Florence lifted her head from Milan’s shoulder, and the brother only smiled at her. He then used his other hand to caress her hair. “Mama will find beauty in you, and she will fix whatever Mom had ever done to you. She did the same to me. All of this, all of what you see… This is not me. This is all Miles Beaufort.”
“What are you talking about?” Florence pulled away some more, and Milan felt paralyzed by those strange eyes his sister was giving him.
“…yeah, you’re right. What am I saying?” Milan turned away and laughed. He then took a deep breath, but the stench of the shed choked him instead. “Uh, I’m going back to the funeral. Don’t stay here if you want to keep to yourself. The air here will make you sick.”
He got to his feet and left the shed without another word. Whether Florence followed him out or not was up to the woman. As for him, he took a deep breath of fresh air in the middle of the garden. They had already cleared this place in the morning, but Owen made all the mess disappear. He didn’t even know how that person managed to work like he was made of ten men.
Milan then rubbed his arm as he stood in the middle of the garden. “I can simply lie to Owen’s face, but I have to make Florence understand. Sigh, I don’t think I can convince her to stay with us the moment we reach home after all of this. I also need to find a proper goodbye to Owen. He didn’t look like he wouldn’t follow me to the mainland if I dropped him too abruptly.”
…
The evening had fallen, and the funeral was already accepting people to say goodbye to Roma. However, aside from Milan who was waiting for the people to come, the only other person in the family room was Owen. Corey and Florence were at the Campbell’s house to cook dinner for them.
Candle lights flickered, and Milan only raised his eyes. He figured someone had entered the house when the door opened. He would have to greet them, but he froze when he saw the person who walked in.
A woman in white clothes emerged from the door to the family room. She was wearing a spherical mask on her head, and her hair was bleached white. Her hands had red markings as if it traced her bones, and Milan saw them only because she held her long skirt up as she walked inside the room.
Behind her came Boris, the old city mayor, and Corbin. They were also keeping a distance from her as if they were afraid of garnering her attention.
She went straight to the casket and looked at the deceased face through the glass. Her hand waved over the casket and stopped over a candle. The fume of the fire drew on her palm, and she then turned in Milan’s direction. With a slow spin, she faced the newcomer and walked up to him. She then reached out her other hand as if collecting a hand from Milan.
Milan glanced at Corbin, and the other cued for him to give his hand. The young man reluctantly placed his hand on hers, but she moved it to lay with the palm on top. She then pressed the warm hand on Milan’s palm, the young man gasping at the action.
“Your mother has not crossed to the plains of the dead. She remains to plague your peace,” the woman finally spoke. She then looked up as if seeing the second floor. “She has bound herself to this house, but she doesn’t seem to be here anymore. I feel a divine presence in this home. Milan Sheppard, how many times have you seen her today?”
“…twice,” Milan murmured. He didn’t know what this woman was doing or what she was supposed to be, but he felt incredibly terrified of her. If he was not frozen, he would have taken his hand back.
The woman brought her gaze down at him, but Milan couldn’t tell how she could see through the lamp-like bone mask. She then nodded and let go of his hand. “The spirits respond to your honesty.”
She walked toward the city mayor. “I don’t have to cleanse a house that someone else has purified. You can proceed with her burial at any time between tonight and the next full moon.”
Just like that, the woman in white left the house. Milan only followed her out with his gaze before looking at the three other people who came with her.
“That was the priestess, Mr. Sheppard. I hope she didn’t terrify you all that much.” The city mayor cleared his throat and smiled at him. “Come, let’s talk a bit. My deepest condolences about your mother. I remember her as an excellent cook when she was younger. She ran this small kitchenette…”
The city mayor sat down with Milan for a moment, while Boris and Corbin stood around. The sheriff only watched the undisturbed casket and spoke to Owen in his softest voice: “The priestess said the house was cleansed by someone else. Did you notice anything strange about this house when you came?”
Owen didn’t answer, but he just kept on staring at the old city mayor talking to Milan. With the kind of face Milan was making, he seemed to be telling the young man things that didn’t make sense. By then, he glanced at the sheriff who didn’t spare a gaze at him.
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Owen replied.
By then, Corbin seemed to have noticed something. He stood next to the family room’s door, so he could see if the main door opened. When it did, he even threw his shocked glance at the emergence of those people. He then cleared his throat to attract the attention of his boss.
Boris looked over and felt like trouble was brewing in the supposed quiet funeral. Martin, his wife, and his daughter had shown up to see the funeral.
The confident businessman lessened the brightness of his smile when he entered the family room. He seemed to act like a decent person toward the dead local. When he saw Milan gazing at him, he walked up to the young man. “I didn’t know your mother has passed away, Mr. Sheppard. Please accept my deepest condolences. It must be hard for you to lose a parent who lived so far away.”
“Thank you, Mr. Clifford.” Now go away.
“This isn’t much, but I hope this will be of any help.” Martin took out a small thick brown envelope from his inner pocket and lowly handed it to Milan.
Milan held onto the envelope and felt its thickness. Judging from the occasion, he figured it was money. When Milan looked inside, it was 100,000 in 100 bills.