Jaded

All About The Family

Clare was ready to go five minutes later, she was confused to why William was driving her to school but when her mom had said that daddy was ill ; she understood. She got to school a little bit early but some of her friends were already there, so she played happily with them on the various pieces of playground equipment. William stayed until she had to go in, he waved goodbye to her as she went through the main doors of her school and into lessons.

William waved goodbye to poor Clare, she had absolutely no clue what was going on. He'd wanted to tell her, but even be knew that it wasn't the right time, despite him going through some very similar experiences as a kid himself. When he found out about his mother's illness she was on her last legs, he was only seven. He was seven years old when he had to attend her funeral.

Little young William donned a black suit, a black suit especially tailored for him, for this exact occasion. A single tear dribbled down his face as he stared into the bathroom mirror longingly, as if it could bring her back from the dead. A slight knock at the door stirred him from his sorrows.

"My dearest cherub, don't cry to yourself. Come here, let me hold you in my arms." His grandma pulled him in for a massive hug as she sobbed silently into the shoulder of his suit.

"Granny..."He whispered.

"Yes, my dear boy, how can I help you?"

"Why do people die?"

"Because sometimes it is their time to leave this world and go to be with the angels." She whispered slowly, after contemplating it for a moment.

She then continued, "It is time to go and say farewell to her." She lifted herself to her feet, the younger person followed sorrowfully after her.

It was exactly 10:30am that the service begun, William wasn't paying much attention to the current speaker, he was wrapped up in his own thoughts. His mind was paved in guilt, he blamed himself entirely for her death, despite him having no involvement in it.

The hearse bearers carried the coffin through the church, through its doors and out in the the unfittingly bright sunlight. A hole of approximately six feet downwards had been created in preparation for one sole reason. Behind it stood a gravestone.

A dear daughter and an excellent mother.
Victoria Wilson
23rd May 1937-25th May 1966

Inscribed on the tombstone was this beautiful message in cursive writing, around the edge of it beautiful lilies, her favourite, were placed. These flowers almost acted a border to the message.

Shovels full of soil began to slowly cover what remained of his mother.

William thanked himself for leaving early for work, albeit it was due to suspicion, it meant that he would arrive to work on time. It was almost as if the universe had been planning every single event of his life, good or bad, from the very beginning to fall into the exact chronological order that it had. That was weird. However, it did seem to fit, if he hadn't got angry at his welcome party then he would've never have known about the Clarke's relationship issues.

He pondered to himself momentarily, Mrs Clarke was now in his house. Her husband was asleep when she fled. He would wake up soon. If he hadn't seen a fist in his face last night he probably would be seeing one today, this made him cringe to himself as he drove down the block.

He arrived at work exactly two minutes before his shift began, he was impressed at this. Then it struck him, he'd have to be the big bad boss as per usual. Otherwise, they'd think that he'd gone soft on them by the second day, just great. To keep up appearances might have, on the other hand, have been the best of things. It didn't arose suspicion.

William stepped through the door, presuming that he would have a normal day at work. What greeted him was the opposite to ideal. There was a crying woman sat on an office chair who he'd never seen before in his entire life and another two men sprawled out on the floor. Both were covered in the blood of themselves and each other. Surprisingly, one of them was his favourite worker, David.

"What the... What's going on in here? Can anyone care to explain?" He asked the piercing question.

"We can explain..." Replied David weakly as his blood dripped downwards onto the carpet.