This is a long ass chapter and I low-key hate it 🥲
Funerals are a time to mourn the loss of a loved one and celebrate their life. They can also be a helpful step in the healing process; they often serve as a form of closure. Funerals can help people accept the reality of death and allow their grief to surface. They can also provide a safe place to express feelings and share memories. Unfortunately, Michelle had no good memories to share; she was only there to get closure; she needed to see the man dead in the casket; she also needed to assure herself that she was finally freed from the man's torment.
Along with mourning and celebrating the life of the deceased, funerals invoke the support of family and friends. Honestly, that's one thing Michelle hated about funerals; she didn't like how they brought family and friends together to support each other during a difficult time. Michelle would rather drown in her despair than allow her family to give her support during a difficult time; they wouldn't even bother to give her a chance to express her true feelings concerning the deceased. They had their opinions on her and her late husband; they wouldn't stop favoring the man even if they had proof of what the man did to her.
Luckily for Michelle, she had one family member who had some sense. Johnny didn't care about what the rest of his family thought about Michelle; they weren't the smartest people anyway. Besides, they didn't know what Johnny knew about Chad. They just knew what Madeline told them; they only knew the lies the woman spewed.
"How long is this funeral going to be?" Johnny asked, watching everyone fill the church.
Michelle shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, maybe an hour; however, I wouldn't be shocked if she arranged for the funeral to last two hours. She's going all out for her son; he was all she had left."
"Well, he's dead now. Too bad, so sad."
"Johnny, be nice, we're at a funeral, have some respect for the dead, please."
Johnny rolled his eyes and took out a cigarette. He then placed the cigarette in his mouth before pulling out his lighter and lighting his cigarette. "Chelle, I love you and I have the utmost respect for you. However, I will not give that bastard an ounce of my respect. His body is lying in a casket where it belongs and I'm sure his soul is burning in the hottest pits of hell which is where it belongs. That man should have never been born, he should have been wiped up with a tissue or something."
Michelle tried to hold back her laugh but unfortunately, she failed as she laughed loudly at Johnny's words. "Stop, you're going to send me to hell laughing at your foolishness."
"Hey, I'm just telling the truth. Besides, there is already going to be enough lying at this funeral. Still, I'm not going to say anything bad about him when we get inside. We don't need any unwarranted attention or speculation on us, you certainly don't need that. Anyway, how are you feeling? Are you ready to go inside? Your lover is already in there, she's probably wondering where you are."
The moment they arrived, Beyoncé went inside the church. She wanted to greet everyone and give her condolences before the funeral started. While doing so Beyoncé ran into Madeline, the woman seated in the front row sobbing in front of her son's casket. Doing her best to provide the woman with some comfort, Beyoncé sat beside the woman and laid her hand on the woman's shoulder.
Madeline, who recognized the woman as a friend of Michelle, smiled upon seeing the woman alone. It wasn't hard to recognize how gullible Beyoncé was; she had to be an oblivious fool to be friends with Michelle anyway. Michelle wasn't there to stop her from getting into the woman's head; she had a chance to use her tears to gain the woman's support; she finally had the chance to turn the woman against Michelle.
