Meridian Chronicles: Keepers & The Soul Key (#4)

Chapter 2

Back on Earth, sadness gripped all those who knew Aiden. The precession leading away from the Church where Aiden's funeral service took place headed toward the cemetery where they would lay him to rest. Many of Aiden's school friends included his best friend Chris, and even Josh and Eric attended in support. Straggling behind Josh was Aiden's ex-girlfriend Amy who had not quite let go of Aiden herself after their breakup. As everyone arrived at the cemetery, Aiden's closest family members struggled to leave the family car and walk to where they would see Aiden for the last time. His dear grandmother he loved so much convulsed and her whole body shook as her husband held her hands to help her walk. Collapsing from sadness, Grandpa the oak he was, held her close with his long arms wrapped around her.

Chris and his family already seated to hear the pastor's last words, watched Aiden's grandparents arrive as Aiden's grandfather was carrying his wife. Her weakened knees struggled to carry her forward, to say goodbye. Chris's face, wet with tears, he too was breaking down but still had enough in him to help them.

"Oh, Chris, I can't believe he is gone. I can't take this, I can't take this, I can't take this." Aiden's grandmother gripped her hands onto Chris, throwing herself onto him as she continued to cry.

Chris wrapped his arms around her and said, "Grams, I am so sorry. I am."

"I just do not understand how this happened. He was a healthy young man, never sick. How? How could this happen? Why has he been taken from us? I lost his mother, my only daughter, and I made it through...I do not know how I am going to make it through this." Grandma continued to shout into Chris's shoulder as he held her.

As Grandma continued to cry in confusion, Tallulah and Esmra arrived with only an embrace to offer while they remained speechless. Tallulah looked upon Aiden's grandmother, and she to held back her overflowing emotions as her eyes welled up with tears.

She rubbed her eyes, "How did you know my grandson?"

Tallulah's wet eyes gazed into hers. "I knew him for just a short while through a good friend of mine."

Chris let out a sigh. "Grams, the doctor said that he passed of unknown causes. The autopsy revealed this. It is no one's fault." Chris struggled to make these suggestions as he stuttered on his words. The day at the hospital with the unexplainable events played through Chris's mind was too much for anyone to take in, let alone believe.

The pastor called for everyone to be seated so he could continue the rest of his service. Esmra and Tallulah seated their selves next to Chris. Tallulah leaned over to Chris and whispered, "Is that true?"

Chris nodded in confusion and whispered, "Yes, I mean, in the human world, how else would someone make sense of this. I wondered after he passed, what the official cause would be." Chris quieted with the service beginning, keeping his head down as he cut his eyes upward in concern of anyone listening to what he said. After a few moments of a quick scan, his eyes met Amy's, and it was uncertain to him if she had heard anything he said.

It seemed there were hundreds to show up for their support at the service. The cemetery had lines of cars that stretched for miles to include old friends, teachers, and neighbors. After the service completed and everyone said their goodbyes and left, there stood Chris and Aiden's grandmother staring at Aiden as he lay in his casket.

Grandmother had an old handkerchief held up to her face as she stared at her grandson. Aiden's grandfather, only a few steps away, was sharing his gratitude to their long-time pastor of their church. Every so often he would glance back at his wife, and he nodded to Chris who looked back at him. Chris kept his arm around Aiden's grandmother as she placed her hand on Aiden's forehead and brushed his hair.

There he lay, quiet and still, his face seemed bright and the color of his cheeks remained even in death. His lips had a slight upturn as though wherever Aiden was, he was in peace. Not far away within the cemetery, there was one being, who stood in the distance paying his respects to his only son. Talon, even as a fallen, struggled to hold in his pain of losing his only son he never met. At his side in suffering, the spirit guides did not miss a moment of the service for Aiden despite being at a distance.

Relic and Kieren watched Chris comforted Aiden's grandmother while Pramlee and Ridge moved closer hand in hand to Aiden to say their goodbyes. As they approached, they turned their attention toward the ones who could answer the questions that the guides, Esmra and Tallulah would have. There she stood, regal and deliberate, the Fairy Queen and her daughter arrived alongside the Nymphs.

Chris said his goodbyes to his own parents who came in support and from there, he joined with Esmra and Tallulah, as he too wanted some answers about his late friend. As they all gathered together in the cemetery, it was the fairy queen herself, who was quick to speak.