A Silent Lullaby

Chapter 1

The room smelled of whiskey, of course. It's not like you could expect scented candles to be lit for such an occasion, and the harsh smell of burning wood fighting against the dank smell of the lake outside, made for a terrible combination.

The funeral home was a garish affair, with white marble floor and walls, and black velvet carpets.

The fact that Amazing Grace was playing so low during the eulogies that it was practically inaudible and practically blaring while barely meeting the notes of Carrie Underwood's rendition of Do You Hear What I Hear once over, helped nothing to appease the fact they were dead. The two, dead as a doornail. Like Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. And for some odd reason, while being - undeniably- the best rendition, Do You Hear What I Hear caused the memory of A Christmas Carol to have such an impact on this occasion that it is brimming with the same excitement and holiday spirit as Christmas.

Like Charles Dickens, everyone who showed up—friends, family, and pretty much anyone else—just wanted them a second chance. And unlike the numerous Hollywood versions, as they gazed down on the still bodies of their loved ones, the same narrator's voice that had sung of snow and holly, of Christmases far away and long ago, muttered in their heads. But a thin silver thread still connected them to life, and after a long and agonizing moment their eyes blinked open; they drew in a deep breath, smiled, and opened their mouths with exhalations like the first butterflies of spring. They wish that would happen. But, they were gone and it was true. However there was still the simple and pure love that made their lives so valuable.

You might have been duped by me. In actuality, the atmosphere in the funeral home was depressing. Which is precisely what one would anticipate. While some people sobbed and others just gazed into the horizon, they were unable to comprehend what had happened. It looked as though time had stopped because no one had expected such a tragedy to occur. The entire globe was frozen. When they received the terrible news, the hospital's doctors and nurses hurried over but didn't know what to do. They hesitated to talk as they stood motionless in the cafeteria and halls after realizing there was nothing in all realness they could do.

At the funeral, everyone moved slowly, some had dirty or unkempt hair, and eyes that were red and puffy. The presence of death all around, the stench of disease in the air. People were clothed in all black, with the unusual, infrequent appearance of a dash of color here and there caused by an exposed undershirt or other stray piece of clothing. With a plush carpet covering the entire floor—almost in style. It was attractive to look at. With the surrounding lands sleeping in the forest, it appeared as though one could pass through and go deeper than their feet could go. Which remained unaffected by the extended weeks as the souls gradually sank deeper into the ground, past the carpet and fertile, "de facto" unconscious, before being buried. The soil is now feeding on the slowly forgotten essences of the two.

The two were dressed in all white (always the non-conformist), lying side by side in the caskets, not a foot apart. It seemed as if they were hand in hand, still in their eternal embrace and love for one another. No one had the heart to separate them in death, and so they remained together, eternally intertwined. Even some mourners stood in awe of the sight, unable to sever a bond that even death could not break. Shades of gold and silver glimmered from the caskets, a beautiful reminder.

The essence of two people who were meant for each other had been captured forever in their love.

The nature of the event quickly worsened as soon as the pastor started to talk about the aftermath of their deaths. He spoke of the long and arduous process that awaited their families, of the immense sorrow and pain that would inevitably beset them. He warned them of the darkness that was to come, of the shadows that would linger, and of how life for all would never be the same again.