The Funeral Style

Chapter Nine

Someone asked me why I wrote such weird stories. I told them if I ever write something that isn't weird, I'd want them to shoot me seventeen times in the head, and twelve times in the chest.

 They never replied.

Chapter Nine

Class after class. Hour after hour. Sorry after sorry. I was so done with it all. My teacher crowded me, giving me their condolences, my peers did no different. I was basically center of attention, and I was getting just that. Attention. People apologized to me as if they were the ones that killed my sister.

One girl even broke down crying saying something along the lines that "She was so beautiful and so young." Which, I knew very well that she never met nor seen my sister in her life.

It was amusing to watch anyway.

After the last bell rung, I was the first to leave the room, and to my locker before anyone could spot me and try to give their condolences. I didn't want to hear it. 

After grabbing all my books, I ran to the doors that were in the back of the school, which to my luck, no one used.  A mass of grey clouds were slowly moving forward from a distance. My heart sank, as I realized it was probably going to rain soon. Rain during the winter, and having to walk home. Yeah, that didn't mix.

I made my way to the sidewalk, across the street from the school. Though my house was a few miles away, I typically didn't mind the walk through town. It was nice to me, seeing all the people living through their day, it was relaxing to feel like I was doing the same.

Why was I too stupid to remember an umbrella?

I began to pace my steps, making sure I was walking fast enough, but not running, as there were quite a lot of people walking about, and I didn't want to run into them. A lot of people were texting, and not watching out for people in front of them, which I found quite rude.

This generation is going to hell.

I decided to take a shortcut through an alley, it was actually a well kept alley. It wasn't dark, creepy, or mysterious as how they usually are. This one has a brick ground, with a bit of flowers on the side of each building. Not to mention the graffiti looked more like art than it did gang signs. The colors were bright, and cheerful. It was one of the highlights of town.

I walked a bit slower, enjoying the art which was legally painted on each building, there was a painting of a woman, who was dressed like she was in the early forties, her dress was black along with her hair, alongside her stood a woman who looked like Marilyn Monroe. The two seemed to symbolize two different versions. It was strange, but I enjoyed it.

"You psychopath!" A man's voice echoed through the alley. It seemed to come from around the corner of a building. I quickly leaned against the building and peeked my head over the corner to see if a fight was going on. Our town was known for the massive gangs, but usually the stayed in the more beat up part of town.

I saw a large man, standing in front of some other guy who was thinner, and not nearly as strong looking. The larger man looked tough, and completely pissed off, as he was towering over the other man like he was about to hurt him in some way. Yet, the smaller guy didn't seem afraid at all, in fact, he seemed to be more composed than the big guy.

"You scare me, you scare my wife, you scare my son, you know this too." The large man shouted, "Why the hell do you keep showing your goddamn face in my house? I don't have money, you know that."

The thinner man crossed his long arms on his chest, "You know very well the last thing I want is money. I couldn't care less about your pathetic financial state either." I couldn't get a very good glimpse at either of their faces, as they were a bit to far away, and my eye sight wasn't worth garbage. "I want what you stole from me."

"Edith?"

"She was mine."  

"She's my wife!"

The thinner man laughed, "Who claimed her first?" He pointed at himself, "It was me. She worked for me. You could have chose any other woman on the planet, but you couldn't keep your pants on, you just had to ruin one of my girls." The words coming from his mouth were like venom. I've never heard a man sound so angry before. 

"She feared you, Elias. She hated you! Of course I took her away, you are Satan to those women it's-it's inhuman."

The smaller guy I assumed named was Elias ignored him, "Let me just lay this down for you to understand. It is a pain, to me, to my business, trying to find a replacement. To find another woman like Edith. It's taking all my time, and you know I can't afford that."

What the hell was I watching? This was none of my business and yet, I was deeply intrigued.

"That's not my problem. It's not my fault that you can't find another rat for you to abuse."

I gasped when Elias Lunged at the larger man, I didn't realize he had a pocket knife in his hand until it was too late, he stabbed him right in the arm. The large mad screamed in pain as Elias crossed his arms in amusement. 

"So, we're going to discuss a fee. You owe now that you took Edith without my permission."

Okay. Okay. Okay. This was getting out of hand. I leaned against the building, to catch my breath. I realized I had nearly forgotten to breathe, as I was so worried I might be witnessing a murder.

I couldn't do this. I couldn't watch.

I dashed out of the alley, and onto the sidewalk. I noticed that it had already begun to rain, and yet, it didn't even bother me anymore.

Should I call the police? What if they thought I was lying? I couldn't see either of their faces, so they'd probably think I was just making it up. 

I couldn't tell my parents this, they'd question me for hours, and then somehow find a way to blame me for it happening. 

God, I wish Amanda was here. She's know exactly what to do. She always did.