and are not for honoring the dead, but are in fact for the living. The living who are not ready to accept the reality that the one they lost is no longer with them, but still make excuses in order to feel closer to them. It just so happens the closest you can feel to them is through their corpse. We all just want to feel better, but pain is inevitable; death is inevitable.
This alone is the saddest thing about funerals. Humans not coming to terms with reality. Anyways, with that, I will take my leave." I said to the mass then opened a gate beside me, but before I walked into the gate I took one last look at the old hag.
Name: Nancy Wake
Lifespan: 90 (5 years left)
"See you soon grandma." I said to her with a smile then finally walked through the gate, leaving the crowd speechless.
"He sounds just like him" The old man with the gruesome scar said underneath his breath.