Colourful

0 | Prologue

A large black coffin hovered above the pit, inside it laid his lifeless body. Hands crossed above his still chest and skin as pale as chalk, all the melanin had drained from his body. A picture stood on the left side of the coffin. In the picture, the sun gently caressed his light coffee skin and wonderfully showed off his perfect white teeth. In the picture, he looked joyous in his dress shirt and blazer, no sign of death nearing.

Forming a horse-shoe around the coffin was his family and friends. Each person wore black garments and held a black open umbrella over their heads as the heavens cried with them. Esther, his mother, who stood in front of the crowd, had to raise her voice as the cries of the clouds roared down on them. With her gloved hands she gently wiped off the tears from her tear-soaked cheeks.

She praised her son, talking of his selflessness, his kind heart and how understanding he was of everything. "He would always volunteer to help out at the church," she said in between sobs. "And children loved him so much," she continued to talk of his character, how funny he was and how everyone just loved to be around him.

Amandla stood in the crowd, black umbrella held up, just like everyone else at the funeral. No tear left her eyes, she was completely numb. A void grew where heart was supposed to be and he put it there. To think that one day he was alive and happy, then the next night he's gone, just like that. That night when his life was ended, Esther had lost a son, a person she loved, but Amandla lost feeling, she lost love and hate filled in that spot.

Soon it was Amandla's turn to step up and speak, Adam- the father of the deceased and Esther's husband- refused to give a speech, whether it was because he was too sad or disappointed in his son, Amandla did not know the answer, but she suspected the latter, for she too was disappointed. She pulled the hoodie of her black cloak off, revealing waves of copper coloured hair. She tucked her hair behind her ears as she placed her prepared speech onto the stand. She took a deep breath in and out, cleared her throat and commenced with her speech.

As she spoke, she could feel his presence, his strong arms wrapped around her petit waist whilst his head rested on her shoulder. She described the close bond she had with him and how kind and loving he was. She did not forget to mention the great advice he would always give. "There was no one more understanding than him," she concluded.

Maybe they kept repeating how understanding he was to try and understand why his death had happened. She remembered the times they would lie together on his bed, the television playing in front of them. Their bodies would be wrapped around one another and nothing mattered, they had each other and were happy.

Amandla's heart sank as the coffin was settled into the six foot deep pit. From dust to dust, the order of nature, it has been like that since Cain and Abel. She traced her hand over her neck, as she recalled the times he would leave wet kisses there. She closed her eyes and could almost feel them again, his breath against her neck as his soft lips pecked her neck.

The pastor finished his prayer with an "Amen" and his mother and father both threw the first hand full of soil into the pit. The rest of the people followed after. Amandla felt a part of her fade as the soil left her palm and splashed onto the wooden coffin. Suddenly everything became all too real, her heart began to rapidly beat and she began to feel light headed.

With teary eyes she turned from the pit and ran to her father, who had accompanied her, and wrapped her arms around him before crying into his chest. He stiffened at first but soon relaxed his body and brought his arms around her, pulling her closer whist gently rubbing circles on her back to calm her.

"Why?" she whispered in between sobs. "Why? Why? Why?"

No matter how hard she tried to think, she could never come up with a proper answer for her question. Why? He probably had a reason, he was a very reasonable person and didn't do things just because he could and he would normally thing of others, but the reason was an unknown to Amandla. Anger and sadness overwhelmed her and she did not know what it was she actually felt or what it was exactly she was supposed to feel.

Why? Why would he hurt me? Why did he do it? Why did I not see this coming? Was a bad friend? Why did he never speak? Why had I never asked? Why? Why? Why? Questions kept flooding into her mind but none came with an answer attached but they all seemed to come with two other answer-less questions. She could not even guess. This just all caught her by surprise.

The coffin was fully covered and soon it would have a stone. On it, it would read;

"R. I. P

Daniel Adam Warren"

He was the boy who had killed himself. The boy Amanda once felt love for. The boy she was sure she would marry. Committed such a selfish act and scarred her.