Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 122: What An Extraordinary Surprise

Mrs Nevermore's funeral was held that Monday morning, and as I had expected, the turnout was massive. Everybody loved that woman.

Neighbours, family friends, friends and foes in the fashion world, and all surviving employees of Oyster had gathered at the graveyard, fully clad in black and mourning the loss of a great woman.

Even Apollo. He was standing in the first row, not far from me. I was sweating due to nervousness.

I was standing side by side with Eros. He blocked Apollo's view of me. However, I had taken the precaution to wear an old-fashioned bonnet and a black veil to cover both my hair and face. With that bonnet, my hair pinned in a high bun, and all those black items of clothing, I looked radically different and far older than I was.

"I hope nobody recognises you, honeysuckle," Kono whispered to me. They were also wearing black clothes, standing beside me. "You're supposed to be dead."

Eros was also fully clad in black. It was his time to make a speech before Mrs Nevermore's coffin would descend into a huge pit in the dirt. He left my side and approached an Apollo's-feet-kisser priest, who had just said a few words of comfort and introduced Eros to the audience as if he needed one.

All the members of the audience took out their mobile phones to record the event and post it on their social media, but it was no use. The Kiss of the Sun wasn't over yet, so all digital devices glitched.

"Today, we say farewell to my mother. She was a truly inspiring woman who would have achieved a lot more in life if she hadn't been stolen from us this last Saturday night. Many of you knew her well. So, you know these words are right true. She was a resilient woman, an overachieving businesswoman most of the time, and a strict yet loving mother. I..."

He couldn't go on. He started to cry and sob so much that he couldn't even breathe properly, let alone give a speech. Layla offered him to take the mike for him and say a few words.

We locked our eyes as he came close to me to stand by my side, just like before.

"Hey, I'm here for you," I said while taking his right hand into my left one with great care. "For anything you need."

I hugged him, then. He hugged me back while we listened to Layla's kind words. Mirela was nowhere to be seen, but I had no time nor the will to actually care for her.

"... too many casualties, as you may already know," Layla was saying with a sad voice. "We lost many colleagues last Saturday, both clones and traditional humans. They even hacked androids to do the dirty job for them. This proves that this group of rebels doesn't care about those whom they've sworn to protect. The ruthless acts perpetrated that night discredit them and the cause they are fighting for."

Layla's speech made me feel awkward and guilty. I couldn't agree more with her, to be honest. I should have done something to stop Agape sooner.

I had listened to the news as well. The end result of Agape's gift for Apollo at the benefit was an appallingly high tally of dead people of both communities: eighty-one clones, forty-four traditional humans, and thirty-nine androids had been murdered.

However, Layla proceeded to verbally attack us rebels and justify more discriminatory acts against us. I couldn't blame her for feeling hurt. It was one of Agape's aims. But feeling hurt could never justify hurting somebody else in retaliation. Layla was simply getting on a hate train headed towards self- and mutual destruction, the twin cities ruled by despair.

Eros was clenching his teeth and fists. We exchanged a knowing look.

"It's devastating to come to terms with the fact that she's gone," Layla said between sobs. "She was looking forward to this day. As you know, the ad for Oysters' new marketing campaign has just been hung over the façade of the BioBank this morning. She would've been so proud!"