(09
“Impossible! That just can’t bel” Emily’s scream cut sharply through the cemetery’s silence.
“Dr. Dickens, I swear I’m not lying! It’s the truth! I heard Steve took them alone to the funeral home–you can ask him yourself!”
Thunder rumbled ominously, the wind whipping up violently around us.
I frantically scooped up the last bits of ashes, pressing the urn against my chest tightly.
“Steve, are they really dead? Are these really their ashes?”
Emily knelt before me, reaching for the urn, but I pushed her away firmly.
“Don’t touch them! You have no right!”
Behind Emily, Matt’s face went pale, his mouth opening then closing without a word,
Tears clouded Emily’s eyes as she looked at me. “Steve, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“Haven’t I told you? How many times? Did you ever believe me? I told you their lives were hanging by a thread. I went looking for you, begged you to come to the hospital, but you refused! You thought drinking with Matt mattered
more!”
“If I had known you wouldn’t come, I’d never have left the hospital. At least Dad wouldn’t have died alone, without family by his side. Mom asked where you were as she was dying, and I couldn’t even bear to tell her the truth.”
“I told her you were stuck in surgery and couldn’t leave. She didn’t blame you! But you know what? I hate you. I’ve never hated anyone as much as I hate you right now! I’m afraid I’d lose it and kill you right now!”
“I’ve treated your parents like my own all these years, Can’t you see that? How could I possibly curse them, use their lives to trick you?”
Emily wept uncontrollably, her body wracked with sobs, yet my heart remained unmoved,
“Don’t cry in front of them–it disturbs their peace! They adored you and put you at the center of their world. And how did you repay them? You prioritized your social life over their very lives!”
“I pleaded with you relentlessly. You kept accusing me of acting. Just one phone call–that’s all it would have taken to verify the truth. We’ve been together for years, yet you trusted Matt over me!”
“They’re gone now, and you desecrated their graves for Matt’s cat, denying them peace even in death. How could such good people have raised someone like you? Even an animal shows more heart than you do!”
“They chose this urn design long ago–you’ve seen it before. Are you blind? Can’t you see? You relish their unconditional love, yet you don’t hold a place for them in your heart. You don’t deserve to be their daughter, not even to cry over them!”
Clutching the urn, I stumbled out of the cemetery.
Emily’s cries tore through the night, but I never turned back.
The greatest sorrow is a dead heart.
Mine died the moment I buried Charles and Margaret.
Just before the rainstorm, I got into my car.
I had made up my mind to find a beautiful and peaceful new resting place for them, away from Emily’s
disturbances.
An hour later, urgent knocking echoed at the door
Opening it, I found Emily, drenched and fortom, with want looking on with a complex expression.
331 PM 0 d
She’s Not Worthy of Beng Human
“Got the gall to show up?”
I didn’t plan to let her in
Matt then said, “This is her home too. How can she not come back? It wasn’t intentional, Death is irreversible,
and she’s suffering too. Can’t you just drop it?”
His arrogance was as grating as ever, his attitude insufferable.
