Blood Ties (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Forty

When the pyre was reduced to embers the crowd slowly started to shuffle inside, muttering amongst themselves. I myself was silent, mute almost. I knew he was gone, but for some reason, it still was too new of information to really sink in and feel real.

"I'm going to go and get a drink," Ife told me and I turned to let her know I'd heard her, only to find that once again she had disappeared.

Shrugging, now used to Ife and her ability to disappear into thin air, I scanned the crowd for the Lockwood family. Though this had been the strangest funeral that I'd ever attended, I had a feeling the tradition of going to see the family for yourself and expressing condolences was the same as it was for humans.

They weren't hard to find, Keith was tall enough to spot from where I was standing even with the small line that had begun to form in front of them. I took my place in it, hand folded in front of me and I hoped that the skirt of this dress was long enough to hide my shaking knees. The line grew shorter and shorter, my heart beat a little faster and I decided that doing this alone had been a bad idea. Caiyun really didn't like me, on a normal day she could be a bit snippy with me, but she was mostly civil. But on a day like this? Were her emotions were frayed down to almost nothing? I did not think she'd react well to my being here like at all.

The man in front of me stepped away from Caiyun and it was my turn. I looked her in the eyes and took a deep breath. "I am so sorry for your loss."

She shocked me then, her cool arms wrapped me in a hug. Stunned, I patted her on the back, feeling a bit like Sheldon Cooper. "Thank you for coming." she whispered, voice brittle.

"I wouldn't have missed it," I replied, unsure what had made her glad to see me. Perhaps she was just too tired to be angry with me right now. "He was a good man," I said drawing away and Caiyun dabbed at her bloody tears with a napkin.

"Yes he was," she agreed and I moved onto Keith, thankful that my time with Caiyun was up.

"I'm sorry," I told Keith as he bent down to hug me. "It's terrible to loose a father." He drew back a little and frowned at me. "I lost mine too," I explained. I decided not to mention that I had no real memories of him. Just pictures and stories that had been passed down. "I know how rough it is." A white lie that I hoped would bring some comfort.

"Thanks," he said and then I turned my gaze, ready to go through this one more time with Damon but he wasn't there. I gave Keith a silent question and he shrugged in response. Find him?  he mouthed.

I nodded in reply and walked, almost invisible through the crowd and out of the dining hall. Okay, I thought to myself. If I was Damon where would I go off and hide to? The temple might be an obvious choice, it's far enough underground that most wouldn't think to look there, but I disregarded it. Damon told me he was more devout to his faith on some days than others, in the event of his father's passing, I was fairly certain that today would be one of those less devout days. Temple was out. His room? Not likely either, too obvious, first place most people would have looked. 

It hit me then, his office. A place that he hadn't expected to have nor one that he'd wanted either. It would be the last place anyone would think to look for him. I walked down the stairs towards the business office, stopped at his door knocked, and then let myself in. Sure enough, Damon was there, standing at his desk and back turned to me.

"I thought I'd find you here," I said, pushing the door open a little more. "Can I come in?"

"Sure."

I entered and shut the door behind me. "You're family's worried about you," I told him.

"Yeah they aren't the only ones." He said and then he turned to look at me and I saw crusty remains of tears stuck to his face.  I said nothing, but hopped up on the desk and sat down. The whole scene reminded me just a little bit of waiting for Volitare's English class to start. "My dad's dead."