Paranimal

Chapter 7

"Volowskii was not a good man. He was a GREAT man. There are no words to describe a Paranimal like Josiah Pallesby but I know that he loved us all, and we loved him too. To say he will be sorely missed would be the greatest understatement of my life. Vol was there when I was sick and was told I would die. His heart and his mind were amongst the many he'd taught to be strong and he helped my family and I to pull through. Nothing can repay the debt I owe him and nothing can bring him back. However, I know with all certainty that Volowskii's memory shall live on always, may he rest in peace and find his loved ones in the life beyond. Mother Morph bless his heart." Tiger steps down from the lectern, before his voice cracks and he walks back to Pa's side, crying into his hands.

I look despairingly around me, at all the paranimals standing in forlorn sorrow. It isn't quite like I had dreamed, there in that beautiful clearing the week before; instead the whole affair is much grander, flowers and wreaths and Volowskii's portrait adorns CentreStone and the sound of soft melancholy flutes ripples like lost souls through the gentle summer air. The heavy scent of sweet roses, magnolia and lily swathe the Pack members, dressed in black silk and satin and a great weight of sadness seems to rest itself on our shoulders. There's a small fat man standing behind me, bawling uncontrollably into his plump hands but he's getting several glares and so quickly morphs into an obese Labrador before waddling off whimpering to himself.

Ma squeezes my hand as the sound of bittersweet violins begin to play the Pack's anthem. Four men with black bow ties unfurl the red carpet that runs down the aisle between the rows of rock pews that we are all seated upon. Then the coffin bearers are proceeding down the aisle with a great oak coffin strung with scarlet and royal purple silks, golden tassels swaying. The top of the coffin is made of clear glass and as the small procession passes us, I catch my last ever glimpse of our beloved Volowskii, so lost to the fine man he was before, now just a shadow of his former self. His face is pale but the make-up plumps the sallow sickness that had carved his face before he died. Tears roll down my cheeks, like raindrops searching for a stream and I bury my face into Ma's side, lost to the wild clamor of emotions flooding from inside me, rolling me through waves of bitter sadness and drowning me till I fall to the ocean depths of despair.

Pa is stroking my mother's arm to calm her as his green eyes cloud over with tears, like two emeralds swimming in pools of fathomless pain. I can't see Tiger around but I'm too lost, too breathless and aching to bother. I can hear a man's voice murmuring from the lectern but my ears won't let the words sink in, letters and sounds that join to make such...meaningless, incomprehensible words. Words that couldn't even begin to peel away the layers of papery pain swathing my heart, to unravel the past week's events, to turn back time and bring Volowskii back.

As mourners begin to depart, I look about for Tiger. My tear-swollen eyes ache in the sunlight but still I continue to stare about me like a deranged beast, scanning the crowd of smartly dressed paranimals for my brother's mop of honey blonde hair. Suddenly, someone's got me by the shoulder and I spin round. A boy with a shock of reddy-orange hair and a splash of freckles across his face is standing before me. His hazel-green eyes are a little teary from the whole atmosphere of the funeral but he's smiling. Smiling, for Mother Morph's sake! It's Dominic, the boy who called last week to inform Pa about the funeral.

"You're not exactly on top form are you?" He remarks, rudely.

As if I'm supposed to look any better if a family friend has just died.

"Well YOU don't look as if you're in the right frame of mind for your great uncle's funeral do you?" I reply, impertinently. "Now if you don't mind, you can jolly well wipe that stupid smile off your face!"

With that, I turn abruptly away, and continue to look about me for my brother.

"Wait, Roberta!"