2 days after Atlas had tragically passed away it was time for his funeral. The funeral was small as it was made mostly only of loved ones and friends. The count barely reached 30 people.
Atlas's mother was crying uncontrollably as she sat in a corner near Atlas's coffin.
Atlas's three step sisters sat next to each other wearing black dresses. The youngest girl who was 15 years old was crying.
In a seat at the very back sat the taxi driver who had failed to get Atlas to the hospital in time. Sam Emmanuel stood quite some distance away from the coffin. His stepfather Max walked up to him. "Come let's sit down." he said to Sam.
Sam had streaks of tears on his cheeks. He glared at Max with dagger eyes and said softly. "This is all your fault." Max stared back with eyes full of sadness.
"This is all your fault. You were always on him, always on his case, following up on everything he did." Sam swallowed his breath before whispering. "I bet your happy he is gon-"
SMACK!
Max slapped Sam across his face. His face was stoic but his eyes were filled with sorrow that not everyone could relate to. "Shut up Sam, just because you are feeling pain does not mean the rest of us have analgesia. Words hurt, sometimes more than swords and bullets."
Max turned around and left Sam holding his cheek.
The funeral service started 10 minutes later. The pastor gave the funeral prayer. It was then followed by eulogies which were given by his Atlas's mother, Sam and Max. It was tear jerking for everyone at the funeral.
What truly broke everyone's heart was Atlas's mother. Just as his coffin was being lowered Atlas's mother could not contain herself. She jumped at the coffin and cried over it. She begged everyone to not bury him. She begged, cried, screamed and kicked for a long time.
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2 days later everyone sat at an office. Everyone was surprised when they received a call telling them to come in so that Atlas's will could be divided.
"so for Sam Emmanuel, is that you?" the lawyer said as he pointed at Sam who nodded.
"For Sam Emmanuel your brother has left £55,000 for you."
"What?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Wait hold on."
"I'm sorry there must be a mistake, £55,000? My brother does not have that kind of money. I'm... I'm pretty sure there must be a mistake."
The lawyer, a black woman with a ponytail looked down at her documents. She shook her head. "No, there is no mistake. He has left you £55,000 that will go into your university fees. In the case that you get a scholarship then the money will be given to you. If you do not go to university then you shall not receive the money and the money will be given to your mother."
Sam did not know what to say. Atlas's mother did not k ow what to say. No one did. After all who was expecting £55,000 to be given to Sam. Atlas despite looking like mr Olympia was still only 19 year olds. So how did he get that much money? That was what they wanted to know.
The lawyer turned the page on her document.
"Miss Cynthia Smalls, which one of you is that." The youngest of the three girls raised her hand.
"Miss Cynthia Smalls, your brother has also left for you £55,000 that will go into your university education but in case you manage to get a scholarship then the money will be given to you. In the case you do not go to university then the money shall be given to your father."
The lawyer turned the page and looked at the two other girls. "For Miss Racheal and Miss Loretta Small you will each receive £10,000. Miss Rachael's £10,000 will go into her college tuition in the course of her choosing. The same goes for Miss Loretta."
"For Mrs Martha Maxwell, your son has left you his watch collection. For Mr Maxwell Jones Smalls, you have been left behind all of your step son's cryptocurrency. You have also been left behind this videotape."
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The car ride home was silent. It was deathly silent. The windows were closed which created this silent and nervous atmosphere.
Everyone got out of the car and went into the house, everyone heading to their rooms without saying anything to one another.
Max sat in the living room after bringing his laptop downstairs. Martha was upstairs in their room. Max connected his headphones and played the DVD.
The video started with Atlas making a small fanfare sound. "Dudu duuu!" Atlas was wearing a tank top and cargo pants. His hair was also dark black and his pupils were brown as he was not wearing any eye contacts.
"Yooo, Maxwell." Atlas sat down on a stool. He stroked the small hamster in his hand. "Hey man, so I'm guessing you got this video from my lawyer. Of course you did since your watching this. Anyways if I have died then I'm just going to say what is on my mind. I don't k ow whether I will say this in the future or not as this video is being recorded before my death. For all I know I could die today, tomorrow, maybe even when I am heading towards my lawyer to update my will."
Maxwell could feel tears forming in his eyes as he watched Atlas feeding the hamster a small celery stick. Just his fingers only would be more than enough to crush the hamster and yet he did not.
"So anyways what I wanted to say is, thank you. Truly, from the bottom of my heart thank you. You are not my father but you have treated me and my brother like your son. You have treated my mother well. I hope that you will continue to. I don't know if our relationship will sour in the future or not but I just want you to know how grateful I am to you. You have taken the place of my father. Even though you could not fill his shoes you did your best. You are an amazing person and I wish you nothing but happiness. I hope that you live a long life and see your great grandchildren. Peace out."
Atlas made a peace sign and smiled before the camera turned of and the video ended. Max was practically in tears. How could he not be? For years he always thought that Atlas hated him but now there was this video. This video telling him that he did not hate him. That he actually felt grateful to him.
Max moved the cursor of the laptop and restarted the video. He had a smile on his face as he cried and sniffled.
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Guys I would really appreciate your feedback!