The Ire in Viremia

The Funeral

 

The flowers fell silently onto the ebony coffin.

  Zanza had tears flowing down her face, and she was holding back sobs that were threatening to burst out.

  She should never have gotten involved with a human. Everyone knew it. We all saw the disastrous end, and tried to stop her. But she loved him. She loved Bomont so much she was blinded by it, and could not see reason.

  And now here she was, everyone’s predictions coming true. Bomont was dead. Zanza would never see him again.

  Regal put an arm around her and squeezed; a half hug in a vain attempt at comfort.

  Bomont’s parents had already said their farewells, and so had Zanza. The rest of us we’re silent because we didn’t know him that well; we were here for Zanza, for she needed the support. She had a strong facade, but inside she was dying. And I knew for one, because I could read her every thought.

  We stood there for a while as the soil slowly covered the coffin.

  One hole was being filled, but the gaping cavity in Zanza’s heart would be there forever.

  She took one last look at the grave and straightened herself, wiping away the tears before stalking across the lawn towards the black limo we were borrowing. The remainder of us followed, not saying a word. There was nothing to say.

...

‘I feel so bad.' The words slithered through my lips in a whisper, desiring to keep the hushed ambience of the wake. I glanced at Quex, the mourners brother and my best friend, as we obtained yet another helping of chocolate cake. 'I don't want to think about how much this is hurting Zanza. I don't even know if she will recover from this. Well, not fully anyway.'

  Quex nodded. ‘Worst choice of her life.'

  ‘She couldn’t help falling for him, though,’ I added as though it needed pointing out. ‘No one can choose.'

  Quex was silent for a moment. His reply was just a sigh. ‘I know.’

  We slipped into our seats, and my mouth opened to receive a large bite of soft cake delight.

  I shook my head. ‘This is so depressing,' I continued, swallowing. 'I feel miserable and I only saw Bomont a couple of times… but Zanz… she was crazy about him. How is she going to handle this?' The words were thick, in my mouth. They felt echoed by every tongue in this room. 'She’s fragile underneath it all... At least when it comes to this sort of thing. It's not something you can just… shrug off.'

  Quex licked some chocolate frosting off a fork. ‘I know,’ he repeated, through  altered tones. ‘She’s gutted... and no one can fix that. Maybe it will... hurt less over time, but she won't forget. Sadness always sticks with you with this sorta thing.’

  His words slightly surprised me. It made me wonder if Quex had lost someone too. Or was it complete empathy for his little sister? Maybe he was reciting, but he couldn't have... I didn’t know, and I wasn’t going to ask any time soon. Pretty much never. And that meant no mind-reading would be done in that section of his brain either. I preferred not to know. 

  My eyes flicked up to catch a glance at Zanza who was sitting with Abcde and Regal. Her eyes were sightless and glazed with the tears she was now refusing to shed, her up-turned nose was pink from when she had wept.

  I closed my eyes, sinking my head into the familiar hold of my hands.

  Everyone wished she had never met Bomont...  I wish he'd been a  mutant... like us.

...

Yes, we were all mutants. Well, something like that anyway.

 But Bomont... human and fragile. He lacked the strength that we obtained and his life was taken away so easily.

  Bomont died falling down the stairs. A cracked skull on the basement floor,  swimming in a pool of it's own blood.  So easy to die. So easy to disappear. Just a wrong step, and you're... gone…

  And if it were one of us in there, we would have survived, with what, a bump on the head and a twisted ankle? Barely even that! Laugh it off, more like.

  We mutants do live amongst the regular and the weak. But we were so cut off from them, so distant despite the fact they were just beyond our doorstep… It was because of this reason that it came as such a surprise for the two to meld. I guess it was fate; a cruel destiny that left one dead and another broken-hearted because we couldn't quite keep the boundaries up for long.

  We seem to live in another world, one where everyone was something spectacular and mystery was everywhere... creeping down the alleys at night and sneaking peeks behind closed curtains. I love this world. I love being a freak and all the benefits that came with it… I just wished that this world was real.