Love At First Surgery

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

It was a chilly fall morning in Seattle,Washington. That was nothing out of the ordinary, though. Today was the day of Lexie's funeral.

-

A sigh escaped Mark's pale pink lips. "Lately, many people have expressed their sympathies about Lexie's death," he started saying, trying not to start crying in front of the array of people in the church. "

"Her battle was short.." he said, licking his lips. "After the birth of Alaska and Cassandra, she stopped breathing. She just suddenly stopped," he said, his voice breaking at the end of the sentence.

"Now that she's gone, I'm grateful that I've spent as much time as I could with her,"

"Sometimes, we would just start talking about our childhoods here in Washington. We always would talk about how I used to live in Olympia and how she spent most of her life here, in Seattle. She told me about the Golden Retriever she used to have, which was named Beans."

-

"Let us commend Alexandra Caroline Grey to the mercy of God.." the Priest started.

In the group of people, all you heard from them from sobs. The group included family,friends, and a few people from the hospital.

"We therefore commit her body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life,"

And then, she was buried. Lexie was six feet under, rotting along with the other corpses. One of the rotting corpses included Mark's mom, an alcoholic. She was diagnosed with alcoholic hepatitis at age forty-six. Mark was only twenty then. The doctors would always tell her to stop drinking, but she would never listen. The only time she would put down her bottle is when she slept. If she didn't sleep, that woman could drink all night long.

When Mark was fourteen, his father had packed up all of his things and left after a huge argument with Mark's mother. Around this time,she had fell into depression and Mark's mother had started to drink. Drinking was her escape.

Mark was embarrassed of having her as a mother. Every time a friend of his came over, his mother would always be laying on their cream-colored leather couch. Every time she went in for a hug or just to greet them, her breath reeked of alcohol.

Up to 30 to 40 percent of people with severe alcoholic hepatitis can die within a month. Mark's mother was one of those 30 to 40 percent to die due to alcoholic hepatitis.

Because of how stubborn his mother was, Mark was the only one to attend her funeral. Mark was the only one his mother really had. None of her family or so-called friends didn't want to be around her,due to her drinking. This caused her to fall into the black hole, called depression, even further. There was no escape.

-

From black heels,black dress shoes,and black sneakers, Lexie was under everyone's feet.

She was just another dead person. Another dead person who's family, friends, and colleagues would cry about for the next few days. Hell, they could even cry for the next few weeks- maybe even months.

Mark didn't want to cry. He knew Lexie wasn't coming back, but he still wanted her to. Everyone told him that Lexie was "still with him," that she'd "live on in his heart," or that she was in Heaven, but Mark knew she was just gone.

-

Derek, who held Zola in his arms, followed Meredith up to Mark, who was standing next to Lexie's fresh grave.

"So, I heard the babies are going home tomorrow." Meredith said, trying to break the silence.

"Yeah," Mark began, while staring off into the distance. "I don't know if I should be happy or terrified."

"If you need any help, you know where to find us." Derek said, motioning for Meredith to come with him and leave Mark alone.

Mark smiled at the thought of being able to bring his daughters home and looked once more at Lexie's grave. Just then, he knew everything would be alright after all.