Black suits, white roses, grieving faces, open caskets.
That's all that was to be seen in the cathedral as men and family members came to pay their final respects to their deceased loved ones. A single row of caskets was situated before the altar, with a giant crucifix at the centre and a priest conducting mass.
Maria sat between her father and Lorenzo, her face as blank as the sky on that morning, devoid of any form of emotion. Her swollen, red-rimmed eyes, masked behind a pair of dark sunglasses, stared at the picture of a smiling man above his casket. Luca's dark yet playful eyes glistened as they stared right back at her, his usual mischievous smile playing on his lips. Maria could see the wheels in his head turning as he thought of God knows what. Her mind was plagued with a single thought: if Luca wasn't in that casket if he had survived and sat beside her that day, would he still have the same goofy smile?
