Red Dragonfly Strikes Again

Chapter Fifthteen

FIVE MONTHS LATER

Grief.

How does one even begin to process grief?

How does one go about handling the lost of someone important to them?

How much does one have to lose in order to stop going through such pain as grief?

Does it get any better for them?
Do things ever change for them?
Does it ever start to look up to a better future?

Wilbur pondered those questions in his mind during the funeral of his late stepfather. He and his mother would exchange looks, seeing the newly born baby brother in his arms. His name was Nashawn.

Looking out beyond the horizon of the cemetery, a heavy exhale burdened with languish escaped the widowed mother's dully parted lips. A single tear streamed down her ebony sunken contour. Wiping it away, she tried to suck in her emotions, rolled it in and bottle it up, not wanting anyone else to see.

She had promised herself she wouldn't cry, not today.

Today, she would hold strong for him, her sons and everyone who he had always been the strongest for.

"For you."

Straightening her back and squaring her shoulders, Rosemary finally made her way to the set funeral site.

Many people were gathered, from all walks of life. Heroes, friends and everyone else in between.

Finally, Rosemary appeared with her baby as the minister took to the podium to address all that have came, invited or uninvited. "Good afternoon, everyone. We all gather here today to give our farewell to the first hero of Scarlet City, Green Dragonfly."

After the formalities preformed by the minister, touching once again on the character of Green Dragonfly.

Needlessly instilling the message of the divine authority.

Then came the mayor as he capitalized on the people's raw emotions for his political gain. Nothing to be gained here. It irked Rosemary to stand here and listen to them as if they knew him, could grasp the varsity of his existence. It saddened her to be here at all, in a position of great loss.

She held her baby close in her arms as tears swelled up. Wanting to scream, to run, blame someone.

Just then, a familiar voice cut through her mental spiral. Her eyelids shot open to find Captain Justice standing up there at the podium. His eulogy, less than eloquent yet it had more heart than the ones before him. It soothes her soul by a tiny fraction to hear him speak.

"Excuse me." He tapped on the mic, looking out into the crowd. His eyes piercing through the lights as his fellow two teammates stood by him.

"I...I'm sure most of you know me as Captain Justice For All. Not that I'm trying to come off as cocky. I'm just saying that you might've seen me flying through the city every now and then. Wait, that's not what I meant."

CJ paused for a moment to take a breath. "I'm sorry. Let me start over. I'm Captain Justice For All. I'm sorry we are meeting under these terms. But I'm going to talk about my friend Green Dragonfly."