Her.

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful July day. The sun was shining, there weren't any clouds in the sky and the temperature was neither hot nor cold, just perfectly warm.

However, for me the day wasn't exactly perfect. I was having a terrible headache and I desperately needed some sleep. Typical hangover from last nights party. I didn't remember anything except for like the first hour of it. Then everything was blurred and unclear. I remembered my girlfriend breaking up with me, but unfortunately I didn't remember the reason behind her decision. I think I had said something totally inappropriate after she told me that our relationship is over, because I remember her slapping me and then angrily leaving.

Anyway, this thing wasn't important to me in that exact moment. I was on the cemetery with my grandmother by my side who was occasionally giving me looks, which were warning me that I'm going to be in trouble once we are left alone. I was late for the funeral of Mrs. Richards, the pharmacist of our little town- Greyville.

Actually Greyville wasn't grey at all, as you may suggest. It had lots of green grass, trees and beautiful flowers and bushes. The local community was really active, constantly organizing things. The town was called like this because in the past the main industry of the town and it's surroundings was coal mining and you know, coal is grey, so someone had the incredibly smart idea to call it Greyville.

Anyway, that day almost the whole town was gathered in the cemetery, no matter that many people knew Mrs. Richards (I wasn't sure what her first name is) only as the pharmacist and that they talked to her like 2 or 3 times while in the pharmacy.

Because of my late arrival, I missed most of the ceremony and it was to its end. And why was I late, you may ask. I slept in my friend Mike' house. I forgot that I was expected to be on the funeral but fortunately woke up 5 minutes after its start so I didn't miss it all, just a big part of it. Getting from the center of the town to the cemetery in 15 minutes was quite an achievement. I had to run as if I was running for my life, get dressed while running (well not fully, I already had my underwear and a T-shirt) then because of the dress code, my home was an compulsory stop so I had to find some black clothes really quickly. At the end, after a long and extremely exhausting sprint I finally got to the cemetery, where I was welcomed by the judging looks of everyone there, none of them appreciating the enormous efforts that I had made just to turn up to ceremony.

So I went next to my grandmother, where I was supposed to be and then went through the rest of the ceremony. I found out that the deadman's first name is Joanna. As usual, there were lots of tears and a lot of fake empathy. I had been doing this my whole life.

Every time someone significant enough died, my grandmother would drag me to his or hers funeral. At the beginning I felt bad about the person and his beloved ones and worried about my family and when their dead will be. But with time I just got used to the inevitable fact that the death comes and you can't prevent this.

The funeral ended. Joanna was buried under the ground. Everyone were leaving, some heading up to work, others to the fancy lunch, made in honor of Mrs. Richards. As for me, I wasn't really sure. But my grandmother was walking towards me so I was about to find out.

"Oh my god, Ethan, you are drunk, again!" she started.

"Well no, not now."

"I can smell alcohol in your breath, don't tell me you didn't drink last night"

"Ok, maybe I drank a bit"

"You are turning into an alcoholic, you drink every day"

"I don't. - I had said this 100 times before and my voice was full of boredom. "Anyway, are we going to the lunch?"

"No, it won't be something big and not many people will attend it. And I have to visit Marguerite and talk with her about the charity dinner next week."

"Ok." I felt relief. I just wanted to be in my bed and sleep.

"And please stop humiliating me in front of the whole town, coming intoxicated to official events."

"Ok."

"Now go home and have some sleep, you look terrible."

"Ok."

I turned and started walking on an isolated path. I chose it so there aren't many people with whom I would be forced to talk with. But, fortunately, there weren't any people at all. It was just me and the beautiful surroundings. People imagine the graveyard as a place with high, old trees, fog, ravens

and darkness but Greyville's cemetery was filled with fresh grass and flowers and totally didn't fit the stereotype.

I was walking and imagining how I'll go in my bed and sleep endlessly when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see what it is.

And that's when I first saw her.