The first thing Ray saw when he entered is a crowd of people. He is unaware of what's happening, but one thing is for sure: they are distraught. Some are crying, hysterical even. But most of them are just lying their heads low, silently.
When one of them goes back to their cubicle, Ray could not fight against his curiosity anymore. He walked towards him, and asked what he has been thinking: "What happened?"
It was Gabriel, and he looked at Ray. "Jake. They found him."
Ray smiled at what he said, delighted that he has already been contacted, but he quickly realized that what happened is not something positive. "And? Why are they so... distraught?"
"They found his body. No one knows what happened," Gabriel said.
Ray did not know what to feel. Of course, it is a shock to him, but it feels so surreal that his mind cannot compose a single sentence afterwards. He excused himself from Gabriel and found himself sitting at his office. Laura was there to talk to him.
According to her, Jake was found in his house with his throat slashed. His neighbors had been worrying for him after not seeing him come home so they alerted the police. When he hasn't returned after twenty-four hours, they came to his house. His corpse was found in the backyard. He was naked and his body is full of bruises.
For the rest of the day, Ray saw his colleagues doing their best to keep working, but once in a while, he would see one of them crying. As much as he wants to comfort them, he does not know how. He has not felt the need to cry himself and he wonders why. He had been working with Jake for several years. He had witnessed him climb up the ladder in their industry and has always been happy of what he has achieved. It's such a waste of a good life, he thought.
He saw how loved he is. A few days after the announcement of his death, he went to Jake's office to look for a model's profile he has to work on. On top of his table, flowers are scattered. There were different shades of colors. His next thoughts almost scares him, but his mind went to one thing. Will they do the same thing if I suddenly die? His thoughts would ask.
For the next few days, everyone in the office is still in shock of what happened. Magdalene saw a picture of Jake's dead body. It was supposed to be a private picture that only the police are allowed to see but during an interrogation, the interviewer took a wrong picture with him and she saw it. "It was gut-wrenching," she said. "Whoever did it do him has no conscience. It was brutal. I almost puked right then and there, but I was able to control myself. The person who did it, he was so mad."
The tortorous days that followed were filled with interviews from news outlets and networks intrigued by the events leading up to it. All of them kept repeating the same thing. There is not one person in the office that would have a motive, or at least that is what all of them thought.
Jake's wake is attended by many people. There were instances when they had to take in more chairs for people who were coming. The entirety of Jake's family grieved with them. His mother is affected the most, and Ray would watch in the corner, silently, as she wept on her son's coffin. Sometimes they would see her calm, but it is a rare occurence to see her eyes dry.
This is the first time Ray saw Jake's family. All he knows is that he had a sister. He is not familiar with her name, and he has not seen her face.
"I never thought this would happen to anyone in my family, most especially to my brother. He has never hurt a soul. I do not think the one who did it had a serious motive against him." A woman said, which surprised Ray. All he felt was that someone sat next to him, but he did not know it was her.
"I am very sorry, your brother definitely didn't deserve any of that. He is loved by everyone around him. Everyone I know at work is grieving for him, and I am, too." he said, trying to console her.
"Do you think we will ever catch him? Are they even doing their job? she asked. Ray was tempted to tell her of his second job, but refrained from doing so. He did not want to be involved in a case of a person dear to his heart.
"I am pretty sure the police are doing everything they can."
"They do not even have a single suspect yet."
The police have talked to several people. Some of them are directly related to Jake, but many are his acquaintances. Ray was not contacted; they were looking for someone who had a close working relationship with him so they chose Gabriel to do it.
The wake lasted for three days. Back in the headquarters, reporters kept on coming, repeating the same questions over and over again. This annoyed several of Ray's colleagues, and they would politely decline the reporters' attempts for an interview. "They would never let us grieve in peace," one of them would say. "Can't we just sue all of them?"
Ray knew the technicalities to this, and he'd answer the question based on what he knew. "As long as they do not trespass into the building, we cannot do anything to them." he said.
During the fourth day, Jake's funeral was held. Several people came. Ray tried to estimate how many he saw but he could not. The funeral is solemn but warm. The closest people to Jake told nothing but positive stories about him. His sister, Jasmine, urged Ray to go up to the podium. He hesitated at first, but decided to just go on with it.
"Hi," he started speaking. "I am Ray, and I have been working with Jake for quite a while." he saw that all eyes are on him. This made him slightly conscious but years of exposure to public speaking trained him to remain composed and calm onstage. "Jake is a beacon of light to everyone around him," he looked at Jasmine, and saw how intently she is looking at him. "I still remember the first time I saw him. Several years into our working relationship, he has remained the same."
After pausing for a while, he continued. "He was the leader of the team that is responsible for the creative direction of each issue for each month. He had led the team for years, and he has never faltered in his direction. His creative genius is a huge reason why we are maintaining success, and his death is a huge shock to all of us. Now that he is gone, we know that his contributions are irreplaceable and his role, the part that he played in Vogue, is especially made for his. It would be hard to find someone who will do as great as he did, and I am not expecting to."
After his short anecdote, he went back to his seat. It is Jasmine's turn and he can't wait to hear what she's about to say.
"As you all know, my brother and I had a close relationship," she said. "When we were children, we did not argue that much. We became adults and everything is the same. He was the person I tell everything to, and I guess that role will forever be his. My mother,"—she gestured to her sitting in the corner, and continued—"She is totally heartbroken. I do not know how to console her because I do not understand her pain. There is a hole in my heart that will never be filled again, but my mother, her heart, all of it, is gone." She stepped off the podium and rushed to her mother's side whose wails are getting louder. Ray watched in a short distance and he felt his heart getting tugged in different parts of it, a feeling he has only felt when their mother left them for another man.
Several other attendees shared their tales about him, and although most are positive anecdotes, a few are stories filled with regret. The woman who came after him was Jake's last ex.
"He actually proposed to me," Karina said, after first telling some important parts of the several years they were together. "But I was not ready. I was only twenty-six, and I was a careerwoman, I still am. He loved me, I loved him, too. It is not that I did not want him to be my life partner, I wanted him to be, but the time was not right. I guess my mistake was that I loved my career more than him. Rejecting him is my biggest regret and I still think about him regularly after what happened. I attempted to reconcile with him, to be friends, at least, but my rejection hurt him so much. It was a public proposal and it humiliated him but I just wanted to be honest. I miss him and I will always love him. I have not dated since, and I probably won't for a long time."
After Karina's brief speech, more followed. The rites lasted for several hours. Ray listened to all of the stories and with each one, his grief grew more and more until he found himself sobbing silently by himself, sitting alongside a sea of people who are grieving for Jake's death.
