Writer Games: The Final Twist & A Night in Wattpad Manor & Faction Wattpad

The Funeral: Austin Hawke

The funeral parlor was  packed with people in black, the air feeling thick and hot from all the  bodies crowded into it. There wasn't a dry eye in the room, though a  willowy old woman that looked exactly like the deceased and an angular  blonde with a baby on her hip were crying harder than anyone else. A  golden haired man stands with them, holding the hand of a small boy.  There was no division of Faction in this room, people of every kind and  status were blended together as they paid tribute to their late ruler.  It had been a long time since the people of Chicago had been as one in  such a calm way.
The first to step forward is the blonde woman, who  hands her baby to her aunt before standing in front of the crowd. She  wipes her dark eyes and looks out at everyone assembled for the  celebration of her mothers life, and the tragedy of her death.
"You've  all known my mom in different ways. Some as a ruler. Some as a friend.  Some as a young girl from Abnegation and some as an even younger girl  from Dauntless. But I know her as my mother. My loud, selfless, brave  mother who made time for me even though she was busy running an entire  city. I remember when I was getting ready to choose my Faction and I was  worried that I would make the wrong choice, that I would disappoint her  somehow. She placed a hand on my shoulder and said 'Jena, follow your  heart. Do what makes you happy and forget about us, this is about you  now.' before kissing the top of my head. As a little girl growing up in  Abnegation, I had never been told to think about myself. But my mother  wanted me to be more than just a girl from Abnegation, so I believed she  was proud when my blood splattered on the bowl of dirt. She was just  like that, she wanted us all to be whoever we felt we were and she led  with that idea that we're all individuals. I loved her for that, I still  do. I'm going to miss her with all my heart." Jena Acomid's voice  trembled as she spoke gently of the woman she knew, her delicate Amity  trill shattered by her sobs. She touched the grey casket behind her  before going back to its side and taking her small daughter back,  stroking her dark curls.
After Jena stepped down, she was replaced by  an elderly man so frail that it looked like even the smallest breeze  would blow him over. He looked at the casket before addressing the  mourners. His voice was loud, surprisingly so, and everyone listened.
"I  first met Ms. Hawke when I was about twenty. She was a few years  younger than me, just transferring into our Faction. Though it was  selfish of us to be so mean, some of my friends were predicting which  initiates would make it through initiation. And nobody thought the loud  girl from Dauntless with her tattoo and highlights and chipped front  tooth would ever become an Abnegation. Well we were wrong. Austin Hawke  was an exceptional Abnegation and I'm proud to say I knew such a  selfless person. She was still very loud though, people were always  reminding her to whisper and she would turn red before dropping her  voice to a whisper. She wasn't perfect, nobody is, but she was one of us  to the core. She taught me to be a better Abnegation and I thank her  for that. We've lost a great leader and an even greater person, she'll  be missed." The man bowed his head a little before stepping down from  the platform. He gave the grieving family a sad smile and sat down like  he had never stood.
The grey haired woman, so similar to her late  sister that it hurts, slowly stood in front of the sea of blank with a  grimace on her wizened face. Anyone who knew the story of the scar on  her face teared up at the sight but kept their attention on her. She was  expected to speak after all, they may as well listen.
"I'm sure many  of you know me, as you knew my sister and I do wear her face. I'm here  to be honest with you, so don't be offended by anything I say. My sister  was my worst enemy. She always had been. She was the golden girl for a  long time, I was the black sheep. It was only natural that we hated  eachother sometimes. I even forced her to become me for too long, much  too long. So I understand why she might've resented me. But Austin,  Aidan, whatever you want to call her, was also my best friend. I have  never loved somebody more than I loved my sister, not even myself."  Aidan Hawke had to take a second to steady herself as her voice turned  into a tight croak. She took a few breaths before she could start again. 
"She was so much a part of who I am that my first few years in  Candor, I would wake up and cry because she wasn't there with me. She  wouldn't have approved of this big commotion over her death; even as the  leader of the entire system, she was still Abnegation at heart. But it  was this selflessness and hatred of being looked at as a figurehead that  made people love her. It's what made me love her; even though she never  wanted to be Abnegation, it was where she belonged. Even if it meant  she wasn't there to be my sister. She was stubborn and loud and bossy  and obnoxious at times. But she was amazing. She was my sister. And I'll  always miss her. My amazing twin..." Aidan's frail voice was barely  audible at the end and she sways a little. Her nephew dashed forward to  support her and lead her back to where the rest of her family was.
The  funeral went on, friends and family and people who didn't even know  Austin Hawke personally taking the stage to talk about the life of their  great leader. Some spoke admirably of what she did for them. Some  recalled memories of meeting her or coming across her when she was just a  young girl. A few focused on the woman herself. There was even a  mention of what a man was doing when the news spread that their ruler  had died. Sobs echoed throughout the room, even though Austin herself  would've disapproved of people crying on her behalf. Even the children  wept for the elderly woman that they didn't know.
Finally there was a  sort of silence. All the tears stopped and the whispers stopped and  even the babies quieted down. Every eye in the room was focused on the  grey casket before them. The grey of Abnegation with stripes across it.  Four stripes. Black. Yellow. Blue. White. One stripe for each faction  she touched and the casket as a reminder of her home. It was housing a  body but also so much more. It was housing a symbol. A sign that you  didn't need to be born a leader to be great. That you didn't have to be  perfect to be admired. You didn't have to be born anything special to  become special. Austin Hawke had been a loud, fiery, stubborn girl with a  bad attitude. Then a selfless, thoughtful, and brave woman. But she was  not special and that's what made the people of every Faction love her.
The  little boy who had been clinging to Austin's son cleared his throat.  His face pale and his hands shaking, he stepped forward in front of the  mass of people who were watching him carefully. He looked terrified but  sure of himself at the same time, a look that some had seen on the face  of their leader when times were tough. The boy's father nodded at him  and the small child finally opened his mouth to speak.
"I miss my  Gramma. She was very special to me and Daddy and Auntie Jena and Josie  and Auntie Aidan. My Gramma was funny. One time when she was watchin'  me, she told me a story about how one time she and Auntie Aidan set off  fireworks inside where they lived and there was a big ex- explo- kas-  explos- kasplosion! But she's gone now with my Grampa Parker. And I'm  gonna miss her and her joking and her chocolate cake and the way she  used to call me Kip instead of Kipper and how she smelled like apples  all the time and... And I'm just going to miss her. My Gramma was my  most favoritist person in the whole wide world and I'm always gonna love  her buckets. Thank you all for coming to share your stories with me."  Kipper stumbled over some words and made up some of his own but that  just made his eulogy even sadder, the childish sweetness to it brought  tears to his father's eyes and made his aunt cry. The little boy waved  to the astonished crowd before running back to his dad and burying his  little face in his legs.
One by one, the mourners left the Funeral  Home. It had been raining earlier but the sun was shining now in some  sort of promise of happiness to come. A few stragglers paid their  respects privately and said their condolences to the little family  before it was just them left standing in an empty room. Jena Acomid took  her brother's hand and kissed the top of her daughter's head. Aidan  Hawke looked away and closed her eyes, letting a few tears slip out as  she did. Kipper and Daniel Hawke stood there in a surprisingly similar  manner, both staring at the box with their blue eyes full of tears. It  was a small family but a strong one.
And then the children left with  their children, leaving Aidan alone with her sister's death weighing  heavily on her mind. Something felt unfinished about her goodbye and she  knew she couldn't leave until she fixed it.
"You were right you  know. That time when you'd said I'd cry if you dropped dead and I said  you were stupid and that I would laugh if you were gone. I'll see you  soon, okay? I love you." Aidan spoke as if Austin could hear her- and  maybe she could, who knows- before smiling a little and leaving the  room.
And for once in Austin Hawke's life, everything was at peace.