The Lovers Troubles

The Funeral

(Similar to the prologue but things have been added into it so you should still read it)

The rain poured down heavily on the attendees of the funeral of Clinton Pugh, a valued member of the community. The Pugh family were well known and well-respected by their community. 

His wife and children stood by the grave dressed in black, tears falling on their face mixing with the rain as the coffin lowered into the ground. 

None of it had seemed real until this moment, the coffin disappearing into the ground with their father and husband inside. 

It was only a week ago when he told them the news of how he had got ahead of Marc Hackett, they wished they could smile like that again. How they longed to feel that ecstatic again, to feel anything at all would be nice. The only feeling at all was numbness, an emptiness that could never be filled. 

The coffin was blessed as the priest begun to say some prayers before they listened to their mother speak through her choked sobs. 

As the funeral came to an end, everyone begun heading to their cars. They were having a celebration in a nearby restaurant, one Clinton always took his family to. 

Florence stood by her father's grave the rain falling on her while her mother and siblings went to their separate vehicles, Emma and her husband Tom were waiting for her. 

The familiar roar of an engine reached her ears as she sighed, why did he have to be here? Why today of all days? Especially after what he did.

She turned around to confirm her suspicions and she was correct, the familiar Gold Pontiac Firebird 400 looked the same as the first time she saw it. The night they had spent together was forever embedded into her mind, haunting her for eternity. That night was a sin to her now, a crime against her people. 

He climbed out of his car closing the door and begun his walk towards her as she turned back around to face her father's grave. He held his umbrella above her head looking at her.

"Why are you here Y/N?"

"To see you."

She turned to look at him with a sigh as she cupped his cheek with her soft hand, even though she hated him for what he did, she could not deny her love for him. He had yearned for her touch since that night, that magical night. 

"You should not be here."

"It is worth the risk for you."

She turned away from him wiping her tears before she shook her head. He moved closer to her placing his hand on her arm.

"I never meant for any of this to happen, you have to believe me."

She turned to him, her hand slapping him across the face as his head turned to right with the force. How could he speak to her like that? How could he touch her after what he did? She would not tolerate it.

"You show up here flaunting around like all of you do, thinking you're better than us, pretending none of this falls on your kind! Your kind, who are not welcome here!"

She begun walking away from him but he only chased her walking backwards in front of her. 

"My kind? I thought we moved passed that?"

He grabbed her arms roughly as she tried to break free from his grasp but he was stronger and taller than her. 

"Did that night mean nothing to you?"

"Do not use that night against me! If it wasn't for you none of this would have happened!"

She shoved him back catching him off guard as he stumbled into a nearby tree while she continued her march back to the car. 

"I only ever loved you Florence."

She stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at him. The rain was falling heavier than before as he walked closer to her, having discarded his umbrella. 

"We could still run away together you know. Our plan to start new, there is still time."

He stood in front of her, both of them looking into each other's eyes as tears begun forming for them both. 

"You've done too much for me to forgive you Y/N. All of this." She gestured to her father's grave and the Garda cars driving by to stop more crimes. "Happened because of you and your stupid plans! I wish that night never happened! I wish I never listened to your stupid plans and went along with them! If this chaos and destruction we see around us is your idea of love then Y/N, I must beg of you, please do not love me."

She turned around and walked away to her sister's car, watching him as they drove away. She had no idea what was waiting around the corner and no idea why he came to where his kind were not wanted to bring up that night. 

Yet it all became apparent to her as they turned the corner. The fire roared, covering the apartment block in flames as the screams of people trapped filled the air while others begged for help to save their loved ones. 

The nationalists watched as the loyalists struggled to put out the fire, smiles on their faces. They watched the chaos unfold, the destruction they had caused. The deaths on their hands.