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Death and his Supervisors

That day it smelled like the ocean.

It's just so vast and though people walk back and forth with those black dresses and coats sprayed with fancy perfumes, the air is still dense with mourning.

The wind blows strong but at the same time calming. It disturbs the thick layers of green from tall trees and as it goes nearer to the ground it just whispers and caresses the fallen leaves. It was never autumn. The season never felt that sad. That day it does.

Eyrin stands farthest from where the priest stands. Jeff, Adrian, and Leo's parents have their heads lowered. They also wear glasses but even so, even if their faces seem to be void of any emotion, their trembling still reveal the weakness of their current state.

The priest utters the blessing that's supposed to guide his soul to the after life. After that, those who have something to say speak and voiced their feelings. That day, Leo is beside Eyrin, in his ever casual stature, but without his usual cheeky smile.

Leo never has had imagined that he would be able to hear what other people has to say about him. That day he knows, there are no more feelings kept, no more promises to be made or broken, and no more words left unsaid.

Except his.

That day he's buried to the ground, to lay down six feet under the stars, to forever look up and eventually be part of the sky.

In that hole his memories will be covered in dirt and as people go by time and forget, one after another it will be there even if no one remembers.

That day, Eyrin thinks, it strongly smells like the ocean. She doesn't think she can forget.

As the crowd gradually dispersed and went back to their usual lives, Leo keeps standing still, in front of his tomb feet on the fresh soil that covers his body. Eyrin stands beside him, looking at the tomb as she tries to speak and get a word from him.

"I should claim to be the one who feels strongly about your," she can't find the right word to say at first, "...demise."

"Demise?" Leo finally speaks with a scoff, "that's too grand. But why?" he asks without making eye contact.

"I never really knew you until yesterday when you mysteriously brought me into your house," she starts explaining, "I was shocked but that's just one word to put it."

She crouches and picks up the candle to light up another one with flames blown away by the wind. "Then this morning I remember how you died and I saw it on tape. I was angry, weakened, and then I was just horrified."

She doesn't stand up right away and just stares at the name engraved on the cobble stone.

LEONARD V. HERNANDEZ
1998-2017

"Then today is where I see people mourn for you and I couldn't cry knowing that you're beside me, seemingly alive," she continues, "I just can't explain how I feel. They're all strong and I can't just choose one."

"You don't really have to feel anything for me," Leo speaks half-jokingly. "But if you feel like comforting me, a hug from a friend will do," he continues pertaining to her.

Eyrin lets out a bitter chuckle and secretly wipes the lone tear from her left eye. "Yeah," she stands up still refusing to avert her gaze from the tomb, "I wish I could just give you a hug right now."

"Were you his friend?" someone asks from behind and that's the time that Eyrin looks back.

Her gaze is welcomed by the same brown eyes she just met yesterday, but that time, it's from a different person.