Eli Borrelli

41: Funerals

Gabriele POV.

We flew to Finland a few days before the funeral. 

Eli told us about this Maria Koskinen and the things she meant to them. They told us about her husband and how Eli treated him and how they like the couple's grandchild since they never had any. It broke my heart once again hearing about Eli having to survive on their own when they were only fourteen, but at the same time, it was great, that they had people, who took care of them when we couldn't.

They already had a black suit, that Maria had bought for them for her husband's funeral, so we didn't have to go shopping.

After Eli heard the news, they walked into my room, since it was opposite theirs, and just sat on my bed, staring at the wall, not saying a single word.

I gathered, that they needed someone there to make sure, they didn't hurt themself, which was what they told us about their anxiety attacks, so I sat with them and pulled them into a hug.

"What's going on?" I asked rubbing their back.

I was met with silence until Eli started lightly shaking. I saw a single tear fall down their cheek as they stared off into nothingness. No tears followed after the first one, but Eli didn't even try to wipe it away. 

After a while, Eli told me about the phone call, and then about what had happened in Finland. They didn't meet my eyes at any point or move a single inch. Their voice stayed the same, not breaking once as they poured their heart out.

"I'm so sorry," was all I could say after Eli finished.

"We'll all go to her funeral with you. You shouldn't be alone," I said hugging them tightly.

We stayed in Helsinki for a few days, before our jet flew us to Oulu, where the funeral was. Eli showed us around the city, where they once lived, pointing out places they liked to go to, and places they worked at.

It was early December, so the city was filled with Christmas lights, snow, and people walking around with coffee or chocolate in their hands.

We went around a few Christmas marketplaces and grabbed some hot drinks from a small coffee shop.

"So you really lived here for two years?" Matteo asked looking around him.

"Not really. Helsinki is the nicest city in Finland, but it's also really fucking expensive. I lived here for a few months when I first got here since it was the first place I got to, but I soon moved on," Eli explained.

"So, what should we know about Finland?" Lorenzo asked.

We were all doing our best to get Eli thinking about anything other than the funeral we were going to the next day.

"Best education system in the world, free healthcare, a lot of women in politics and overall leading the country, clean air, a lot of nature, a shit ton of racist, and really high suicide ratings," Eli listed with the help of their fingers.

"That's... really good, then really bad," Antonio summed up.

"Yep," Eli said popping the p.

"There's actually a thing tonight that I want to go to," Eli said as we were walking back to our hotel.

"What kind of thing? Is there a club you want to play at or something?" Matteo asked.