The death didn't come as a surprise to Daysha. Her brother had been dying for months, cancer was a vicious killer. Still his death had hit her like a truck, it had hit them all. Her parents were devastated by the death of their firstborn, and her younger sister had barely spoken in three days. Everyone seemed to be taking it pretty hard.
Ethan had been a good brother and and even better friend. Daysha had always seen him as more than just a brother, he was a friend and someone she could always talk to. His death had brought with it a hollowness that Daysha couldn't ever see herself filling. He was the only person she had to cry to, and she needed someone more than ever to deal with her grief, so she receded into herself and waited for the funeral to roll around.
The funeral was scheduled for the third of may, eight days after he had died. The weather was harsh and the rain hit the limestone church at angles that defied reason. All the guests wore black, black suits, black ties and black everything else. The guest list mostly consisted of relatives and close friends, although there were many more grieving for the loss of a loved figure in the community. Daysha listened to the priest reciting his speech, her body felt numb, she couldn't feel the outside world, things seemed to just drift over her since her closest friend had died. Her eyes drifted towards the casket, sitting at the front of the church. It seemed to be the only solid object in the whole building; as the world drifted lazily around her, Daysha had only one solid thing to focus on, and that was the certainty of death, represented by the big oak casket holding the last remains of her only brother. So she latched onto it and almost unconsciously her head was filled with thoughts of the inevitability of death.
People were standing now, her parents were on her left and she felt her mother gently tug at her arm. She stood. Everyone began moving to the doors. She watched as the only certainty she had was lifted by four of Ethan's friends and carried outside towards the freshly dug grave. She stepped out onto the now soggy ground and watched as the coffin was slowly lowered into the earth. She was ushered forward by her family until she was standing by the edge of the grave and clutching a single white rose in her hand. She gripped the rose tighter as she watched her parents drop theirs onto the casket and step back to give her access to the grave. She stepped up to the looming pit and held the rose out above the final resting place of her brother. She released the rose and watched it fall. A single drop of her blood fell with the rose and splashed onto the dark brown lid of the casket. She saw the glistening red of her blood on one of the thorns of the rose, just before she was gently pulled backwards to stand with her parents.
More people payed their final respects and the coffin was covered in earth. Only when she made her way back inside the church did she realise it was still raining and that she was soaking wet. She felt a pain in her palm and raised her hand to examine it. A thin line of blood trickled its way down her hand and onto her wrist. That red was the most vivid anything had been since that morning. That red was what brought her back to reality.
