The box was tightly closed, and Ael couldn’t see her. He wanted to be close. What if her box fell over the edge into the raging waters of the ocean below?
Tears ran down his cheeks. His mama was his favorite person in the whole world. He didn’t know someone could ‘pass away’. What did that even mean?
Daddy said she would never come back.
This was a new pain for him, one he didn’t understand or know how to handle. Before this, the worst thing he had felt was when Luelle tripped him, and he fell into the gravel, causing his blood to pool on his knee.
Mama helped him then, gently brushing away the small rocks and cleaning him up. Mama wasn’t here now to help the hurt.
This felt different. It hurt more.
He stepped closer to her casket and dropped to his knees,pressing his ear to the box, trying and praying to hear her soothing heartbeat through the wood.
Only silence greeted him.
“It’s time to get up, Ael,” Daddy sternly said behind him. “It’s time togrow up.”
He cried into his hands and collapsed further onto the ground, pressing the side of his face to the rocky ground below, feeling the kiss of sunshine heat his other cheek.
“Fucking disgrace,” his father said of him as he and everyone else walked away.
Ael lay there alone as he firmly pressed his eyes closed. He cried out loudly, perhaps to no one specific, or to anyone who would listen, or even to the heavens, the earth, and the depths of hell itself.
This pain felt like his heart was dropping into his stomach, and it hurt so very much.
A soft hand pressed against his cheek and lightly brushed away a tear.
He cracked open his eyes and saw the blurry image of Luelle kneeling beside him. She leaned down and hugged him tightly, her long golden ponytail draping over his shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, Cahir,” she whispered.
Ael sat up and angrily brushed the tears away from his cheeks and forced his tongue to move how it was supposed to, “Ilovemy mama. Only she could call me that name. My name isAel.”
Luelle paused before she said, “Okay, Ael.”
She sat alongside him, grabbing his hand into hers and rubbing her thumb back and forth over his palm.
They sat there, with hands tightly intertwined, as the clouds thickened once more and rain began to trickle from the sky, blending with the pain sliding down their cheeks.
They allowed the rain to soak through their clothes and listened to the deafening thunder rumble across the earth.
They sat there until the sky darkened, the clouds parted, and the twinkling of stars glittered above.
And there they remained… both trying to understand what death was at such a young age and how to cope with the loss of such a special person.
Luelle didn’t release his hand once.
Chapter 23
Luelle
Luelle awoke in her uncomfortable chair in the dark hallway. Last night was dull, and Neoma had no visitors in her room. She spent most of the night watching her sleep under the plush blankets, wishing it were her lying on that soft-looking bed instead of sitting in the damn chair.
She needed to find someone to bring something more comfortable to spy from, but Ael was the only one aware of her presence within these halls.
Maybe he could carry another in for her.
She sighed and slowly stood from the seat, quietly groaning as her joints felt stiff from hours in the same position. She glanced one last time through the hole and saw Neoma still asleep.
