From the Beggining - Damiano David

CHAPTER 21 - funeral

Posted: 28th January 2023

a/n please vote on this google form and help me choose a name for a character in my next fic. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd2EPVB28UQAFlnLwZF0wjzmKbjsSP_OAFU0te8brQgzyJgyg/viewform?usp=sf_link I thank to those who did it :) Now enjoy this chapter.

I flew to Italy the day before the funeral to make sure I had enough time to have a proper chat with Sofia.

She had greeted me at the airport and we took a cab to the hotel I was staying at.

"Good flight?" she started the conversation.

"It was alright, nothing special."

"So good?"

"Yeah, good."

None of us really knew what to say, for the first time in my life a conversation with Sofia was awkward and felt wrong. I had missed very dearly, but with the gloom in the air it was different.

"You got your stuff packed?" I asked.

"mhm.. " she hummed, "they're at our cousins grandparents' house. They'll have it ready for tomorrow's flight." then she sat down on the bed next to me.

It was silence again. The feeling was similar to when we lost our mother, but this time I didn't feel that sad. This time I felt guilty for not being so sad, I didn't even cry when I found out, I didn't cry at all.

Little by little we got the conversation going, we talked about school, universities Sofia was interested in and my new job. Then somehow the conversation changed to our aunt and uncle. Sofia knew them way better than I did, for the past year she had lived with them, I only had spent some weeks over the summer at their house, I tried to comfort her as much as I could, but I wasn't that good at it. But then I got and idea.

"Alright Sof. No more sobbing, I have something just for this occasion."

I stood up and walked towards my suitcase. It took a good minute to find it, but in the end I found it. It was a travel size bottle of brandy. I raised it up with a mischievous smile for Sofia to see it.

"Y/n, no. Absolutely not."

I smiled again, "suit yourself." I said as I opened it and took a swig.

She huffed then took another look.

"Give it here."

I handed it to her without saying anything only smiling knowingly.

That's how the rest of the night went. We drank and vented about all of our problems, Sofia sobbed again, but calmed down easier this time with the help of the drink.

But of course the bottle was quite small so it finished quite quickly. I had only had a few sips so I was pretty much this sober, but Sofia was another talk, she was completely pissed, the fact that she had drank before only a few times in her life was also not helping.

Sofia drowned the last drop and placed it down on the bedside table with a bit more force than needed.

"Do you have any more?" she asked.

"How much alcohol do you think I carry with myself?" I laughed.

"I need more." She groaned falling back on the bed.

"No Sof." I said firmly. "It's enough for tonight, go to sleep."

She was quite dopey so it wasn't hard to lay her on the bed properly to sleep. I covered her with a blanket and laid down on the other side of the queen sized bed.

"Night." I said before turning of the light. But of course she was already dead asleep.

Next morning I felt a bit tired, but overall fine.

"Why did you let me drink so much?" Sofia complained.

"You seemed happy about it then." I said passing her an aspirin which she accepted gratefully.

"I can't believe that I'll be attending a funeral with a hangover."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of you." I assured her.

"You're making of me." Declared Sofia.

"Maybe."

"I hate you." She said as she took a gulp of water.

"Aww. I love you too." In response she only grunted.

The funeral itself was quicker than I had expected. For the most of the event Sofia and I stayed together, none of us really knew the people in attendance. Growing up our family barely spent any time with our extended family, mainly because we live further away than most.

When the casket was brought out and a lot of people started crying. I felt guilty again for not being sad enough.

After the funeral Sofia and I found our cousins' grandparents who had brought Sofia's stuff. It wasn't a lot, so we would be able to take it all with us on our flight.

We drove back to my hotel room to get ready for the flight.

"Excited for life in London?"

"I didn't give it that much thought."

"Well too late now. The taxi is waiting outside."

Not by much, but I made sure that this chapter is a bit longer than the last few ones.

Please, please vote and comment it really, really helps.

Next post: 4th February 2023 - 28th February 2023